Page 36 of Quinlan

“The usual.” I shrug, my resentment toward him and Liam for lying to me forgotten. “Her job.”

“They’re still fucking her over for being a Langford?”

The clock inside my body tick-tocks, tick-tocks.

Quinlan. She’ll be out there soon. I can’t stay here.

“What do you think?” I give him a look that shows my disdain, then type Anne a message. “Hold on.”

“Got plans for tomorrow night?” Damien asks while I tell my sister she should do what I fucking did years ago. Break her trust fund. Take every filthy cent in it and use it to open her own company.

She’s typing. I don’t need to see her answer. She’ll tell me the same reply she’s been giving me for years. Our family’s money, be it our grandparents’ or Joseph’s, is filthy.

It’s an old conversation. One I always end with the same half-lie—the trust fund is the least he could do to pay back for what he’s done to us.

Truth is, it isn’t. Truth is, the least he and Elaine, ourmother, could do is die.

Soon enough, they will. I can already smell their blood on my hands. I’ll smile when I rip their guts out of their stomachs. Laugh, even.

It sounds crazy. Gory. Violent.

Sounds like justice to me.

“Tomorrow? What kind of question is that?” I move past Damien toward the door. “You have my calendar.”

Damien catches up as I walk outside. We pass by Liam’s office. His door is open, his attention on his laptop.

The skyline of Chicago appears behind him. The pink hues of dusk paint the gray, thick carpet of the office in earthy tones. As the sun disappears in the distance, it’s another reminder that I might be late for Quinlan.

“Liam, I’m leaving for the day.”

“Have fun.” He waves without tearing his gaze from the screen. Doesn’t ask where I’m going. He knows. “I have a meeting with the head of research. Might be home late.”

I want to repeat to him what I said to Damien. That his schedule is no big secret. I stay silent. Head to our private bathrooms with Damien hot on my heels.

Once inside, I shrug out of my suit jacket. Fold it and place it on the bench that stretches from the middle of the room and all the way to the wall. Repeat the movement with my shirt. My undershirt.

“Anyway.” Damien smirks. He’s up to something. It was obviously a rhetorical question, and I was too caught up in thinking about Quinlan. “We’re going out tomorrow. The three of us.”

“Why?” I frown, toeing off my shoes and losing my pants. “Where?”

“Quinlan’s neighbor? The friendly one?”

Ray. The one we keep tabs on. Can’t have any loose ends. I nod to Damien.

“She texted her boyfriend earlier. Wants to take Quinlan out on a double date. It’s a sin that a sweet woman like her is single and lonely.” Damien stops while I think a vein is about to pop in my forehead. “Her genius boyfriend told her he has someone in mind.”

I’m in Damien’s face in less than a second. I might be naked down to my briefs, but I’m at no disadvantage. I have my temper and my muscle tone on my side.

My hand curls around his lapel. “And you’ve known about this for how long without coming to me?”

“Thirty minutes.” His smirk widens. “I had to come up with a way to fix it, which I have. And relax. Liam has no idea either. I’ll tell him when the meeting’s over.”

“No one dates her.” Less than a week. That’s how long she has before she turns from a free woman to our captive. No one’s dating her in that week. Scratch that—“Never. No one dates her, ever.”

“Not even you?” he taunts.

“Got a problem with where I’m going tonight?” I release Dame and turn to put on my running gear.

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