Page 84 of The Shape of my Scar
He’d started giving instead.
He hovered now, not for possession, but for penance.
Because the man who used to take without looking back was looking at her now like she was the only thing he couldn’t afford to lose.
Lirian grinned. “At least you are still alive. That’s a relief.”
“Guys.” Thane’s voice had dropped an octave, a warning. He didn’t like to be reminded of what nearly happened.
Zel ignored it. “We have something for you.” He reached into his coat and pulled out a small velvet pouch, placing it in her palm.
“What’s this?” she asked, her fingers curling around the soft weight.
“Backpay,” he said simply as she opened the pouch and revealed a small silver key. “It’s the key to a locker in your name. We’ve been holding a fifth of the Horsemen for you. And Thane, more than any of us, never lost hope that we would find you.”
Her brows lifted as she looked at Thane. “The Horsemen?”
Thane shifted beside her. He hadn’t stopped glaring at Maro since he walked in. But Maro didn’t care; his focus was on her.
Lirian pulled a chair forward, flipping it around before straddling it. “We made a promise long ago. If you ever came back, we’d cut you in.”
“Whether you work with us or not,” Maro added, still watching her. “It’s yours.”
“There’s also a bank account in the Cayman Islands,” Lirian said casually. “It’s in Thane’s name and he will transfer it to yours. That was the plan all along. You don’t have to lift a finger unless you want to.”
She stared at them. “Why? Why do all this?”
But she knew even as she asked.
It was Maro who answered, voice low and gritty. “Because we owe you. All of us do.”
He looked at her with truth in his eyes. “We wouldn’t have lasted long there. Zel would’ve been first to be killed off—he was getting too old for them. Lirian second, because he was trouble and harder to control. Me and Thane would’ve taken longer, but not by much. Angry and silent die slow.”
Zel was expressionless but his jaw ticked.
“I don’t know if Thane told you, but we found every bastard who did that to us,” Maro continued. “Every middleman. Every buyer. Every rotten warehouse and fake charity. There’s nothing left to dig up. They are all gone.” His voice hardened. “And we’ll do the same for you. We’ll find them, and we’ll make them pay.”
She swallowed. The floor felt unstable.
“Most of them…” her voice cracked, “were middlemen. Small fry. They’re dead or locked up”
“I didn’t have anything to do with that,” she said quickly, not meeting anyone’s eyes. Her voice wobbled. “Though Cormac might have. But there’s one. Just one…”
Her chest tightened as her memory took her to a place she didn’t want to go. “He was the one. I mean he…”
The words caught and choked. “He—”
She broke.
Her hands covered her face as the sob rose, ragged and sudden and louder than she expected.
She had thought she had left it all behind. She had years of therapy and her family behind her. But with them…
Chapter 40
Thane was beside her in a heartbeat. “Maro, back off,” he said sharply.
Maro looked stricken. His jaw clenched, and for a moment, a flicker of regret crossed his face. “I didn’t mean…”
