Page 61 of Don't Break My Heart
She takes a step closer to me. “Are you threatening me?”
I smile smugly, knowing I have something over her. “Not at all. All I’m saying is I think it would be in your best interest to see Reef’s job reinstated and whatever investigation you have going against him terminated, burned, or whatever the fuck it is you do to make shit disappear.”
A flash of worry comes over her features. “You know what you’re asking me to do is highly illegal. I could lock you up right now for even insinuating such a thing.”
My lips twist up at the sides. “But you won’t. I can see it in your eyes, you hold the guilt for what your brother did to me. That’s why you worked tirelessly for years to track me down.”
Her face drops, and for the first time, I see her hard, cold persona shift, tears welling in her eyes. “Who does that to their daughter?”
“A power-hungry piece of shit, that’s who. He thought he was different, he thought he could make a deal with an underground operation to help his political career, and it did. He thought he would be too powerful for them to touch him, but he was blinded by his own stupidity. And now you’re going to make it right.” We stare each other down. “Please, Commissioner Sedgwick, don’t punish a good man who got wrapped up in this mess. His intentions were good; all he wanted to do was protect me, because my father, your brother, painted a target on my back.”
“It’s Olivia, call me Olivia.” She looks me back over, and I think she might smile at me, welcome me to the family even. But she doesn’t. This woman has a massive chip on her shoulder. She might even be just as damaged as I am. You can see it in the depths of her eyes.
“Okay, Olivia, will you help me?”
She rolls her lips, and I can see she’s considering it. “I’ll see what I can do, no paperwork has been filed on his case yet.”
“Was he even suspended?”
“I think we both know there is more going on here. Shit even I don’t have control over.” Her brow rises, and I know exactly what she is insinuating.
“The Moretti control runs deep,” I mutter.
She massages her temples like she has a headache. “You have no idea.”
“Yeah, I think I do.” I give her a nod and head for the door. I think we are done here.
“Sloane.” She opens her desk drawer and takes out an envelope. “This is yours.”
I study the white envelope she handed to me. What the hell? I pop open the thing to see what’s inside. It’s a cheque for fifty million dollars. I glance back at her, my mouth popping open.
She smiles softly. “I knew eventually I would find you.”
“I… I don’t want this,” I stutter out, trying to shove it back in her direction.
“It’s yours from the sale of your parents’ estate and all the other assets they had accumulated.”
“You take it.” I shove it back toward her again.
“Do something good with it if you can’t bring yourself to spend the money yourself. But it’s yours, and God knows you deserve it after what they put you through.”
I stare back at her, not sure what to say.
Her hand comes to my arm. “Take care of yourself.”
I blink back at her. This feels like the time where I should hug her and thank her for holding on to this kind of cash for me. For working tirelessly to track me down. But that’s not who I am, and I think she knows it. “Yeah, you too.” I step away from her, open her door, and stride away.
That didn’t go how I expected at all.
Chapter 27
Forthenextweek,I throw myself back into work at the club. Getting to know our new staff, organizing the game for the opening night of our VIP rooms, anything and everything I can to distract myself from my shitshow of a life. At the same time, I’m doing everything I possibly can to avoid Romeo. Other than my drive-bys past Reef’s house, I haven’t seen him again, and Onyx has just disappeared from my life. And I certainly haven’t heard anything from Orlando. It’s as if what we all had was a fantasy, just a vision of my warped imagination. And as each day passes, it feels like it more and more.
I step out of my car, feeling a little better than I did yesterday. Ricky hooked me up with a therapist at their center, and I had my first session with her a couple of days ago. She has me watching what I’m eating or more like just making sure I am eating three meals a day and getting back into my old exercise routine. So, this morning, I ran three miles on my treadmill just like I used to. I also went home to bed instead of falling asleep on my desk when I was too exhausted to stay awake any longer. I’m slowly starting to feel more like myself. There is just this empty pit in my stomach and dull thud in my chest where my heart used to be. She assures me I will move past that pain as well, if I really want to. There was a big emphasis on the if.
Sunlight streaming through a tree across the street catches my attention, a reflection of something shiny hitting me right in the eyes. It’s then I notice Onyx’s car parked under it.
Our eyes lock, and my heart kicks up a beat. How long has he been there watching me?
