Page 79 of Vicious Sentiments

Oh, my god.

Oh, no.

“I knew you were in the center of it.” he snaps when he reads my face.

What am I supposed to say? I can’t tell him the truth.

“It’s one thing with their business but they keep that shit overseas. But trouble here and that’s my sister at risk. She’s only fucking thirteen and they have her knowing about shit she shouldn’t know at her age. Or ever, if I had it my way.”

His face has turned red as he seethes and it makes him look like a tomato. He’s in one of his classic running shirts that doesn’t have any sleeves and shows off his side abs but they lose their appeal with the way his face twists. I want to sympathize with where he is coming from. I worry about Marney as well, but he looks like a toddler that doesn’t want to eat his vegetables, and it makes me not want to give him a single inch of what he wants.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I raise my chin for emphasis, trying to get a hold of myself. I’m not going to be bullied by him. There’s a reason he’s up here when neither Julian or Cape are here. He knows he wouldn’t do this if they were.

He turns even redder, if that’s possible, and storms at me. I flinch, of course I flinch, but he doesn’t lay a hand on me. He pulls himselfback before he can collide with me and hovers over me.

It’s intimidation. I’m used to it. What I’m not used to is it not being followed through on. Is he restraining himself because he knows he shouldn’t or because he’s afraid of Cape and Julian?

“You better hope nothing happens to my sister.”

I want to tell him that what happened has no way of affecting Marney, but that means I would have to admit something happened and I don’t trust that he won’t get the whole story out of me.

“Why would I want something that could hurt Marney?” my voice shakes but I manage to get it out. He acts like I’m trouble, that I don’t know better than anyone how fragile someone of her age is. I’ve been through shit that I would never wish on anyone.

“You think I don’t know about your guys’ little sneak out in the middle of the night? Crawling down the beach and dragging my sister with you when she should have been safe in bed?”

My eyes widen before I can stop them. How does he know about when we went to Julian’s? I thought we were so careful. There was no one on the beach, no lights on in the house. Where was he watching from? Does he make it a habit, following me around? I didn’t even know he was loitering outside my door.

And what was he doing anyways? It didn’t seem like he was going to knock, if anything it seemed like I caught him trying to eavesdrop. Does he do that often?

“We just went to Julian’s. It was perfectly safe.” I try to defend it but I knew it was wrong at the time.

He rolls his eyes. “You don’t know how Madison died do you?”

I suck my lips in. I still don’t know but I think I’m going to find out.

“She was taken.” He nods his head like,you see?“Right from Cape’s super safe and sky high loft in the clouds. He popped off on the wrong people and they retaliated. They took her and tortured her. When Cape found her she was in pieces.”

I wince, my whole body feeling suddenly like lead.

“Yeah,” Dillon sneers. “And you’re hopping on his dick like he’s going to be your rock. Imagine what seeing something like that does to a person. And anyone with them ends up just—”

“Why are you with them?” I snap, surprising myself. I know better than to talk when someone is angry but he doesn’t make any sense. If he doesn’t like them, if he doesn’t feel safe here, then why stay?

He tilts his head to the side like I’m stupid.

“Because once you’re in, you’re in.” he says it like a threat but with the way my skin tingles at his words, I think I hope it’s a promise.

But if he’s insinuating that they would kill him if he tried to leave, I just don’t believe it. Margo loves him. Dillon may not be her flesh and blood but she treats him no differently than Cape and Julian. And I can’t see her taking him away from Marney.

Unless…

God, unless there was some truth to the FBI folder about Margo being involved in their parents death. But if it was true, wouldn’t Julian have warned me?

Chapter Forty-Two

When Cape finally does make it to my room it’s after two a.m., and Dillon is long gone. I’ve already decided I’m not going to mention the encounter. I don’t want to create any more tension than there already is, and in case what he said is true, I don’t want to throw him under the bus and get him killed.

Cape expertly makes his way through the dark room and crawls into bed next to me, scooting his body to align with mine. I automatically reach out and pull myself closer, resting my head on his chest.

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