Page 24 of Don't Make Me Beg
Oh, great. Here we fucking go. So much for brotherly secrets, I guess.
“She’s his childhood best friend who lived next door to us growing up…” Roman supplies.
“He was in love with her, but after he got arrested, she ditched him and never looked back,” Guy adds.
“I thought we were here to talk about the festival,” I say, trying to steer the conversation away from my personal life.
“That was before I found out your long-lost childhood lover just came waltzing back into your life,” she says, waving adismissive hand. “The festival can wait.” Then she turns to Leo. “When were you planning to tell me about this?”
Leo shrugs. “I didn’t realize any of it still mattered.” He leans closer, his voice softening with concern. “So…she’s back in town? What’s the story?”
Guy props an elbow on the table, grinning as he gives me his full attention. “Is there a better way to start the day than with a little morning gossip?”
“If I remember correctly, she’s also engaged, and the other night, Luka offered for her to stay at his house,” Roman adds that key detail. I kick him under the table with the toe of my boot. To his credit, he doesn’t even flinch.
“Wow. Okay. Sounds like there’s a lot to unpack there,” Ivy says, blinking slowly. “And, judging by the dark circles under your eyes and your overall annoyed expression… I’m going to take a wild guess that things aren’t going great for you?”
“You could put it that way.” I admit. A memory of Scout’s red, swollen eyes flashes through my mind, and I feel my jaw clench tighter. I don’t know the full story behind why she’s back, but the text messages I read yesterday told me more than enough to know her situation is a little more than desperate.
I stare down at my clenched fists and sigh. I had no plans of sharing any of this today, but maybe a little female advice wouldn’t be the worst thing.
“Long story short is, her parents have always been hard on her. I’m not sure what happened, but from what I’ve gathered, she upset them when she broke off her engagement.
“Yesterday, L.O.K.I. sent me a video of her crying. She looked pretty upset, and it scared me. I thought somebody died or something, so I rushed home to check on her. When I got there, she looked so fucking broken. Her face was red, and her eyes were all puffy from crying for who knows how long. Her phone was sitting face up on the table, blowing up with incoming texts.I caught a glimpse of one of the messages that was concerning, so I forced her to show me the rest of them.
“From what I gathered, it seemed as if her dad was threatening her to come home and apologize. That if she wasn’t back home by this evening, then he was going to forge her signature and file the marriage paperwork himself.”
Ivy’s mouth drops open, and she slaps a hand over it. She looks at Leo and then back to me. “Can he do that?”
“I’m not sure. But Judge Sinclair was the reason I went to jail for the full term. He’s got a lot of connections and knows his way around a loophole. I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“So what are you going to do?” Ivy asks.
I shake my head. “I don’t think there’s anything I can do. Besides, it’s not really my place. Scout hasn’t asked me for my help.”
“But you can’t just let them get away with that!” Ivy says. “You can’t let them force her to marry someone she doesn’t want to be married to. What if he hurts her?”
“Trust me, I’ve been worrying about the same thing. But apart from driving over there and getting myself a couple of assault charges… I’m not really sure how to stop it. Hell, if anything, me showing up will only make things worse. I don’t think her parents could hate me any more than they already do.” I sit back in my chair with a sigh.
“So that’s it? You’re not even going to try to help her?” Ivy asks.
“Like I said, her father is an evil man who knows how to get what he wants. I’m not sure there’s anything I can do.”
Roman chuckles under his breath. “Unless you married her first.”
I feel my spine stiffen, my whole body going on alert.
“For Christ’s sake, Roman, don’t give him any crazy ideas,” Leo snaps.
Guy lifts a brow and nods. “Actually…that could work.”
“I don’t care if it’d work. That’s insane. He’s not going to get married just to beat her dad to the punch. There’s got to be another, more rational way to help her…like I don’t know, calling the police and reporting it,” Leo says.
Guy snorts, rolling his eyes. “Because historically the judicial system has always favored Luka…”
“Should we also not forget another important detail… Luka hates her. Does no one else remember how heartbroken he was after he got out of prison and realized she had ghosted him?” Leo says, trying to be rational.
Ivy smacks him in the chest. “Oh, Leo. Why do you have to be such a buzz kill? Have you ever heard of the term enemies to lovers?” She looks back at me with stars in her eyes. “I think it’s romantic. You have my full support… For what it’s worth.”
