Page 9 of My Beautiful Sin

“What?” Brandy asks, obviously noticing my change in mood.

“Take a look at this,” I say, then pull up the text and pass her my phone.

“You’re in over your head. Find the truth. Don’t trust anyone.” She reads it aloud, then meets my eyes. “Well, that’s super creepy. Who sent it?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.” I smoosh some muffin crumbs under my finger, as if I were squishing the bastard who’s taunting me. “I’m assuming someone who doesn’t realize I know who Devlin’s father is. But maybe it’s about something else entirely.”

Her brow furrows. “Like what?”

I hesitate, but Devlin has never asked me to hold back around Brandy. He understands that I need someone to talk to. And right now, I need someone more than ever.

I draw in a deep breath, then lay it out for my bestie. “Devlin told me he has more secrets. But he also said he’s not going to tell me. Not ever.”

She tilts her head and stares me down. “Seriously? And you were okay with that?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know.” I drag my fingers through my hair. “It was like he was warning me off, but I can’t walk away again, Brandy. I can’t.”

“I know.” Her voice is gentle. “I get that. But still, if he has secrets that are going to put you in the crosshairs for creepy messages, then it’s only fair he tells you the damn secret.”

I almost smile. Brandy’s not big on cursing, so the extra punctuation only underscores how indignant she is on my behalf.

“Not arguing,” I assure her. “And I don’t believe he’ll keep his secrets forever. That’s just not us, you know?”

“This is all new, Ellie. He’s not Alex, remember? You’re working from a completely different us now.”

I don’t answer, because she’s right, and my chest tightens in response to the truism.

Brandy frowns, then passes me another muffin, like it’s a consolation prize. “You’re probably right. After all, the man is head over heels. He wants to protect you now, but he’ll tell you eventually.”

“Maybe. Probably. I don’t know.” I shake off the melancholy. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. The point is this might not be about his dad. This might be about those secrets.”

“I get that. But what good does it do if you don’t know what the secrets are?”

“It doesn’t matter. The secrets themselves aren’t relevant.”

“Then what is?”

“Who else knows them.”

For a moment, she looks confused. Then her face clears. She circles the bar and comes to sit beside me, swiveling her stool so she can face me. “You’re saying someone sent that text to scare you off. Someone who knows the rest of Devlin’s secrets and doesn’t want you to learn them?”

“Pretty much.”

“Okay, maybe. But how will you ever figure out who?”

I meet her eyes. “I have an idea already.”

Her brow furrows. “Who?”

“Ronan Thorne.” Considering how much Devlin relies on him, I feel a little disloyal saying the name, but I can’t shake the sense that something is up with him. And one thing I always do is trust my instincts.

Brandy frowns. “But they’re total buds.”

“All the more reason. They had each other’s back in the service, so he’s going to have Devlin’s back now, right?”

“I guess, but this—”

“He doesn’t trust me.”