Page 148 of Merciless Intents

She sniffed and wiped her nose. “The stuff Becky got from that guy—”

“‘Thestuff Becky got from that guy!?’ROHYPNOL,Harper! FuckingRohypnol!”I yelled. “That is adate rapedrug.That’swhat Becky got from ‘that guy.’”

Her head fell forward as her shoulders shook. I grabbed her, turned her, and slammed her against the door. I’d never wanted to hit a woman in all my life, but I did right then. I wanted to beat the hell out of her, and I hated myself for it. At the same time, I justified the desire because she’d damn near murdered the girl I cared for.

Love, you heartless bastard.

“Harper, stop fucking whining and fucking speak. Don’t make excuses. Talk. What the fuck doyouhave to whine about, anyway?”

“We gave the guy Temperance’s height, weight, and body type. We didn’t want to OD her. We just wanted to make sure she wasout. He calculated the dose, and Becky bought enough to slip it in all her drinks and inject some into the fruit.”

“You even spiked the fuckingfruit?” I couldn’t hide the shock from my expression.

Her face scrunched as more tears squeezed out. “Becky didn’t want any chances of failure. It was all her plan. I’d wanted to get Temperance back for spending the weekend with Damian—for having sex with him. I’m not an idiot. I can see how much he cares about her. More than that, I can see how much she cares about him, too. They fight, and he’shorribleto her, but it’s all because of me. If it wasn’t for thatstupidfucking bet, they’d probably be together and maybe even be happy.”

I swallowed. She wasn’t wrong. Damian would have claimed her for himself already, and I would have been left out in the cold. It was only because of the bet that I stood a chance at all because it kept those two apart. Not that it was a chance I could actually take.

“All I wanted was to teach her a lesson for crossing me again. Nothing serious. Maybe fuck with her exams to get her in trouble for cheating or something. Then it all went fucking crazy. Becky said she got some roofies, and then she came up with the tattoo idea. I thought the tattoo idea was pretty funny, but I didn’t like the roofies. Drugging someone can go so badly. I mean, what if she’d been allergic? I thought of that, but I didn’t know she was on anti-anxiety medication because of the attack.”

Her eyes widened, and her hands flew to her mouth. I stared at her with curiosity and questions swirling in my eyes.

“What attack?”

She shook her head before planting her hands in my chest and shoving me away. “No. Go.Now.”

“No. You’re going to tell me right now. Who hurt her? Are you talking about what happened with Eric? She’s taking meds because of that?”

Confusion twisted her features. “What? What happened with Eric?”

I groaned. I was shocked that hadn’t gotten out. You couldn’t fucking fart around here without everyone gossiping about it.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it. If that’s not it, then what happened? If it wasn’t Eric, what attack are you talking about?”

Absolute defiance washed through her. I could see it in the way she stood firm, her expression unforgiving. Whatever pity she felt for herself disappeared, and she looked determined. “No, Asher. I’ve done enough. Iwon’tsay anything. Go. Now.”

“Tell me now, or I’ll go ask Temperance directly, and I’ll tell heryouwere the one who told me all about it.”

Her hands covered her mouth again as her eyes squeezed shut, more tears spilling. She sank to her knees and rocked back and forth.

“I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do. Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she mumbled to herself, her voice barely above a whisper.

I knelt in front of her, lowering my voice so I no longer sounded threatening. “Harper. Please. I swear to you. I willnevertell Damian. I will never tell a soul. I want to protect her. Please, tell me.”

She sighed heavily, her shoulders falling as she looked at me with more fresh tears in her eyes. “Temperance is my sister.”

In my lifetime, there have been several instances when I’ve been shocked, stunned, bewildered, whatever—so much so that I’d use that hilarious and stupid wordflabbergastedto describe it because it went above and beyond what was normal.But when I thought through all those times,nothingcompared to the absolute astonishment I felt right then.

“She’s yourwhat?” I asked.

She nodded. “It’s a long story. I don’t have the emotional energy to go through it, but she’s my sister. You know how Rick’s wife was kidnapped, and the baby was cut out?” I nodded. “Well, that baby is Temperance. He found her after her parents were killed in an attack back in Indiana. Asher, youcannottell anyone about this. As much as I’ve hated her, evenIprotected that secret. It’ll put her life in danger if anyone finds out. Someone attacked her and her family to get to my dad—ourdad. I’m only telling you now because I didn’t trust you not to leave here all suspicious and run to Damian to throw gasoline onhissuspicions and convince him to look into it. You know how he is. He would have found something. Hecan’tknow. He’d use it to win the bet, not knowing the potential dangers involved, and it could get her killed.”

I shook my head. “I won’t breathe a word. I swear. Holy shit. Now everything makes so much sense. Why she’s so secretive. Why you went after her. Why you wouldn’t give Damian even basic information on her. All of it.”

She nodded. “Exactly. I couldn’t risk him looking into it, but I needed her gone. Away from my family. I don’t trust her.” Her brows furrowed. “Ididn’ttrust her.”

My gaze turned to hers. “You mean you trust her now?”

Her mouth opened and closed several times as her head shook back and forth, trying to find a way to answer. Finally, she shrugged with her palms up. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore. She could have thrown me under the bus. She could have told them I hadeverythingto do with what happened to her last nightandwith the naked locker room walk, but she didn’t. She purposely left my name out of the locker room incident, and then she told McArthur and cops that she didn’t believe I wanted to hurt her. She said she thought I was there against my will. Not exactly in those words. She mixed truth with lies so it was believable. She let them come to the conclusion themselves, and it worked. I managed to stay out of jail and in school.”

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