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“Nothing’s changed.” Why does that feel like a lie?
“Sure seemed like something had changed last night.” Kane, always the asshole, pokes.
“Nope.” I swallow half a bottle of water, too aware of the way Ian watches me.
“Gonna go get the girls,” Cash says, already walking to the door. “Don’t like Wren out there without me.”
“Yeah,” Kane agrees, and because I’m a fucking sucker, I feel myself following until Ian calls, “Tav.”
I pause, turning back. “Yeah?”
“I got that thing you asked for.”
My hot blood instantly runs cold. “The will?”
“No. Not yet.” He eyes me carefully. “The medical report you asked for.”
A rush of air leaves my lungs. The disappointment is a painful burn, but I recover fast enough. I’m accustomed enough with disappointment not to be too crushed. In time, I’m confident Ian will come through for me. Though, if I’m honest, I’m surprised it’s taking him so long now that he knows what to look for. There has to be more than a physical copy. Somewhere, someone has to possess a digital copy, and if they do, Ian will find it.
“Thanks,” I say, turning to the door again. “Email it to me, yeah?”
Ian leans his ass into the arm of the couch. “Hold up a sec.”
I pause, frowning. “What’s up?”
“I don’t think you should play her like you are.”
I stiffen. “The fuck do you mean?”
“I mean, I think there’s more to her than you think there is.”
“She’s my younger brother’s ex fiancée, Ian. She showed up at my home out of the blue, blackmailed me into letting her stay by holding my mother’s fucking will over my head—the will I suspected always existed, but couldn’t prove—and has no intention of giving it to me until she gets her inheritance in fourteen months.” I hold up my hand, because I’m pissed, and I have more to say. “None of that is taking into consideration the fact that her sister was the woman I thought I’d marry. The woman who turned out to be sleeping with my father behind mine, and my mother’s, back.”
“She’s not her sister, Tav,” Ian reminds with cool rationality I’m not capable of right now.
“No. But they share blood,” I spit. “I couldn’t ruin Ophelia, but Olympia walked right into the shit coming her way. No, she fucking demanded it.”
“So, what are you doing? Making a fool out of her with this bet?” he asks with his constant calm. I’m vibrating. “You’re going to take her innocence and kick her out with no protection, because you think we’re going to side with you and cheat her into losing? Is that what you’re doing?”
“She’s not innocent. I grew up with that family. They were born dirty. Fucking filthy.” Red fringes my vision. I need to end this conversation. “And, yeah, I expect my brothers to take my back at the end of these thirty days. I expect you to stand beside me and help me get rid of a leech.” My voice is rising. “Think you can do that, Ian?”
He's quiet for a beat as I wait, my chest heaving with the emotions of my past. Emotions I’d thought I’d burned before burying the ashes.
When he speaks, he speaks softly. “You’re angry at them, not her. She was a child. And before she came here, you’d always spoken kindly of her.” He pushes off the arm of the couch to stroll casually toward me. “I’ll have your back always, Tav. You know that.” He pats my chest. “But be cautious the devil you become in your quest for revenge. There’s only so much you can come back from. Only so much the innocent can forgive.” His open palm connects with my heaving chest on his way past me. He gives a solid pat. “Read the documents I sent before you do anything.”
With that ominous warning, he’s gone.
I pull up my email and scan the first document. My eyes pause on a single sentence as my blood roars behind my ears.
She’s a virgin.
She was telling the truth. At least about that.
My eyes scan more of the document, and I see who ordered the exam: Darius Taviera.
Ian also included who the good doc sent the report to. Remira Laurier and Darius Taviera.
Maybe there’s some truth to her story after all.
