Page 52 of Relentless

Reaching out, I tuck my finger beneath the cover, my heart racing at the thought of seeing more of her handwriting, reading her thoughts.

She was the resident of this cell before I was. I don’t need Reid’s confirmation to know that’s true. But what I don’t know is how they treated her. Did they hurt her? Has JD been fucking her since she first got here? Has she fought back?

Clearly, she hasn’t given Reid the answers he’s demanding. Not that I expected her to do so.

He’s right. We are both as stubborn as the other. But it also takes one to know one. I’m pretty sure that Reid Harris has us both beat on the most stubborn asshole in Harrow Creek.

He won’t stop until he gets every last morsel of information out of us.

Prior to his visit earlier, I’d been adamant that I wouldn’t give him shit.

But there was something different about our exchange. Yes, it was full of hatred and anger, like all our previous ones. But listening to him tell me what he really thought of me… the way he spoke about Alana being hurt… what if he didn’t know what Victor was doing?

As far as I know, I’m the only one who looked deep enough to learn that the pretty smile Alana used to give everyone covered nothing but pain and fear. It wouldn’t be too hard to believe that Reid didn’t see it.

But his life is so tightly entwined with his father’s. Is it even possible for him not to be involved in all his business deals?

Yes, it’s well-known that Reid deals with drugs. He has control of everything from here to Rosewood and Maddison. But he also has his fingers in everything else. Dad might have the weapon trade under his control, but there isn’t a week that passes where Reid doesn’t let him know that he’s watching. But what about Kurt, because he’s the ringleader in all this. He’s in control of the whores and the strip clubs in this town. Human trafficking is only a skip and a jump from that.

He has to know. Has to.

But what if he doesn’t…

I lift the cover, staring down at her neat handwriting with my heart in my throat.

I might see the words, but none of them register. I’m too lost in my own head, remembering all the little notes I’ve found in different spots of the house over the years. The little reminders that she was safe, that she was with me.

I’m not stupid. I know the reason she agreed to marry me was because, above all else, she wanted revenge. It was never about love. Not for her at least.

All I can do now is hope that once we get the revenge she deserves, she won’t turn her back on me and run off into the sunset to find her happily ever after.

I guess that’s another reason I never fully committed to making her mine.

She might wear the ring and use my name, but without that final piece, she still has the freedom she deserves. I guess time will only tell whether she uses it or not.

14

ALANA

Iwake to the sound of my stomach growling like a wild beast.

Groaning, I curl back up into the warmth of Reid's comfortable bed and will myself to go back to sleep. But as tired as I still am from everything I’ve endured over the past couple of weeks, my hunger is stronger.

Another angry growl fills the room and I cringe as I throw the covers back.

I’m wearing another one of Reid’s t-shirts that I found in his drawers after my shower last night, along with a pair of his boxers that I’ve rolled at least four times around my waist in the hope of keeping them up.

What I really need are some clothes. Clothes, my own toiletries, and a freaking hairbrush. But I fear that demanding even one of those things will be met with deaf ears.

Unless you give Reid what he wants…

I need to. I know I do.

After my realization last night that we could actually be all fighting the same enemy here, I vowed to dig up some strength and at least tell him the bare minimum.

If I’m right and he’s gunning for Victor, just as much as we are, then hiding the truth could be the worst thing I could do. I should have told him right away.

If this whole thing is because we’re on the same side, we could have been almost two weeks into planning a way to take him and his sick and twisted friends down.

---