Page 70 of Key Change

“I haven’t done anything. What did you do to him?”

Hayden’s face twisted into a mask of hate. “I…”

“If you need any tips on how to survive behind bars, don’t call me.” Anthony shut the door and locked it. He rested his forehead on the cool wood as Hayden shouted at him. Cursed him and threatened to send him back.

He hoped the PI was capturing everything. Then he remembered Margot had a security camera out the front, and that it was all being recorded.

“Best of luck, brother,” he murmured as he walked away, leaving Hayden to rage at the consequences of his actions. Anthony had been angry at first, but when the charges were read aloud, he acknowledged he’d done every one of them, at least once, and was guilty.

Hayden would plead innocence until his last gasp.

EPILOGUE

FOUR WEEKS LATER

Cillian lifted the champagne glass.While Anthony had invited him out to the rather fancy restaurant, Cillian had ordered the bubbles to celebrate. “To surviving your first week.”

Anthony tapped his glass against Cillian’s. “Thank you. It definitely felt like survival for the first two days.”

They both took a sip. From the way Anthony watched him, he wanted to say something. So Cillian took his time drinking and placing his glass on the table, wanting to leave the space open for him.

“You helped me… but I didn’t help you.” He actually seemed concerned, which was cute.

Cillian spun the glass, staring at it and giving himself a moment to breathe and find the words. “You did, because for the first time, I was able to talk about all of it. Which meant I was able to tell Dahlia and my therapist… and that’s been…” He wouldn’t say good, but it was better than carrying the shame and guilt.

“A process?” Anthony offered.

He glanced up. “Yeah, a process. I’m glad that I was at the party and came up with the genius plan of asking you for help.”

He never could have predicted that they’d end up dating, but somehow, in talking to Anthony and getting to know him, he’d started to like him. To enjoy being around him. He wasn’t another artist, nor did he sneer at his cobbled-together work.

“It was a brilliant plan,” Anthony said.

Tomorrow, Anthony was moving in to pet sit while he was away for a couple of weeks, which gave them the weekend together. After lying low for a couple of weeks and then the fallout from Hayden’s troubles… things had been tumultuous at best.

The divorce hearing had been pushed back. Hayden was in all kinds of hot water, and while Cillian had been holding his breath, expecting retaliation, so far there had been none. Dahlia has assured him that if Hayden did anything, things would become much worse for him.

“No trouble at work?”

Anthony took a drink and set his glass down. “None. Margot spoke to him after one of the neighbors called the cops, but I don’t know what was said, only that she handed over the recordings to the cops when asked. I think it’s the first time she’d ever seen that side of him. She apologized for not believing me when I complained about how bad he was growing up.”

“What I don’t understand is why he went to all that trouble instead of paying Bianca out. It wasn’t even that much.”

“I guess it felt like he was losing.”

“But he has so much.”

“She left him, for reasons only she knows?—”

Cillian lifted his eyebrows, having heard stories about his own grandfather before he became too ill to do anything but shout at people from his seat, and his uncle’s rage at his wife leaving, he could imagine the things Hayden was capable of. “If he had a temper tantrum at your sister’s front door…”

Anthony inclined his head in agreement. “I want to put all of that aside until I have to testify at his trial.”

Cillian glanced up from the menu. “Trial?”

“He’s a lawyer who was caught blackmailing multiple people to avoid paying his ex-wife. He’s going to have his ass hauled over the coals.”

Cillian grimaced. While he hoped karma chewed Hayden up and spat him out, he didn’t want to be a part of it. “Let’s not talk about him until we have to.”

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