Page 86 of Claim

“Be my guest.”

At that moment, Damon emerged into the secured hallway separating the waiting and interrogation rooms. Mr. Sharpton and two officers walked beside him, all speaking to each other, while Damon remained silent.

He wore his standard blank expression, but I saw the exhaustion shadowing his face.

Our eyes connected, and my heart clenched, that unexplainable tether we shared locked into place.

I was in love with this man.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Damon

I stared into Sophia’s dark eyes wanting nothing more than to stalk over and wrap her in my arms. But these assholes were taking their sweet fucking time, as they had with everything today.

Three hours of questioning to dissect every minute detail of the last forty-eight hours of my existence. Thank God for Lucian’s attorney since the assholes were determined to get me to admit to a crime they knew damn well I hadn’t committed.

Every time they came up with another way to ask me the same damn question, Sharpton interceded and put the fuckers in their place.

Half the time, I wondered if they thought Sharpton or I were stupid.

It was a colossal waste of time.

Yeah, I got that they were doing their job. And the two cops coming out with me weren’t too bad in the grand scheme of things. They were just following orders.

The two dick investigators who walked in with their cocky attitudes, all ready to go to lunch thinking they had an open and shut case, were the ones I wanted to punch. The fuckers thought they could poke holes in my alibi and call it a day.

Too bad for them, my whereabouts were airtight.

It still hadn’t mattered. They were convinced I had something to do with the murder, and nothing would change their minds.

If I planned Randolph’s demise, I’d never make it so easy as poison. That was a total pussy way to make it happen.

I’d want him to suffer, wish for death, beg for mercy. I’d enjoy watching the life drain out of his eyes. And most of all, I wouldn’t leave a body behind like some chump amateur.

Shit. I needed to get the fuck out of here and clear my head. After all these years of hanging around him, Lucian seemed to have rubbed off on me.

Then again, Keith the fucker continued to hurt Sophia. So I wasn’t sorry, he was dead.

It was disappointing that I wouldn’t get to enact my plan to avenge Sophia.

Come Monday, various news outlets and journalists would receive details on all the dirty little secrets Keith Randolph and his father went to great expense to hide.

I’d play a game of tit-for-tat.

The best way to handle people like the Randolphs was to give them a hefty taste of their own medicine. The added benefit of the public fodder would be what the unwanted attention would do to the family company’s stock prices.

The door beeped, signaling the all-clear to exit.

Sophia stepped in my direction, but Lucian stayed her with a hand on her upper arm. The scowl she gave her brother would have made me smile in any other circumstance.

There was a fierceness on her face, which made me realize how hard she’d fight for me.

It was time to acknowledge the truth of all the emotions and turmoil roiling inside me. I stared at her as relief and acceptance washed over me.

I’d fallen in love with Sophia Morelli.

The woman took my breath away, even in this building with bad lighting, grime, and disgusting smells.

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