Page 136 of Bitter Confessions

Roth rounded on him. “Hurt her?”

“The son of a bitch had his hand on her so she couldn’t walk away. From the way she flinched after, I’d say he left a mark. The next time I see him, I’m gonna put his fucking head on a spike.” He spun back to Jasmine, eyes alight with fury. “Was it Tucker or Warren who?—?”

“Will you let it go!” Colette cried.

“Fuck that. Tell me now!”

She was going to step in to calm him, but the arrival of their Rolls-Royces pulling up to the curb, gained their attention. As Lyle ranted, Colette leaned down to rest her forehead against Jasmine’s. It was a gesture of shared pain and camaraderie. When her breath hitched, Colette stroked her cheek.

“We’re okay,” Colette murmured.

She nodded.

Colette looked down at her with shimmering eyes. “I would have protected you from that knowledge if I could.”

She wasn’t sure whether Colette was talking about her history with Warren or the ugly truth about Elena, but it didn’t matter. She understood either way. When she stepped back, she bumped into Roth, who was standing close enough to hear their exchange.

Lyle glared at her over the roof of the car, but his question was directed at Roth. “You’ll call me when you know?”

“Yes.” Roth didn’t waste any time rounding the car and dropping down onto the seat beside her. “You want to tell me what the hell is going on?”

Jasmine stared straight ahead. Lyle made things a hundred times worse by repeating what chatty Marty said. Couldn’t they leave the ball without someone tattling on them? Roth was talking to her, but his voice was distorted, as if she were underwater. She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs, but she sat quietly instead, gripping her clutch as she tried to quell the inferno in her chest.

To think she’d once envied her sister’s glamorous lives… Now she was peeking behind the curtain and what she discovered made her sick to her stomach. Colette suffering in silence all these years to keep business ties strong boggled her mind. To face Warren at meetings, events, even sitting across from him at dinner tonight… She wouldn’t have been able to do it, yet Colette treated him with such deference that no one had suspected. What tormented her most was Colette’s doubt that Dad would have defended her. Surely, if Maximus helped her divorce Roth, he would have chosen Colette over a business associate who was sexually abusing her? Now they would never know.

She had always admired Colette, but she’d never seen her sister as a badass until she faced off with Warren. The strength it took to go against decades of conditioning and look him in the eye... She thought her sister was impervious to pressure, but Colette had been just as susceptible, perhaps more so, because so much had been expected of her. Being their father’s friend, Warren had insider knowledge of Colette’s insecurities and ruthlessly exploited them. Apparently, she wasn’t the only Hennessy with an overwhelming need to protect no matter the cost to themselves. Colette sacrificed her body to save her and Ariana… Jasmine turned toward the window and swallowed bile. She wished Colette had said something so they could have been there for her.

A warm, calloused hand covered hers, bringing her out of her heartbroken daze. She turned to see Roth wasn’t on his side of the car. She instantly regretted that there wasn’t a bulky console between them to keep him at bay.

“Talk to me.”

Hearing that from him was laughable after he ignored her all week. She moved her hands out from under his, unable to bear his touch. It wouldn’t take much for her to fall apart and she couldn’t do that in front of her worst critic.

“I’m not going to let you ignore me.”

“That’s rich coming from you. So, you can ignore me when you feel like it, but I can’t do the same? Screw you.”

Normally, she kept their personal battles private, but she needed him to back off. If airing their dirty laundry in front of Mo and Johan would accomplish that, so be it.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me what happened with Tucker?”

“It was nothing.”

“Nothing,” he repeated in a sinister rumble. “It’s nothing that a man put his hands on you and hurt you?”

She glanced at him and watched shadow and light glide over the rugged planes of his face as they drove through the city. “I’m used to being manhandled by angry men. Don’t worry about it.”

A fraught silence filled the car. Johan shifted in his seat, while Mo remained completely motionless aside from his hand on the steering wheel. She held Roth’s gaze as his callous treatment of her throughout the day shimmered in the air between them.

“Tucker Baldwin isn’t allowed to talk to you, much less put his hands on you,” Roth said evenly. “I’ll take care of him. Who else?”

“You want a list of everyone who offended me tonight?”

“Yes.”

“You have enough enemies.”

“Let me worry about that.”

---