Page 45 of The Redemption of Alex Cade
“His ideas about detaching himself from everything we’ve built together and walking away, they’re just delusions.”
My eyes widened. Alex was planning to leave it all behind?
“Ahhh, from the look on your face, sounds like this is another thing our Alex isn’t telling you. Getting to be quite a habit of his, wouldn’t you say? Not gonna happen, though, because me and Alex, we’re bound together tighter than a ball of knotted, tangled wool. There’s no picking us apart. It’s me and him, Kitten, always has been from the day I walked through that foster house door and always will be until we gasp our last breaths. You don’t figure in any of it, you never have and you never will. If push came to shove, if he was standing on the edge, he wouldn’t choose you. He might think he would, but he wouldn’t.”
Kelvin leant forward over the table and I cringed. I tried to lean back, but there was nowhere to go.
“Oh, sweetheart. I know you don’t want to believe me. And I get it, I really do. I reckoned you’d already worked out that what he told you was… curated. Yes, that’s a good word. Alex’s version of who and what he is, the version he’s dished up to you, is just that. He’s nothing but a glorified pimp. Just like I am.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a stinking back alley or a plush hotel room, it comes down to the same thing. Boys. Drugs. Blackmail. Intimidation. He’s a criminal. Doesn’t matter that he hasn’t got a record, it’s what he is. He might not be getting his hands dirty anymore, because he’s taking a more managerial rather than an operational role, you could say, but that doesn’t make him squeaky clean. But he profits from it, every second of every day, as the cash comes rolling in. Ask him, and watch him blink.Thenyou’ll believe me. Will you be able to handle that, Kitten, knowing where the money’s come from, what someone had to do to earn it?
“So, I’m telling you one last time. You walk away, and you do it now. And if you don’t, if you believe that love will find a way and all the rest of that shit, then I’ll make you regret the day your whore of a mother pushed your miserable little self out into the world.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
ALEX
The Uber dropped me off outside Kit’s house. Every call I made, every message I left had gone unanswered. He’d been away with work, again, for a couple of days, and had warned me he’d be just as run off his feet when he got back, but this silence… It had left me edgy and nervous. Something wasn’t right.
All the curtains were pulled tight, giving the place a closed off vibe, but as I made my way along the short path to the front door, a tiny chink showed a faint light. I pressed the doorbell and waited. No hallway light came on, no obscured silhouette approached the door. I stepped back, just in time to see the curtain twitch and the briefest glimpse of Kit. What the fuck was going on?
“Kit? Answer the door,” I shouted as I pressed my finger to the bell again, keeping it there. “I know you’re in. If you don’t open this door, I’ll kick it in.”
Next door a face appeared at the living room window, shooting back when I glared. Kit’s door opened a crack and asecurity chain stretched across the narrow opening, through which Kit peered out at me from a dark hallway. All my irritation at being left out in the freezing rain evaporated, as worry thundered through me. Something was very, very wrong.
“Kit? What’s going on? For god’s sake, let me in.”
“I’m not feeling very well. Go home, Alex. I’ll—I’ll call you in a couple of days.” He went to close the door but I shoved it hard using all my weight. The cheap chain broke and Kit gasped as I pushed my way in and slammed the door behind me.
I felt for the light switch, flooding the hallway with light. Dark shadows stained the skin beneath his eyes, the whites of which were veiny and bloodshot. He was naturally pale, but his skin had an unhealthy pallor, and the hair I liked to run through my fingers was unkempt and greasy; a light stubble darkened his jaw. My heart rate was going through the roof as panic grabbed hold of me.
“What the hell’s wrong? Are you ill? I’ll get you a doctor.” I fumbled for my phone. I knew who I could call, and he’d be here with no questions asked.
“No. I don’t need a doctor.”
My stomach cramped as realisation crawled up my spine.
He knew.
He knew about me, about who and what I was.
There was only one way he could have found out.
“Kit…” My voice was no more than a shaky whisper. I went to touch him, but he stepped out of reach.
“I got home. I was tired and soaked through. All I wanted was to talk to you, hear your voice. But instead I foundhim.”
Kit swung round on his heel and I raced after him as he disappeared into the living room.
A bottle of wine sat on the coffee table and Kit sloshed some into a glass, gulping it back as though it were tap water.
“What did he tell you?”
“Is it true?” he said, not answering my question, stepping up to me so close I could smell his wine tainted breath. I hesitated, the smallest of beats, but it was all that was needed.
Kit rubbed his forehead as his eyes scrunched closed. The glass fell from his other hand, unheeded. “I didn’t want to believe what I was hearing. I kept telling myself he was lying, or it was some gross and filthy exaggeration. Because he hates me, because he wants me gone, because he can’t stand the thought that you might turn your back on him.”
“Kit, please just—” He hit my arms away as I reached out for him.
