Page 32 of Trick's Trap

“Why?”

It was a fair question. Despite knowing what they did, the reason hadn’t been discussed in her presence. It had taken her years to piece together an answer. “In exchange for their devotion, our family is supposed to prosper. Every investment succeeds, we’re blessed with good health, disasters don’t harm us, etcetera, etcetera. But that means they have to give the devil his due or it all goes away.”

“Huh.” Maia frowned, seemingly at a loss for words.

“I told you it was insane.” Tahlia collapsed back on the pillow. Her confession had drained her. All she could do was lie there, overwhelmed by the surreal nightmare that was her life.

“Why do they want you?”

Tahlia couldn’t tell her the reason. It was just a guess on her part in any case. Any chance for real answers died with her father.

“The other members of the family couldn’t believe it when my father let me go off to school. No one leaves. No one has friends outsides the family, or a life of any kind. When they grabbed me, they drugged me. I woke up in my bedroom at home in Florida. No one was there guarding me. I wasn’t tied up. I just walked out into the hall and down to my father’s office. I needed money, so I took it from his desk. He always had at least a grand or more in there. That’s when I saw he was there.”

“Your father?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “On the floor, already gone. He diedhorribly. Something must have gone wrong. It must have been chaos. It’s the only reason I got away.”

“Oh, Tahlia.” Maia’s thin arms wrapped around her, squeezing tight around the safe unbruised area above her elbows.

“I think my uncle Lucas did it. I’m not sure. As far as I knew, they got on well enough, but I’ve been avoiding everyone since I came to school. They must have had a falling out.”

She laughed hoarsely. “If Lucas had his way, I would never have been able to come to Boston to school at all. He’s cold and cruel—a complete misogynist. If I’d been his, I’d have been feral. He was against letting me learn toread. He said I was never going to need to know how. His sons have tormented me since I was a little girl, but he is so much worse. I don’t know why he wants me, but whatever the reason, it must be why my father’s dead.”

Chapter 16

Trick felt like he was ready to crawl out of his skin. He told himself he was being crazy. The streak of madness running through him was obvious, but knowing it was there did him no good.

Tahlia was safe here in the suite adjoining his in the hotel heowned. That should have been enough to soothe him. But after seeing her hurt on that basement floor, he’d been spiraling with self-recrimination.

“I should have had armed guards and metal detectors,” he said, still in disbelief at the brazen way the hired thug circumvented their security measures. “Then that asshole wouldn’t have gotten away.”

Trick was trying to save Tahlia. Instead, he’d given the assholes pursuing her the opportunity they’d been waiting for. His lack of preparation and foresight led to her getting hurt.

Calen and his brother Liam exchanged a glance. They’d been keeping vigil with him since they flew Tahlia here on the corporate helicopter.

Liam leaned against the back of the couch. “You have to stop blaming yourself. You couldn’t have known they’d attack out in the open like that. Not to mention both Jason and Ethan were there, and they didn’t notice anything shady and that’s theirjob,” he pointed out.

He clapped Trick on the shoulder. “We won’t make the same mistake here. I’ve got the penthouse floor locked up tighter than Fort Knox.”

“I know that,” Trick replied, rubbing his face. “But it doesn’t change the fact she’s lying in that bed because of me.”

“Tahlia will be fine.” Calen held up his phone. “Eric is on his way back here to check on her again, but he gave her the all-clear last night. She just needs some time to recuperate.”

Eric Tam, a concierge doctor who worked for the hotel sometimes, examined Tahlia while she was in and out of consciousness last night. In addition to her numerous physical injuries, he declared her malnourished and suffering from clinical exhaustion.

Trick checked the clock on his phone. “Speaking of time…”

“You agreed to let Maia have a half hour with her,” Calen reminded him.

“And it’s almost up,” he said, staring at the closed door to the bedroom.

“Let the Maia do her thing,” Liam urged. “She has a much better chance of convincing her to spill the real details of what’s going on than you do.”

“I know that,” he muttered, wondering if Calen’s wife was getting anywhere.

Theywerefriends, but Tahlia hadn’t confided in Maia before now. According to Calen, his mystery woman had always been skittish in company. It made sense now, of course. Tahlia had been keeping a tight lid on a troubled past. She was used to deflecting any personal questions, never revealing any details about herself, let alone her true feelings.

No wonder she has such an amazing poker face.

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