Page 28 of Free to Run
Cassidy, however, is quiet. I hear her chair rolling back from her desk, and then she’s muttering something under her breath. Moments later, she’s in my doorway, glaring at Phil. She’s been actively trying to make her way down the hallway to my office this entire time.
Phil winks at me. “The doctor said it’s good for her to move around often. I’m just helping out where I can.”
Cassidy throws him the middle finger before waddling to my corner easy chair, which has an ottoman in front of it. Longingly, she strokes the arm. “If I sit down in this thing, I may never get back up.”
Choked laughter escapes me before I can control it.
“And for that, you can be the one to haul my ass out of this thing when it’s time for me to leave,” Cassidy declares as she sinks into the chair. Lifting her legs onto the ottoman, her smile is pure bliss. After a contented sigh, she turns to Phil. “Please, continue. Now I have a better view for the show.”
My stomach roils. They planned this? They’re going to grill me at the office? What the hell? There are rules about this kind of shit. We save it for family dinners when we won’t possibly be interrupted by, you know, clients.
Oh, wait. Now Keene is at our family dinners. Consequently, why this ambush is going down in my office.
“Anyone else you want to invite?” My voice drips with venom.
Cassidy flinches slightly, but Phil takes no notice.
“No, Em is with a client. Corinna said she refuses to take part. Hold on. Holly, are you coming?” Phil yells out my door.
My face is burning as I fume in silence. Holly’s quick footsteps make their way down the hall. “Should have done this in the conference room. More chairs,” Holly claims as she walks in.
“Close the door. Em has a client,” Phil urges. Holly quickly shuts the door and then leans her back against it.
I’m trapped and cornered in my own office.
And it’s all Keene’s fault.
“What do you think you’re doing?” My voice is low and lethal. This should indicate I’m past upset and edging toward infuriated. In Cassidy’s condition, I don’t want to add any undue stress to her, but damn her. Damn all of them. They’re bringing this on themselves.
“Why did you avoid Keene all day yesterday, Ali? He was over at my place worrying about where you were. Apparently, you two had words, again. I thought you were going to resolve that,” Cassidy says reproachfully.
“Ali, you can’t have an ongoing war with Keene. He’s a member of the family now,” Phil adds.
Since I can’t direct the full blast of my anger at Cassidy, I unleash it on Phil. “Oh? And what would you call what you and he have, Phillip? A mutual admiration society? Maybe we can get Keene on the phone to tell us all about how he feels about his other brother.” I reach for the button on my speakerphone, when Phil’s hand reaches out and grabs mine. I pull mine away violently. “Not willing to let bygones be bygones just yet? Then shut the hell up, Phil.” I dismiss him.
The sharp breath I hear is his only response. Then I turn on Holly.
“And Holly? What’s your stake in this? Do you really care, or are you just planning on handing out more of my personal information again? You know, despite the fact we’re siblings, this is a place of business, and there are laws around data privacy in this state.”
Holly’s face pales. The only person she’s given that information to is Corinna, and I didn’t care at the time. Now? I care. A lot.
“And Cassidy? It might be nice if you actually asked me if I apologized to Keene before jumping down my goddamned throat. Because I tried to when he accosted me at the party I went to with Jared the other night. He told me I didn’t need to. This, of course, was not long before he implied he wanted to fuck me again for the third time, and I told him I was tired of being his whore.” Watching Cassidy’s face pale, I feel no remorse except for the two little beings inside her who might have felt a blip in their oxygen supply. “That’s right. And last night, did he tell you he snuck up on me at my house? Do I have nowhere that’s safe anymore?” I laugh bitterly. I stand and begin pacing back and forth behind my desk. I see Cassidy struggle to sit up, but I wave her back down. “I am tired of being your brother’s plaything. It took my sister pointing that out to help me realize that. And I’m damn glad she refused to come upstairs to participate in this joke of a conversation.” My eyes sweep the room. “I deserve more from all of you, despite what you might think of me.”
I stop pacing. Quickly, I shove my laptop into my bag and walk around my desk, directly in front of the door. Holly’s face is filled with a wordless, beseeching plea. I narrow my eyes at her. “Move.”
She scurries out of the way.
I open my office door and turn around. Everyone is in some state of shock. Holly is now leaning against my desk, her face chalk white. Phil is facing me, his jaw set. Cassidy’s face is one of self-flagellation and devastation, a look I’m already familiar with. I see it in the mirror every damn day.
“I trust you’ll be able to let yourselves out of my office. I’m heading to New York to file the real estate paperwork with Jared.”
I turn before the first hot tear of anger falls down my cheek.
I blindly head down the grand staircase of the mansion as Em’s clients are finishing their appointment and are leaving her studio. She opens her mouth to say something to me, but I shake my head and head out the back door.
Reaching my car, I connect the Bluetooth before peeling out of the lot. Using the hands-free, I say, “Call Jared Work.” I tap the wheel impatiently while I wait for the call to connect.
“If you miss me, you should have stuck around for breakfast the other morning,” Jared teases.
