Page 243 of Quinlan

His small apartment is a mess. A few containers layer his old rug. Envelopes are scattered on his tiny eating table. I assume it’s bills and my parents’ files. The doctors must have given them to him to study while I was gone.

That’s partially my fault. The moment I moved in with Liam, Damien and Rome—the moment I waskidnapped—I changed the recipient’s name on my parents’ bills. I pay them online, but they had to go somewhere. I wasn’t having them pile up at mydoor or on Mom and Dad’s. My parents don’t need the extra stress.

Despite everything I’ve learned about myself here, I don’t hate them. My parents never intended for Blake to die. They were negligent and that cost him his life. Then they’ve pretty much left me to fend for myself after my brother is gone.

I’m done sacrificing my life for them, but I’m not abandoning them. I don’t have it in me to add to their pain.

“I said I was sorry for throwing the coffee at the client. Ice coffee. She didn’t get a burn or something. Fucking cry-baby is what she is.” Maeve talks and Rex paces. Tugs at his hair. “A lawsuit? I gave her a refund. She can’t sue us.”

My laugh is a sad one. A tear slips out of the corner of my eye.

Rome hits the pause button, pressing a kiss to my temple. “Our investigators never got that close to the both of you when you were together. Was that how he’d talk to you?”

“Some days,” I whisper. “I thought it was grief.”

Damien’s arms aren’t a vise around me anymore. He’s suffocating me. I let him, stroking his forearms. Trailing my nails over his veins. Along his smooth, taut skin.

“I thought it was because I was responsible for Blake’s death. And that he didn’t want me to die because… Because he loved me for me.” When I suck in a shuddering breath, Liam’s there to rub his knuckles over my cheek. I twist my head to kiss them, and it’s so nice. Feeling him beneath my lips. “He doesn’t miss Blake. Not anymore, at least. He stopped loving me years ago. He fooled me.”

“He fooled everyone.” Damien grabs my hand.

I can only imagine.

“I’m fine.” I am. Fuck him.

I press Play.

“Me? A liability?” Rex grabs the plant I bought him for his last birthday, bashing it against the wall. The ceramic pot shattersinto a million pieces. The Peace Lily and the soil scatter on the floor. “I’ve worked for you for years. Years. Yes, I’m aware a lawsuit is messy business. It’ll ruin your reputation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’ll blow over. No? Of course it will.”

“Go, Maeve,” I cheer on the woman on the other line, my tears drying.

“This is all…” he growls, slamming his fist on the wall next to his window. He stares blankly at the investigator without ever seeing him. “Listen to me, Maeve. This is all my sister’s fault.”

“What? Me?” My hands ball into fists. Damien runs his thumb over them. The two other men touch and caress and kiss me. “My fucking fault?”

“No, she didn’t throw the coffee at the client. You saw the video.” A groan comes while he listens to Maeve. “She’s supposed to take care of my dad and her mom. That’s her job, see, and she’s off somewhere. Doing… Well, I hate saying that about my own flesh and blood, but this has to be said.”

“This is the part where it stopped being funny.” Damien angles my face to his, offering me an out.

Unnecessary. I look back on the phone.

“She’s a slut, okay? I—yes, a slut. She’s not selling herself, no. That I could understand. The bitch spreads her legs for free.”

Rex is honest. His version of it, anyway. The edge to his voice. The disgust in his eyes. My suspicions were spot on. He put two and two together from my emails to my parents.

I was taken against my own free will, but I’m fine now. I’m where I should be.

“She ran off with this man. Maybe more than one, who the fuck knows. Left me to handle our parents by myself. To have orgies.” He pauses. “What does this have to do with you? Maybe show some leniency until I figure this out? I will. Just let me keep my job, since her whore money is going directly to help herparents. I’ll be out on the street, Maeve, if you fire me. I don’t have any savings. Give me another chance. I’ll prove it to you.”

I’ve had enough of this. My head pounds and I’m sick to my stomach.

This has been a long evening. The last eighteen years have been long and tiring, and I only want to curl into a ball in Damien’s arms and for the video to stop rolling.

I get both.

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CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

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