Page 19 of Corrupted Pleasure
Wonderful. I’d better get a grip. Otherwise, I’d find myself wrapped around her finger. With those big, curious eyes and plump lips that I’d imagined around my cock.
“Do you have plans after you graduate, Davina?” I turned my attention back to the woman that fascinated me.
“The only one that has plans is Wynter,” Juliette chimed in, her voice tense. “You won’t let me help you with your business and Ivy’s family won’t let her help with their business. Davina is trying to figure out how to take care of her grandfather and be a responsible adult.”
Juliette had been behaving strangely lately. Initially, I chalked it up to the changes that she knew were coming once she graduated, but I started to think it was more than that. It was true that Juliette offered to help with the business, but the risks associated with it outweighed the benefits, so it was a firm no.
I made a promise.
“I’m so glad you were able to answer for Davina,” I told my daughter dryly.
“You all just wait and see,” Ivy added. “We’ll beat all of you… you…“ She tried to come up with a creative name but apparently failed because she blew a piece of her red hair out of her face with frustration and continued, “- you criminals and have an even better gig going.”
“Yeah, with the figure skating equipment store,” Davina mused, her eyes meeting mine. “We’ll rule the world with that one. Or maybe just the United States.”
And then as if she realized she inadvertently inserted herself into our conversation, she blushed and her attention left me.
Amusement filled me. I really liked the girl. Sensible with a hint of fire to her.
“Well, we could be a world renowned figure skating equipment store,” Wynter chimed in helpfully.
“It’s possible,” Davina answered. “Especially with a double Olympic gold medalist as part of it.”
“I hope,” Wynter added. “Don’t jinx me. I still have a ways to go.”
“You’ll get there,” I assured my niece. She was determined when she wanted something. So was Juliette, except that the latter liked to rebel when she hit a bump in the road. And when she was stressed, she tended to shut down.
When Juliette was younger, Killian and Wynter were always the only ones that could get through to her during those episodes.
“And so will you, Juliette,” I told my adoptive daughter. Juliette had a golden heart but a temper that was fit for a redhead. It was the Irish in her. “I promise you. I’ll help you achieve your dreams. But it has to be something safe.”
Juliette had dark hair and blue eyes so it was easy to sell to the world she was my biological daughter. I hid both her and Killian from the underworld and kept them safe. It wouldn’t be all thrown to the wind. Unlike their parents, Killian and Juliette would live into old age and see their children grow up. And God willing, their grandchildren.
It was my promise to Aiden, my best friend.
I locked gazes with Juliette, and to my shock, there were unshed tears glistening in her eyes and an alarm immediately shot through me.
“Juliette, what’s the matter?” I demanded to know. The silence and tension around the room was palpable but all my focus was on my daughter.
I waited for an answer but then her lips curved into a mischievous smile.
“Got you,” she drawled, and for a moment all I could do was stare. The expression she gave me reminded me so much of my late best friend. He’d play pranks on me all the time. His wife was the serious one in their marriage. Killian might look like his father, but he had the temperament of his mother.
Twenty-one years had gone by. All those years and their lives still hadn’t been avenged. Killian and I have been working on it, but it wasn’t moving fast enough. For either one of us.
Truthfully, many days I wished Killian didn’t rememberthatday. So I could have spared him the knowledge and pain. I’d rather hunt for the guilty ones on my own, so he’d stay safe. But Killian remembered too well, and over the years, he had been nurturing his thirst for revenge.
Much to my regret.
Even after all these years, the anger at my best friend’s death clawed through me, right alongside guilt. I should have never pulled Aiden into the shit with the Russians. He was the only one I trusted, and it cost him everything, including his own life. And it was all my fault.
Juliette and Ivy stood up and the sound of the chairs against the floor pulled me back from my thoughts.
“I’m going to take a quick shower,” Juliette announced, then rolled her eyes at Davina. “Since my friend took the Sunday afternoon shift at the coffee shop.”
Davina shrugged. “You’ll live. Make it a quick shower.”
“I’ll go pack up our stuff,” Ivy added. “I know what a dick Mr. Foger can be if you’re late. I lasted a week with him. How you survived four years, I have no fucking clue.”
