Page 85 of Ruin Me

My gut sank at her guilty expression. I could almost see her mind racing as she thought up a lie to appease me. She opened her mouth and I shook my head, stalling her.

“I’d rather you stay silent than lie to me.”

She gasped. “I wasn’t going to lie to you.” I released her and was about to lift her from my lap when she said, “I was trying to tell you without setting you off.”

My brow twitched. “Are you… afraid of me?”

“As if.” Her immediate scoff put me at ease.

My pride wouldn’t be able to handle if the woman I loved feared me. “Then what is it?” I turned her face to have full access to the emotions flashing in her brown orbs.

I fell into her depths, almost losing myself and forgetting the reason I needed to see her eyes. The effect this woman had on me… There’s no wonder I would do anything to keep her by my side.

“Well.” She dragged the word out, then sped through the rest of her reasoning. “I found the evidence used to free you and asked Valentino to make sure the police got an anonymous tip that didn’t implicate you.”

She sat stiffly in my arms as she awaited my response.

The twitching that began at my brow moved to my eye. My throat swelled under my tight restraint, otherwise I couldn’t control the volume of my voice. “Where did you find this proof?”

“In Hal’s home office?”

I closed my eyes and prayed for patience.

“I wasn’t alone. I had Sam with me. And remember, we found the files you needed to block the anonymous shareholder trying to take over your company. And right on time, too, if I say so myself. The vote is next week. So, do us both a favor and ignore my method and celebrate the results with me instead.” Madison kissed me on my cheek with a grin wide enough to blind the sun and attempted to hop off my lap.

I had other ideas. “What evidence did you find?” I asked while barring her escape.

Her smile dropped into a disturbed frown, and she shivered. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

I rubbed her arms, wanting to comfort her but needing to know everything she’d done while I was locked away. “Then show me. I assume you took pictures like you did with the files we went through.”

She bit her lip and left me in doubt for a few heart-pounding seconds before nodding and whispering, “Okay.”

I released her, and she slipped away. Within a minute, she returned with her laptop.

“Before I show you, know I had a plan to distract him. I didn’t just break into his house. Of all the ideas we had, Ife?—”

“Ife was in on this?” I rubbed my temple while my blood pressure rose and pulsed beneath my skin.

“Well, no one considered him to be dangerous. Not…even…you…” She petered off at my glare and pushed her computer toward me. “Here’s everything. And as a reminder, you love me.” She backed away and I let her.

My throat ached too much from all the admonitions I wanted to set free on her, but before I did, I needed to know the extent of the promise she’d broken. Because in her word salad of logic, she failed to admit she’d acted recklessly.

While she continued to box up her files on Carol, I turned to her laptop. Among gruesome images of the women I’d dated, there were photos spanning what looked like over a year’s worth of other victims. Included were state IDs or other items that I guessed belonged to the dead women. I hadn’t gotten through many when one image froze my finger above the next arrow.

Three familiar surnames drew my interest.

“Madison, did your photos of the LLC files get mixed up with these?” I peered at Madison, hoping I’d drawn the wrong conclusion.

She hesitated before putting another folder into a box. “No, why do you ask?”

“Because there are files labeled with our names on them. And if they were in the same place as these murder victims?—”

“Then we should be happy Hal is in jail and hopefully on his way to prison.”

“Okay.” I stood and marched toward her. “If this is the way you want to play in my face. I’ll play.”

Alarmed, she spun around to face me and clutched the desk at her back. “Kent, what are you planning to do?”

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