Page 56 of Breaker

Chapter 18

Cora

The faucet drips, echoingaround the silent bathroom.Plink, Plink, Plink.The noise drills into my head, but I can’t seem to move to adjust the knob and make it stop. The cold tile floor under me is my only anchor to reality, my mind moving too quickly, sorting through the images of Rune, Zane, the time with the men, Delly, all so quickly it’s hard to focus on one single thing.

There’s too much to be upset about.

My hand hovers over my breast, tears burning my eyes. It hurts too much. Not just my skin, but deep in my bones. In my soul. I squeeze my eyes shut, picturing Reaper as he promised he’d always come for me. That I was his Baby Girl. Theirs. And they never let the things they claim go. But then it gets taken over with the feeling of Rune’s teeth sinking into my flesh, and vomit burns in my throat.

“Cora,” Clyde’s strangled whisper leaks through the closed door.

This is the third time on the last hour he’s come to the door, asking if I need something.

Them. I need them.

“Go away,” I say, angrily swiping at another tear that slipped out.

There’s a thud on the door, then it’s quiet on the other side. A few minutes later the flimsy lock pops and the door swings open. Clyde strides in holding a glass of water. Without a word, he opens the cabinet and removes the alcohol. Adjusting his sleep pants around his waist Clyde crouches next to me and shoves up the sleeve of my shirt to check the bandage on my arm.

“I don’t want you near me,” I say. I don’t say I don’t want anyone near me because every time someone comes close, I’m hurt even more than before.

“Liar,” he says, avoiding my eyes. “You love me and couldn’t live without me.”

He’s not wrong. He also thinks I’m just upset over the meeting in Zane’s office today. God he’s in such denial.

“Why?” I ask. “Why Zane? There’s got to be a reason he wanted me.”

“You’re right,” Clyde says, placing a new bandage on my arm and tossing the old out as he sits back on the floor next to me. He looks so old right now, weathered. Tired. I wonder if I look the same. “You’re the next best thing.

“Wow, you really know how to lay on the charm.”

“Just like you guessed, you have your parents money and shares in Rune Corp. You own several homes and land and you’re a Julian.” Clyde stretches his legs out in the bathroom floor next to me, rubbing his bad knee. Sports injury or something. Maybe when he was training as a young man. He told me once, but I don’t remember. I wish I’d paid better attention now.

“My inheritance is a curse,” I tell him. “And a fuck ton of good my name does me.”

Clyde drops his chin, looking down at his hands in his lap. “Your parents were respected.”

Until they weren’t.

“Tell me what happened tonight,” Clyde says, looking back up to meet my eyes.

I avert my gaze. Of course I do. It’s not easy to look someone in the face and lie to them. I’ve only ever done it to protect them, and myself, from the truth and what it would do to everyone I love.

“Tell me what happened in his office.”

My eyes sting, so I keep my gaze fixed on the white tile floor. Part of me wants to tell him. He’ll believe me. He’ll also lose his mind and kill Rune.

And then what? Zane will have Clyde’s head. Then mine. And then what happens to Delly?

What happens to everything else?

“I told him I refused to marry Zane,” I say thickly, swallowing down the urge to scream. “He didn’t like that.”

Clyde makes a huffing sound. “I don’t imagine he did. Then what happened, Cora?”

My eyes meet his. There’s something there, some acknowledgement, like heknows. Maybe not exactly what Rune has done, but what he’s capable of. I need to remember that Clyde’s been with Rune for years. Standing by him, taking orders to kill and enforce. Clyde may not want to admit out loud what Runes capable of doing especially to me.

Maybe I’m in denial too. Clyde is a dangerous man. He’s Rune advisor which is just a fancy way of saying he’s an enforcer. A killer. He’s Rune’s weapon. It may have been Clyde who either killed the men’s brother or chose which of Rune’s soldiers to send to have him removed.

---