Page 189 of On a Fault Line

I need Collins. I need him to make this all better.

Rushing out of the room, I throw myself into mine and shut the door.

So much is happening all at once, and the only person who can keep me grounded is the one man my brothers are going to try and keep me away from.

They just aren’t going to understand our connection, and I’m starting to doubt that they’ll be able to calm down long enough to even try.

Flopping down onto the bed, I cry into my pillow.

This entire apartment now feels foreign to me.

If my brothers hand selected Luke to be their spy, along with Collins the hired bodyguard, then this entire operation was probably all orchestrated so I would find myself moving here.

It was too good to be true.

But I never expected it all to be one massive setup.

To find an apartment this perfect, with great security, and an opening where I didn’t have to commit to a lengthy contract was way too easy.

My brothers made it easy. They were the puppet masters, and I simply played right into their hands.

Graham and Nic just never expected me to fall in love with Collins Stone.

Well, too damn bad.

Grabbing my phone, I text Collins.

Penny: Luke has been hired by my brothers. He tampered with my speed dating matches and probably told my brothers about us. They know. Nic found me in your bed.

Penny: I’m sorry.

And then a minute later.

Penny: I need you. I’m falling apart.

Penny: I can’t breathe.

37

PENNY

I’m awakened from my fitful slumber with muffled arguing happening down the hall.

Sitting up in bed, I try to adjust my eyes to the darkness.

How long have I slept?

The memories of Nic finding me in Collins’s bed and the discovery that Luke was hired by my brothers come flooding back to me.

Nothing seems to be going my way today, and I’m starting to doubt that things will fit back into place again.

Rolling out of bed, I try to get my wobbly legs to work. I feel like I’m constructed out of cooked noodles.

Stretching, I reach my hands above my head, recirculating the blood.

Moving over to the curtains, I pull them back and stare out into the city at night.

Great. I wasted an entire day away and nothing got accomplished.

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