Page 19 of Ruin
“When you got custody of him?” Imogen asks, and I nod.
“Yes. We moved to the eastern suburbs after I got him out of foster care, and he met Lily at the private school I enrolled him in. Lily was a bit of a loner, like Daniel, and they gravitated towards each other. She started spending most of her time with us because her family situation wasn’t the best. She was the sister Daniel never had.”
She cocks her head to the side. “But not you?”
This woman has always had the ability to read me in ways no one else has. Perhaps because we are both so similar.
I huff out a dark laugh, laced with bitterness. “No. Not me.”
“So she fell for you?” she asks.
“We never discussed her feelings for me,” I reply, warily.
She raises an eyebrow and a smirk slowly spreads across her face. “Ah… so you had feelings for her, too.” It isn’t a question, but a statement, and I have to keep from grinding my teeth.
I sigh. “It’s complicated, Imogen.”
The smirk grows wider as her eyes twinkle with amusement. “So she married your ex-friend because you were too chicken to do anything about your feelings, thus causing you to move to Brisbane and bury your head in the sand. Got it.”
I scowl at her. “It wasn’t like that.”
She crosses her arms. “Enlighten me, then. Because it seems pretty uncomplicated, from where I’m standing.”
“It’s complicated because whilst I cared deeply for her, you, of all people, know how I live my life. It’s not conducive with a relationship, let alone one with someone like Lily.”
“Wait… So you thought you’d do what? Corrupt her with your wicked ways?”
I let my silence answer for me, and Imogen scoffs after a moment, shaking her head. “Unbelievable.”
I raise an eyebrow, feeling my jaw tense. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just that I distinctly remember us having a frightfully similar conversation about me and Cam not that long ago. Seems like you probably should have followed your own advice. How do you know Lily wouldn’t be okay with how you live your life if you didn’t ask her?”
I pinch the bridge of my nose again, wishing I’d just kept it brief.
“I didn’t need to ask her. I met her when she was fifteen. And she was sweet and innocent. Two things I have never been. And -” I cut myself off, realising I was about to talk about the thing that had hurt the most.
The thing I’ve never spoken to anyone about.
Imogen’s eyes narrow. “And what?”
“It was nothing.”
She purses her lips. “There’s more to this than you’re telling me.”
I shake my head. “Just that sweet and innocent people don’t belong in our world. I wasn’t prepared to be responsible for her downfall.”
Cocking her head again, she studies me for a moment, sadness slowly replacing the smirk. “But someone else was, weren’t they? That’s why she’s here?”
I nod. “My life in Sydney was very different from here. It was a large part of why I left. The company I kept was less than savoury, filled with powerful men who are prone to violence. You weren’t too far off the mark when you mentioned the mafia, although it wasn’t as organised as that. I met Joseph Sinclair when I sought out my father’s family, after I aged out of foster care. And when I inherited everything a few months later and gained custody of Daniel, Joseph introduced me to the right people for me to start building our hotel portfolio. That later led to Dark Desires, as you know. For the longest time, I was able to keep Lily away from all those people.” I grimace at the memory of my fruitless attempts to protect her. “Her father was a notorious social climber who wanted nothing more than to get into that circle, and I knew he would throw Lily to the wolves in order to do it.” Imogen’s eyes glisten a little, and I know she can sense where this story is going. “I made sure Daniel went to university, hoping to keep him away from all of them, and Lily went with him. But at the beginning of their final year, Joseph met her for the first time. He was already in deep with the wrong people by that point, and I’d started to distance myself from him. I told him to stay away from her. That just made him want her more. And Lily… I don’t know if the fact that I kept her at arms-length drove her towards him, but as soon as they started seeing each other, he’d convinced her not to continue studying. Convinced her there was no future for her as a dancer, which was her life’s passion. She’d been doing a dual degree, studying business with Daniel, as well as dancing, with the dream of opening a dance studio one day. So I had to walk away. I couldn’t tell her what to do, and though Daniel tried to warn her about what a piece of work Joseph could be, she only saw what Joseph wanted her to see. When they got married, she went radio silent, even with Daniel. Neither of us has seen or spoken to that man in years. But Daniel apparently saw them ata charity function a few months ago and got into contact with Lily without Joseph’s knowledge. And one day he went to pick her up, finding her beaten almost to death, lying in a pool of her own blood. So he grabbed what he could and got her the fuck out of there. And she’s been hiding at the Rose Hill club ever since.”
Imogen shakes her head. “That poor woman.”
“While your circumstances weren’t as violent, I know you can relate to at least some of what she’s been through.”
She nods. “Yeah, I can,” she says quietly.
Imogen’s ex-husband was an emotionally abusive arsehole, and her parents are pieces of shit that she cut herself off from at twenty, so she definitely gets it.
