Page 76 of Desperate Needs

I still had to tell Pop.

One of my father's men, the one sitting in the passenger seat, jumped out of the SUV, gun in hand.

“Get in, Miss Aziz,” he said, holding the door open.

“Put your fucking gun down around her!” Connor snarled, moving forward.

The bodyguard raised his weapon.

“No! Don’t hurt him. Let’s just go,” I said and jumped in without looking back.

“Drive, Marcus,” the bodyguard said and dipped his chin at Connor and Balor.

I looked up, and Connor’s eyes were locked on mine. In the pale moonlight with the soft glow of the lampposts outside, his eyes seemed to glitter like obsidian glass.

“This isn't over, Clementine,” he repeated his earlier statement.

“It is very over,” I replied and rolled up my window.

“Where to, Miss Aziz?”

My attention was diverted to the driver, Marcus. I told him to take me to my penthouse. Then I pressed the button, closing the partition between the front of the vehicle and the back where I sat.

I texted my father I was safe, but I had no idea how to broach the subject of Connor’s betrayal and invasion of Sigma International’s system.

My heart was breaking and all I could do was let it happen. A sob racked my body, and I tried to focus on my breathing.

The wind whipped around the truck as my father’s men broke speeding records to get me home. I appreciated that. But even with them traveling so fast, I couldn’t contain the emotion clouding my brain.

With a shaky exhale, it all came flooding out. Shaking me with tremors of grief and despair.

How could he?

My tears rolled down my cheeks, unfettered and with no signs of stopping. I covered my mouth with my hands, shaking uncontrollably.

I just couldn’t help it.

Stupid, Clem. I can't believe I fell for it.

I grabbed my phone, not trusting myself to be alone. I texted Andrea and Lucy, telling them what happened and begging them not to tell Michaela. Then I asked them to meet me at my place.

Thirty minutes later, I was ensconced in my warmest, furriest pajamas with a half drunk bottle of Cabernet in my hands when my cousins came walking in.

“Oh God! You look awful,” Andrea said in that blunt way she had about her.

“Shut up, Annie,” Lucy chided. “Clem, we're so sorry. Honey, you know you did nothing to deserve this, right?”

They sat next to me as I nodded. On some level, I was aware it wasn’t my fault. Connor was very good at lying, apparently.

“Being gullible is my fault, though, right? I mean, I was so hungry for him, I just gobbled up every bit of attention he gave me.”

“Oh, honey, any of us would have! Look at the man, for fuck’s sake! He’s like young Sean Connory and Zayn Malik if they had a built ass baby man!” Lucy said, and I laughed through my tears.

“Oh my God. I can totally see that,” Andrea agreed.

I laughed with them at first, but all my chuckling soon turned to weeping and I dropped my head forward. Lucy and Andrea crowded around me, offering me companionship and solace like only my best friends could.

That's the thing about sisters and cousins and found family like Shelley, who we all kind of adopted, we were always there for each other. Always up in one another’s business.

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