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“Why?” Chess had asked.

“Because you’re a mother now, and your baby needs you. Now get up and go.”

She had gripped the phone a moment longer, obviously torn between following his orders and telling the truth. Eventually, she hung up the phone, turned and left.

Back in his cell, Ten had replayed their short conversation over and over again. Of course, it made sense.

Had Chess been suspicious of Adrian and Tony before Kiki’s arrest?

Something had triggered her that day. Something had forced her hand, making her break that lock and get into that safe.

Had Tony found her rifling through the safe? Had he attacked her? Hurt her? Had she battered him in self-defense?

Or had it been something else? Had she found him in there going through the safe? Had she realized what he was? What Adrian was? Had she been so enraged she had snapped and attacked Tony?

After Chess came to see him, Ten had settled into his bid. The anger and frustration he had been feeling for his predicament faded right away. His loyalty to the family, to Nikolai, had forced his hand. He had taken full responsibility for killing Tony to protect theirbratva.

Once he knew that he was also protecting Chess, giving her a chance to be a mother to her baby girl, to live a life of happiness, he accepted his plight. Six years in prison to keep a single teen mom safe was a small price indeed.

Chapter Twenty

Feelingconfusedandbetrayed,I sat on the patio behind the cabin. Ilya wasn’t happy about it, but he agreed I could sit out there for a short while if I stayed in a specific chair. He stood directly in front of me, blocking anything that might come my way. Eric was somewhere out front, walking the perimeter.

I had spent more than an hour going through everything I could find online about Tiara. There wasn’t much. No photos of her childhood. No photos of family. No links to her high school. She had never been cagey or secretive with us. She and Savannah had bonded over their experiences in foster care. It had never been something hidden.

But why hadn’t she ever mentioned Derek? Why hadn’t she mentioned that my ex-husband was suspected of killing her foster brother? Why had she kept that from me?

Did she want to hurt me? Was she setting me up as Ilya believed? Did she hate me? Did she blame me?

Was I so stupid that I had been fooled by our friendship? All this time, I had believed she was genuine. I had believed she was my friend just as I was hers.

I chewed on my acrylic thumbnail. Solange, my nail tech, was going to flip the next time she saw me. All her hard work was destroyed by my teeth as I anxiously gnawed at the once perfectly shaped acrylic. I would get an earful from her about disrespecting her art and skill.

My thoughts turned back to Chad and Robin Harris at Allure. What had Tiara said? You shouldn’t be here? Or something like that?

At the time, it hadn’t seemed the least bit suspicious. Now, it left me wondering if she was in cahoots with that asshole and the lawyer.

“It’s late.” Ilya startled me out of my troubled thoughts.

“What?”

“Ten should have been on his way back by now. Has he messaged you?”

I picked up my phone from the ceramic garden stool I had been using as a small table to hold my iced tea. “There’s nothing from him. Maybe he was worried about someone tracking him?”

“Possible.” Ilya seemed unconvinced. “Let’s go inside.”

“Okay.” As much as I enjoyed my time on the patio, the humid heat and the chatter of cicadas were less than relaxing. I grabbed my glass of tea and phone and returned to the blessedly cool cabin. “Should we be worried, Ilya?”

“No.” Ilya hid his gaze as he swiped his thumb across the screen of his phone. “Ten is no amateur. If he’s not contacting us, there’s a good reason for it.”

Considering where he had been, another terrible thought struck me. “What if they revoked his parole?”

“For what?” Ilya paused his typing. “Did Ten break one of his conditions?”

“No.”

“Was he cleared to travel here?”

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