Page 141 of Covenant

“Well, good luck. They’re both stubborn bastards.”

Jackson moves around Dalton, their shoulders brushing as he goes, and I stop him before he leaves. “Where are you going?”

“Out with a friend.”

My eyebrows rise. “What friend?”

“No one you know.” And with that, he raises his hand in a wave and slips out the door, leaving me with Dalton. I don’t miss the final heated look he shoots at the older man.

Yeah, I for sure didn’t misread that. Good fuck. This is just another thing for me to stress about. Not that I think Dalton would ever give him the time of day, but I don’t want Jackson wasting his heart on someone who won’t want him.

Like I have.

I focus instead on the problem in front of me. I want Dalton to go away, and at the same time, I want him to tell me everything I’ve missed about Matthias the last few weeks.

Dalton sits down in a chair opposite me, the rain pounding on the window beside him. I wonder idly if he’s pocketed anything of mine and realize that, just like the bill, I don’t care if he has. “This is a nice place. Great neighborhood too.”

“Thanks to The Firm, I can afford it.”

Dalton snorts and then sits back, crossing his ankle over his thigh. “The Firm. Yes. That’s why you left. You found out he works for them.”

“No, I found out youareThe Firm,” I say through gritted teeth, hating the over-simplification. “And it’s more than that. Matthias arranged this marriage knowing I had no other alternatives. He saw his advantage and swooped in. He’s lied to me. For years.Everythingwas a lie.”

Dalton says nothing for a minute and then speaks. “Listen, we’re bound by a code not to tell people. Matthias didn’t tell you all those years ago because he wanted to protect you. Our father threatened your life, and he did what he had to do to save you. Now, as for the arranged marriage…I admit, it’s fucked up, but you were happy, right?”

I swallow. I let myself think back to those weeks. The ones where there was no darkness. Where I felt everything. Where there was only Matt. “Yes. I was. So fucking happy.”

“Then talk to him. Make it work between you two. He’s miserable, you know. He’s not himself.”

“He lied to me. I don’t know how easily I can just move past that.”

Dalton shrugs. “We all lie. All of us. It’s part of the job, it’s part of who we are. But now you know the truth. Move forward with it or stay miserable.”

I huff and turn to stare out the window, water droplets falling down the panes of glass. “It’s not so simple.”

“Yeah, it fucking is. It’s that simple.”

“He asked me to leave,” I say suddenly, revealing the part of this that hurts the most. “I asked him to fight for me, for us, and he said no.”

Dalton is unfazed. “Maybe because he needs you to fight for him.”

“What?”

“Look,” Dalton sits forward, his face uncharacteristically serious. “I don’t know all of the history between you, but I know you were close as kids. So close that Matt chose you over himself.”

I repeat my question. “What?”

Dalton smiles grimly. “When he made his request to The Firm, he only mentioned you. For you to be free. To have your scholarship. The money you needed to live. He didn’t ask for anything for himself.”

I shouldn’t be surprised by this, but I am. Why didn’t he ask for freedom from his shitty father at the same time?

“Because of that, Father was able to manipulate him,” Dalton continues. “Matthias was inducted to The Firm three years ahead of schedule. He wasn’t allowed the final years of freedom that the rest of us got.”

“Why?” I whisper. “Why would Matthias go along with it? Why didn’t he just tell your dad to go fuck himself and walk away?”

“Because of you,” Dalton says bluntly. “Father threatened your life. Actually, I believe he threatened Matthias’s first, but he didn’t care about that.”

My hands start to tremble at the thought of an eighteen-year-old Matt being threatened by his father. Someone who was meant to love him.

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