Page 78 of Finish Line

They have no idea what their small gesture means to me. I rest my chin on my knees and watch the ocean until I regain control.

When I take a deep breath and sit up, Luke breaks the silence. “Can we do anything?”

“No, but thanks for asking. Being here with you helps,” I answer.

“We love you, beautiful,” Cam says, the other guys agreeing.

“I know, and I love you, too.” I bite my lip. “What happened to Evan’s body? I’ve been waiting for the police to arrest me.”

“Frank took care of it,” Dom says. “You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Won’t Evan’s dad be looking for him?” I shake my head in confusion. “I thought he was some powerful person.”

“Not powerful, princess. Just rich,” Cam scoffs. “Plus, Frank made it appear like an accident. We also have proof of his son’s involvement with you and that money was transferred from his primary account to several of Roger’s accounts. Have no doubt, he knew all about it, the sick fuck. Nick hacked Evan’s phone account after you came here. Roger messaged Evan and his dad.”

I raise an eyebrow.

“Your brother knew you were hiding something. And, with the discovery of Evan’s body and declining to take the rape test…” Cam tosses sand in front of us.

My head snaps back.

“Well, his protective big brother instincts went into overdrive. Nick wanted to find everything to keep you safe if anything came up against you regarding Evan. The texts were sent to a burner phone. The conversation detailed what he planned to do with you when he got the chance. The final message received was the same night you escaped, telling him about your disobedience and that you were all his. Evan’s response confirms your story that he planned to rape you.”

“So, needless to say, Evan’s dad will keep his mouth shut, unless he wants us to show the proof to the press and ruin his name,” Mav says.

“It would screw him if anything bad leaks again. He almost lost a lot of customers because of something his brother did years ago,” Dom adds.

My eyebrows scrunch. “Roger’s dad?”

“Yep. Roger’s dad, Harry, said our dad stole the blueprints of a secret project he was working on,” Dom clarifies. “Dad, of course, denied it. Harry tried to break into Knight technology and was caught. With an extensive trial looming, many clients pulled their orders from his company. The board members made Andrew, Evan’s dad, fire Harry.

“Andrew ended up having to put Harry into a mental institution, although the story as to why is not clear. He’s still there today. From what we found out, Roger was with his mother until he was about ten, when she died. They asked Andrew to take Roger in, but Andrew refused.”

“That’s how Roger ended up in the system.” I dig my feet into the sand. “Did Evan know?”

Luke shrugs. “We’re not sure.”

I take a deep breath as I let the information sink into my bones. Safe. I’m safe from what happened with Evan. “Thank you for telling me.”

We sit on the beach together and watch the sunset. The inky darkness of night creeps in, and a cool night breeze blows in from the ocean. Exhausted and ready to head back to the house, I stand.

“Dom, tonight is still your night if you’d like to sleep with me,” I say.

“I don’t think I’m in the right frame of mind tonight.” Dom walks to the edge of the slowly rolling tide. “I’m sorry.”

I hang my head, trying to hide the pain. “No, I understand.”

He needs to process everything.

Mav glares at his brother, who ignores him. “Cam and I will take his place.”

“Sounds good.” I turn and head up the beach path.

As we walk up to the house, something pops into my head. “I remember something else. When I broke into your house, Roger made me go for your mom’s jewelry while he went elsewhere. When I caught up to him after I bumped into you guys, he was carrying some documents and blueprints.”

Mav stops, glancing back at Dom. “Dad raised hell about stuff missing from his office. He came to us and asked if we threw a party.”

“Yeah, we told him no.” Dom nods. “We never told Dad about the break-in, because we didn’t think anything got stolen. And I’m guessing Frank didn’t either, because he realized you were hypnotized and not acting of your own free will.”

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