Page 25 of Cruel Hearts

Except, Stella didn’t know who Cardello was. How could he have persuaded her to leave with him after only a few minutes of conversation? His crown? I thrum my fingers on the counter. That feels flimsy now.

Did Denton pay Cardello to seduce her? Because she found something in his email? Denton was wealthy in his own right, but not to the point where he could have bribed Cardello to do what he wanted. Maybe Denton offered him something else, but God knows what. Cardello’s royalty. There’s nothing he can’t get for himself.

Did Denton payherto go with him, to get her out of his way? No. I have more than he does. That wouldn’t make sense, and I don’t believe for a minute she wanted my money. In fact, she was turned off by it. Did Denton blackmail her? That sounds more plausible, but Stella had a clean record, or at least, I thought she had.

I look at the pumpkin patch photo again. I’m touched, though I’m confused as to why Lucille kept it.

I’d never fed a baby goat before.

Maybe Stella didn’t leave on her own. But then why did she and Cardello look so happy? For five long, hellish years, I had to tolerate seeing pictures of them in the media. Her baby bump.

I sigh. When I fucked her yesterday, I didn’t see one stretch mark on her beautiful body.

But please, Zane, don’t hurt me.

She hadn’t acted like a woman who had sex regularly, much less enjoyed it.

As was Stella’s way, she wanted to give me whatever I wanted, even if that was at her own sacrifice. I wanted to fuck her, so she let me.

Denton’s been out of the picture for years. Nigel did what I didn’t have the balls to do—cut Denton and Cramer loose. It wasn’t easy, or cheap. Buying them out cost me millions, but with Nigel’s help and a new mindset, I made that back, in spades. Denton could have dropped off the face of the earth for all I know, or at the time, cared. Cramer...I forgot about him when I heard he accepted a CEO position somewhere on the west coast. Seattle, I think.

Lucille slides a pan into the oven and pours me more coffee.

Maybe Denton found out Stella’s back in the city and he’s the one who’s hunting her down.

But what’s Denton hoping to keep hidden? Would it matter now? He hasn’t been associated with Maddox Industries for over four years.

After eating a cinnamon roll the size of my head and drinking a pot of coffee, I stumble up to my room. When I left the kitchen, Lucille looked at me out of the corners of her eyes, but she didn’t offer anything more.

She thought what she told me hadn’t sunk in, but it did.

Maybe Stella didn’t leave willingly. But if she didn’t, I have to figure out who made her go, and why.

My faith is still shaken, and I don’t trust her enough to find her and ask. I want to be sure she’s safe, though, and I call the private investigator Clayton recommended all those years ago. I have two assignments: find Stella Mayfair, and track down Richard Denton.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Stella

Sunlight struggles to creep around the cheap blinds, and I squeeze my eyes shut against the weak glare. I’m lying on a thin, narrow mattress, the coils poking at me through the bottom sheet, and the comforter stinks like cheap aftershave.

My body aches and pain shoots through my head. The skin on one of my thighs burns, and my ribs throb.

There’s not a part of me that doesn’t hurt.

As my mind clears, memories of yesterday come back, and tears run down my cheeks and into the flat pillow under my head.

Maryanne is dead. Zane hates me so much he killed her, and I let him touch me. I let him fuck me. What had he been thinking while he shoved his cock into me knowing he killed the only mother I’ve ever known?

Then I think of his kind eyes, the way he would kiss me, the way he cried in my lap the first night he came to my apartment, and I have a difficult time reconciling the boy wholost his parents to a cold-blooded killer who would murder an old woman whose only crime was to help girls like me.

My stomach rumbles, but I’m too sick to eat. I don’t even know where I am.

Someone stopped me from killing myself last night.

I don’t thank them for it.

My life is a fucking mess, and all I’ve done since escaping Ash’s is put the ones I love in danger.

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