Page 318 of Ruthless Desires: Vol. Two
I realize I’ve been staring at the wall for a solid minute. Wren’s hand is still in mine, and I realize I’m holding it rather tightly. With an apologetic smile, I loosen my grip.
We’re in no rush to get back home. Meredith showed up at the house before we left to watch the boys. It’s not like they need a babysitter, but they still don’t know where everything is. If they need something, it’s easier this way. And… well, I don’t fully trust Andrew yet. This is different than keeping quiet about Ludo’s death. Richard is hisfather.
“We can take as much time as you need,” Oliver says.
I shake my head. “No. Let’s go.”
The wall isn’t too high, so we don’t have much trouble getting over it. The backyard is large and looks like it’s kept perfectly manicured during the summer months.
A few lights are still on in the house. Most likely, Richard is waiting up for Corinne. We don’t have much time before she leaves to come home, but Finn is tailing her, and as of a couple minutes ago, she’s still at her party. We watch the house for a few minutes before spotting movement in one of the upstairs windows.
Picking one of the back locks doesn’t take long. We enter quietly, and I shut the door slowly so it doesn’t make a single sound. Music drifts through the air, coming from upstairs, and I stop in my tracks.
“What?” Oliver whispers.
“The song.”
My fingers curl into tight fists. On my parents’ anniversary, my mom would put this song on and beg Richard to dance with her to it. It was the song that played during their first dance at their wedding. She called ittheirsong.
So why the hell is Richard listening to it now, all these years later? Does a part of him miss her? How could he after he all but abandoned her?
Without another second of hesitation, I march upstairs and barge into his study. He’s sitting in an armchair, happily humming while he flips through a magazine. When he sees me, he jumps to his feet.
“Who are you? What do you want?”
“You know exactly who I am.”
At my voice, Richard’s face falls. He stumbles backward, knocking into his chair and falling on his ass. “What—what are you doing here?”
“Making sure you never hurt anyone ever again.”
Realization fills his eyes. “You! Did you steal my boys?”
“No, but I made sure they’re safe.”
Elliot and Oliver move forward swiftly and haul him to his feet.
“Let go of me!” Richard tries to yank his arms free. “How are you both still with him? Haven’t you realized—”
“Watch your mouth,” Oliver snaps. “Unless you want this to be more painful than it needs to be.”
Wren hovers close to me, and as the guys drag Richard out of his office and toward the bathroom, I realize she’s placing herself in between him and me. Myheart squeezes. Even as my mind fills in Richard’s cut-off sentence with all the things I know he wants to say, the pain eases.
She’ll protect me until the bitter end—they all will.
Richard is shouting as Elliot and Oliver shove him into the bathroom. They can’t be too forceful—we don’t want any signs of struggle. But they’re strong enough that they can contain him easily.
Before I follow, my eyes land on his phone, the screen still lit up. He has a messaging app pulled up, and in it is a text, drafted but not sent, meant for Corinne.
Richard:Listening to our song and thinking of you.
I delete the message, anger washing over me and renewing all the hurt I did my best to keep in a box. With a forceful breath, I type out a new message—a simple apology—and set his phone on his desk.
“Rhett,” Ell calls.
“Coming,” I yell back, rounding the desk and opening the top drawer. As I suspected, the knife he’s had since I was a kid is nestled in between pens and sticky notes. I grab it, the weight familiar in my palm, before sliding the drawer closed.
Wren and I move toward the bathroom, and I almost warn her about how much blood there will be, but then I stop myself. She knows. By this point, she’s watched a handful of men die—two of them at her own hand. This isn’t something that’ll catch her off guard anymore.
