Page 73 of Demo

“We’ll be waiting,” Steel said shortly before hanging up the phone.

Demo knew this was coming. It was the cleanest way to break Paige of her marriage without Keys having to fake a divorce. Paige might get suspicious if she never spoke directly to or saw Richard during the entire process. Richardwasdead. Telling her was the right thing to do—even if the club fudged some of the details surrounding his death.

Demo didn’t know what Steel had planned. It was decided to keep him in the dark so his reactions were a bit more genuine. Another thing Demo hated about the entire situation. If it was only his fate in her hands, Demo would sit her down and tell her everything. From start to finish.

But it wasn’t just him.

It wasn’t a lack of faith in her either. Demo believed in the club and the good they were doing. There had to be a path where Demo could not betray his club but still be honest with Paige. This was the closest he could think of.

By telling her Richard was dead, not only would Paige get closure but so would Harper and her parents. Demo could care less about Ronald Hannigan’s feelings, but he liked Cindy. She deserved to be able to officially grieve her son. To know once and for all that he wasn’t coming back. Harper suspected, but like the Hannigans, she didn’t know Richard’s actual fate.

Perhaps in doing it this way, they could all move on. The Hannigans and the club. Richard had brought a blight to Mount Grove, but he’d also brought Harper, Paige, his sons, and Cindy. Demo couldn’t entirely fault the man. In a twisted way, he owed him.

Demo let Paige have a minute. He knew better than to ask her if she was okay. She’d openly told him that she didn’t love Richard anymore. That it had been years since she had and was only sticking out her marriage for the sake of her sons.

But Richard was a part of her life whether Demo liked it or not. It chafed, knowing the bastard had her first, but Demo couldn’t change the past. He could only move forward and help her do so too.

When Paige sat up again, Demo saw that there were no tears in her eyes or on her cheeks. She was shaking slightly, but there was almost a look of anger on her face where he expected to see grief.

“What do you need?” he asked softly. “Steel said to take our time. It won’t change anything he has to say whether it’s in an hour or in five hours. What do you need, Paige? The choice is yours.”

She shook her head. “I need a bottle of gin and a pillow I can scream into.”

“Done,” he said automatically. “What else?”

She gave him a side-eye. “Really? I have to go deal with even more sh—” Paige cut her word short with a glance down at her boys. “Stuff,” she amended. “All thestuffRichard now left behind. Can’t do all of that drunk.”

“Don’t care,” Demo shrugged. “If that’s what you need, then that’s what you need. I’ll call Steel back and tell him that we aren’t going to make it. Today, tomorrow, next week… It’s not going to change anything, Paige.”

“But it changes certain things,” she argued. “I need to figure out what it means for me, the boys… Oh God!” Her eyes went wide. “Cindy and Ronald! I need to call them. And Harper.”

“Stop!” Demo ordered. “You do whatyouneed to do foryou,” he emphasized. “I am here to help you and take care of the boys. If you need to get drunk and shout or cry into a pillow, then that’s what you do.”

Paige shook her head, scoffing. “Bastard doesn’t deserve my tears.” She stood up, taking the towel that had been on her lap to dry off her hands and arms. “I just… I need a minute. Can you…?” She gestured to her sons.

He nodded. “Of course. Water’s getting cold anyway. I’ll get them cleaned up, dried off, and we’ll meet you in your room. Okay?”

Paige nodded solemnly. “Thank you.” She headed towards the door and then paused. Turning around, she said, “I’m not sad he’s gone. I’m angry. Confused. Maybe even hurt. But I’m not sad. Is that wrong of me?Shouldn’tI be sad?”

“You’re asking the wrong man,” Demo told her honestly. “You have a right to how you feel. After all he’s put you through, I’m not surprised anger is your first reaction. Maybe sadness will come later.”

She turned to go again. Only to pause. Over her shoulder, she said softly, “Thank you for being here.”

“Of course. We’ll be out in a few.”

The bastard was dead.Paige was awidow.

In a haze as if she was drunk, Paige wandered into her bedroom. The room she’d shared with Richard. Who was now dead. The bastard.

She stood for a long moment in the doorway. There was no trace of Richard left in this room. She’d sold all of his belongings for every scrap of money she could, including his large mahogany dresser. Hell, there wasn’t a trace of Richard left in this house after two years. Unless one counted the gaudiness of the actual house.

Christ, Paige hated this house. She hated everything about it. A family of four did not need a five bedroom monstrosity. It had a three car garage and so many electric ‘smart’ utilities that sometimes she wondered if it qualified as a robot more than it did a house.

Her eyes landed on her closed closet door where her camera equipment was. If Demo thought that it was strange the boys’ bathtub didn’t have a shower curtain on it, he hadn’t said anything. She hadn’t returned it after posting the donut video.

Shame washed through her—followed quickly by anger. The fucking bastard had left her and their two toddler children to fend for themselves with a mountain of debt, a house too big for them, and no resources. She’d starved herself, limited the heat in her home during the dead of winter, and had to sell her sons’toysto help make ends meet. And the fucking bastard had beendead? Had he been dead the entire time? Had the loan shark caught up to him before coming to Mount Grove and attacking Ronald and Cindy?

She didn’t know and wouldn’t know until she spoke with Steel’s PI.

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