Page 67 of Benji

Ky reached over and gave him a hard shove. “Do you ever not think about sex, whore?”

Fitch laughed and even I managed a smile just as there was a quiet knock on the door. Then it opened and Nolan stuck his head in, but he did a double take when he saw the three of us in bed.

“Oh.”

Then the door opened wider and Dominic was there.

“I was going to ask if everything was okay,” Nolan said, smiling at me. “But I can see it is.”

“We are, unfortunately, fully dressed,” Fitch said, throwing back the covers as proof. “But if Dominic thinks I’ve been naughty, I’ll take the punishment.”

Ky and I both shoved Fitch again, and though I couldn’t be sure, Dominic might have smirked. Right before he scowled, that was.

Nolan, on the other hand, gave me a warm, gentle smile. “Got a second?”

“Of course,” I said, sitting up. I needed Fitch to get out of bed first, which he did, and Ky followed, so the three of us went out to the living room.

Nolan slipped his hand in mine, and I sat next to him on the sofa. Dom took the single-seater, Ky sat next to me and Fitch sat on the arm rest.

Nolan threaded our fingers and coveredour hands with his other. An absolute pillar of strength, of kindness. Of all that was good in this world. “Okay, so between us, we think we’ve come up with a plan,” he said.

“Wait,” I said, my voice quiet. “Before you say anything. Before you do anything, like quit or recuse yourself or whatever you said before.” I took a deep breath in, not sure if I had the strength to do this. But god, what Fitch said before was right. I’d never get another chance. I’d never be stronger than I was with these two lawyers helping me.

With Nolan holding my hand.

“I want to help.”

“Help with what?” Nolan asked.

“Taking my father down. Putting an end to it all. I can’t live looking over my shoulder anymore. I keep putting Fitch and Ky in danger, and now you, Nolan. I can’t have you losing your job for me. I won’t.” I met his gaze, his soft, beautiful eyes. “You’re too important to me.”

“Benji, baby, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want,” he whispered.

“I want to do this. What Fitch said is right.” I gave Fitch a smile then. “I’ll never have a better chance than now. So, while I didn’t think I’d ever be ready to do this, now it is.”

Dominic leaned forward, his eyes narrowing at me. “Are you certain?”

I managed a nod. “Yes.” Then I swallowed hard and found the courage to say the next part out loud. “You know about the drug money and the weapon imports.”That was nothing new; they’d been trying to pin his crimes on him for years. How they were going to provide evidence that he was the mastermind behind it all was the point of the whole case. “But you wanted to know what I saw, what I knew, what I witnessed.”

Nolan squeezed my hand.

Dominic nodded. “Yes.”

“He killed my mother.”

Every set of eyes were on me, wide, their faces pale. Nolan exhaled a ragged breath. “Oh my god.”

My hands trembled, my whole body strung tight. “And I have proof.”

ELEVEN

NOLAN

When Benji gotup from the couch and went to my room, the four of us sat there in silence. From Fitch’s expression, I was sure not even he knew about this. The weight of what Benji had just said hung over us like a dark and heavy cloud.

A weight that Benji had carried on his own for far too long.

I met Dominic’s gaze, his expression grim. Whatever proof Benji was about to provide could be huge. It could also be completely inadmissible. But for me, it changed nothing.

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