Page 52 of Queen of Diamonds
“Sorry, but nothing fancy here.” He put his arm around her shoulders. “Hopefully this won’t take long, and then we can get you… ah, somewhere you can rest for the day.”
She didn’t like the sound of that. “My own bed is where I can rest.” She also didn’t like when he didn’t respond, giving her the impression plans had been made for her that she wasn’t aware of. But a day to rest was definitely on her agenda. Maybe by tomorrow her headache would be gone and she could start worrying about finding a job since there was no way she could return to Summer Fashions.
The conference room was empty when they entered. After pulling out a chair for her along the middle of the table, he walked to a small refrigerator against the wall and returned with two bottles of water. Her scratchy throat welcomed the cold liquid. A minute later Taylor and her brothers came in.
“Dudes,” she said in greeting.
Next to her, Rand groaned. “Not you, too.”
She winked at Alex when he laughed. During the cookout at Nate’s, she’d noticed thatdudewas not one of Rand’s favorite words.
Alex came around to her side of the table, sitting next to her. Taylor, Nate, and Court sat across from her. All their gazes fell on her face as if scrutinizing her injuries. She managed not to squirm.
“You look a bit better than you did last night, little sister,” Alex said.
“I feel better.” She glanced at Taylor. “Thanks for getting me some clothes, and especially for sending my toothbrush along. My mouth felt like a cotton field this morning.”
“I wish the reason I had to didn’t exist, but you’re welcome.”
“So, what’s on your minds? I’d really like to go home and crawl into bed.”
Nate shook his head. “You’re not going back to that apartment. Ever.”
“Whoa! You don’t get to decide that.” Her mind was sluggish today or she would have realized that was what this little meeting was going to be about. “Just because you’re my oldest brother, which I guess makes you the head of the family, doesn’t mean—”
“How about this then? We found three cameras in your apartment. He’s been spying on you, Kinsey. Even with them gone, are you going to feel comfortable there again?”
“What?” Her stomach took a sickening roll. “How do you know this?”
“Because Nate found the cameras and I’ve linked into the feed,” Court said, and she didn’t like how his eyes stayed focused on the table instead of him looking at her.
She lifted her gaze to Rand’s. “How long were cameras in my apartment?”
“Remember the night you thought you left your back door open? We think he installed them then. Maybe he got careless about leaving the back door open, or you got home earlier than expected and surprised him, so he left in a hurry.”
“He’s been watching me?”
Court nodded. “Yeah.”
She shuddered. Just the thought of Sebastian watching her made her feel as if someone had lit her insides on fire. Beads of sweat rolled down her back. Rand reached for her hand, but she didn’t want to be touched. She pushed away from the table.
“Bathroom?”
“I’ll show you,” Taylor said.
As soon as she walked into the restroom, she went straight to the sink and turned on the water. It was cold, but not cold enough. She wanted it to feel like ice on her face. She wanted freezing numbness. After she’d soaked the top half of her shirt trying to wash away any thought of Sebastian and what he’d done, she twisted off the faucet handle.
It hadn’t worked. Not only had he left her feeling dirty, but he’d taken everything from her. Her sense of security, her job, and her apartment because she could never live there again.
“Here, sweetie.” Taylor handed her a couple of paper towels. “You can’t let that creep mess with your head.”
“And how is that supposed to work?” The dam broke, and the tears Kinsey had been holding back flowed down her cheeks. “I feel so violated.” Taylor opened her arms, and Kinsey walked into her sister-in-law’s embrace.
“Try not to think about that right now,” Taylor said, combing her fingers through Kinsey’s hair. “Ready to go back in and get this over with so you can get out of here?”
Kinsey sighed. “I don’t want to. I just can’t deal with all of this right now.” It felt good to have family to comfort her. What if this had happened before she found her brothers, when she’d still been alone? That didn’t bear thinking about.
“Okay then. Come with me.”
