Page 60 of Love Lies Bleeding

“How?”

“I’d taken Cherry to look at a rare book in the Dean’s office. I’d broken us in but we didn’t steal a thing. I swear I just wanted to do something nice for her.”

Hunter scrubs his hands down his face. “Ah fuck, I don’t like the sound of this.”

“It was a shit show. Her face was all over the CCTV. Nick had edited it somehow to make it look like she took the papers but she never went near his desk. He’d also wiped my image from the video. He said I had to implicate Cherry and not give her an alibi. I told him to fuck off, but he told me if I didn’t, he’d send her information I wouldn’t want her to have.”

“Which was? She would’ve forgiven you your past, Jake. Cherry is a hard ass but she’s loyal to those she loves and it sounds like you two fell hard.”

My chest feels like it’s caving in as I relive those few days, the way she’d made me feel. “I know but would she forgive the boy who stole her father’s car? Would she have forgiven me when I told her it was my fault he was walking on the road that night and got hit by that car?”

“Oh, shit. No!”

“Exactly. Nick sent me the file on the man whose car we stole. Hank had always protected me before that, but when I realized, I felt trapped. I either told her I’d had a part in her dad’s death and destroy her, or I let her get kicked out of Harvard for stealing and destroy her. It was an impossible situation. Either way, I broke her heart. She loved me, she trusted me, and I let her down.” Sinking into the couch, I put my head in my hands, letting the despair I still felt for that choice bleed out.

The couch dips and I feel a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, Jake. You should have told me.”

“It gets worse. I found out after the fact that it was all a lie. Nick had made it up. The man who died wasn’t her dad. He died two days before. I destroyed her life because I was a coward and, not just that, I was incompetent.”

“Mother fucker.”

“Right. I hate him, Mac. I fucking hate him, but I hate myself more. I should have just told her.”

“It was an impossible situation, Jake.”

“I stole her dream.”

“No, Nick Kendrick did that just to fuck with you.”

“But being with me cost her. She paid the price for being with me.”

We sit in silence as Hunter processes the news and I feel like a weight has lifted just a little, but I’m not done with the revelations. “KLM is going after her mother’s hair salon. The building is in Cherry’s name and they want the land.”

“What?”

“She hired a lawyer but he’s useless. Taking kickbacks from KLM to persuade her to sell.”

“Why didn’t she come to me? I would have helped her.”

“Pride. Cherry doesn’t like to ask for help.”

“So what’s the plan? I assume you have one.” Hunter smiles and it’s like watching a shark grin. He’s hungry for blood, but not as hungry as me.

“I’m taking him down. I’ve asked for a sit-down with the Mancini family. He’s in bed with them but I’m going to owe them a favor if it means I get to end him.”

Hunter whistles and I know this is big. The Mancini family isn’t just a powerful family, they were Mi Famiglia. The Italian mob who ran the underbelly of this great country.

“You sure about this?”

I nod. “I’ll give you my resignation so you and Hank don’t get tangled up in this.”

Hunter is already shaking his head. “No way. You’re in, I’m in, and Dad will feel the same.”

“I can’t ask you to do that, Mac. This could get messy, and you have a family now.”

“You’re my family too, Jake.”

“I appreciate that, but no.”

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