Page 14 of Throne of Secrets

Kyle surveyed the damage, then turned back to the other men. “Are you guys okay?”

They both nodded, wisely deciding that whatever the hell had just happened wasn’t worth further discussion. They left without another word.

With Kyle’s help, Star climbed out of the stain graveyard and returned to her cart. She picked up three of the cans, because, damn it, she’d earned them, and placed them in her cart before looking up at Kyle.

His brows lifted. “You sure you don’t want me to help you pick out the color you need?”

She deadpanned. “Kyle, we both know I should leave. You have a lot of work to do.”

Kyle chuckled. “Fair enough.”

“I'm sorry about your display,” Star added, wincing as she surveyed the absolute carnage of fallen cans around her.

Kyle frowned, scratching his head as he took in the mess. “No, no, that’s okay. Obviously, we didn’t set it up correctly. If it fell that easily, we need to reassess the setup. I’m just glad you’re not hurt.”

Star nodded. “I’m okay. I’m gonna go check out. And again, I’m sorry you have to clean this up.”

Kyle placed his hands on his hips and stared at the mountain of disarrayed cans. “I don’t understand how this could happen.”

Star shrugged, playing innocent. “Neither do I.”

Shaking her head, she pushed her cart toward the checkout, trying not to think about the fact that she still had to explain this to Ethan later. Because if there was one thing she knew for certain? Ethan would hear about it. It seemed he always found out. How? She had no idea. One day, she’d ask. But with the grapevine in their neighborhood, yeah … she knew how he found out.

As she reached the register, she picked up her phone, realizing for the first time that the dictation app was still running.

She quickly stopped the app, flipping her phone over as she fumbled for her credit card.

“Hey, Pam, can I take one of these hand baskets back to the house?” she asked as she handed over her card. “I’ll bring it back tomorrow.”

Pam, a kind older woman with gray-streaked dark hair, nodded. “No problem. You should probably get someone to deliver that for you.”

Kyle, who had somehow materialized again, beamed. “I can do it!”

Star barely held back a groan. Forcing a polite smile, she shook her head quickly. “No, that’s quite all right. I can do it, and you have a mess …”

Kyle turned back toward the paint aisle. “Yeah, you’re right.” He trudged back, grabbing a can that had rolled to the front of the store. Pam laughed, clearly enjoying the spectacle.

“Sorry I couldn’t rescue you faster, earlier. I saw he had you cornered and manufactured a way to get you out of it.”

“Does he ever stop?” Star asked, already knowing the answer.

Pam shrugged. “He’s got a lot of staying power. Took Shelia Casson almost a year to get him to realize she wouldn’t go out with him.”

Star sighed dramatically. “Six more months, then. Oh, well.”

She grabbed her receipt, shoved it into the back of her phone case with her credit card, and hightailed it out of the store.

The trip back to her Victorian was uneventful, but lugging all the stains inside was a different story. She was very careful on the stairs. They were rotted in some places and needed to be replaced, so she took up one can at a time. Three trips later, she finally collapsed into one of the ancient recliners her great-uncle had left behind.

The chair was a beast and permanently stuck in the reclined position, making it a full-body workout just to get in and out of it. But once she was settled? Pure comfort.

She sank back, pulling her phone from her jeans pocket. Her fingers brushed over the receipt, but she ignored it for now. Instead, she opened her notes app to annotate her purchase against her ever-growing renovation spreadsheet.

Except … that wasn’t what popped up on her screen. Her dictation app was still wide open.

And the transcribed text from the men’s conversation in the aisle before her grand paint or rather stain display catastrophe was still there. So were Kyle’s attempts to get her to go out. She rolled her eyes and almost swiped away without looking at it—until a few key phrases caught her eye.

“Make an example. The others will fall in line.”

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