Page 64 of Cruel Hearts

“I called him, like I should have a long time ago. But, Stella, this didn’t help.”

He slides a piece of tattered paper out of his wallet. It’s worn, almost falling apart. It’s evident he’s spent a lot of time looking at it, reading it, tracing the cursive. Tears burn my throat. It’s the letter I put in the mail the night Ash took me.

“I didn’t want you to look for me.” But I wished. Oh, how I wished.

“Why, Stella?” His voice cracks.

“I needed to keep Zarah safe. I didn’t want you to question anything, and it’s obvious you didn’t,” I say bitterly, even though he did what I wanted him to do. “Everything Ash says to you is gospel. It was so easy for you to believe I ran off with another man.”

Pushing the glass away, I stand.

He shoots out a hand and clutches my arm. “We said we’d listen.”

I have to put our relationship behind me. There’s nothing left of us now, and this goes beyond what Zane and I had.

I sit.

“Thank you.”

He wants to hang on, and I feel the reluctance when he lets his hand drop from my arm.

“What happened at my party?” he asks again, sagging against the leather cushion.

“What do you know?” I grip my glass and sip, the bubbles popping on my tongue, the lemon chasing away the bad taste in my mouth.

“Zarah ran into the ballroom crying and shrieking. She was hysterical. We had to call an ambulance, and a paramedic sedated her. Later, Ash said he’d been with you and Cardello, trying to convince you not to leave me. I was devastated.”

That agrees with the video Denton showed me online. I hate thinking Zane is going to lie to me, but his allegiance to Ash is too strong, and I let him hurt me too many times.

“I didn’t want to leave you.”

He reaches out to touch me, but I shrink away and he stops. I don’t need his comfort or his touch. I cup the glass in my hands and speak to the ice. I can’t let him under my skin. Maybe he didn’t kill Maryanne. Maybe itwasAsh. But no matter who did that to her, Zane and I are finished. We’re different people now.

“I went to the ladies’ room, after we...” I flick a glance at him and he nods. “I wasn’t familiar with that part of the hotel, and I got turned around. I was looking for the ballroom, and I heard Ash and Zarah. He was selling her as a very expensive, high-class prostitute. The men, they weren’t kind, and I saw some of the bruises they left behind. Ash hired her out the night of your party, and I interrupted him forcing her to do the job.”

Zane tries to swallow back a sob. He’s not successful, and a strangled cry screeches through his clenched teeth.

“I asked him how he could make her do such a terrible thing. The Zarah I knew would have told him to fuck off. He said he had proof your father was selling weapons on the black market, and if Zarah didn’t do what he said, he would expose your father as a traitor of the United States and destroy your company. You’d have nothing left. She was protecting you.”

Tears run down Zane’s cheeks, and I fight like hell not to wrap my arms around him.

He’s quiet for several moments and then asks, “Why didn’t she talk to me?”

“You know the answer to that. Whether you want to admit it or not, you know the answer.” I stand from the loveseat and walk to the windows, rest my hand against the glass. King’s Crossing sprawled out over miles and miles. I wouldn’t mind if I never saw this city again.

“Then what happened?” he whispers.

“Ash offered us a trade. He would let Zarah go and bury the information if he could take me in her place. I wanted to keep you and Zarah together. She’s the only family you have. I accepted his deal, and that was it.” I blink back tears. “He didn’t let me tell you goodbye.”

Zane watches me, looking for lies. He said he’d listen, but he didn’t say he’d believe.

“Did he sell you, too?” he asks, his voice steady now, but hoarse.

“No. He put me to work, and he didn’t let me do anything else. I didn’t have access to news or the internet, or people, really. Sometimes he let me work outside in the summer, but that’s all I did. For a long time, my memories of you kept me company, but then you started slipping away, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get you back.”

“Stella.” Zane rises and steps toward me, but I shake my head and he stops.

“Whatever we had is gone. You know that.”

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