Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 90211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
“No, I doubt you do. A man like you has to learn a lesson more than once. But you’ll learn, I promise.”
I kick him again, this time with less force, more to remind him that he’s on the ground and I’m standing. He whimpers, bloodied and gasping for air, and he looks pathetic down there. He looks like what he is: an old man flailing to hold on to his power and failing as it all slips from his fingers like dirt.
I walk to the doorway and pause. “Martin? One more thing.”
“Please. Anything.”
“Your wife, Noreen? You’ll leave her alone too. If I speak to her and it seems like you took some of your frustrations out on her—“ I hold his eyes until he cringes away. “We’ll be in touch.”
I leave him there. The old man’s no use to me at the moment.
I’ve tried all my life to solve problems. Always I’ve been able to come up with some solution, mostly through bribery and brute force. But this issue isn’t something I can pay off, it’s not something I can beat or kill, it’s not even something I can run away from.
I’m trapped here, and it’s time I accepted the truth.
I care about her.
More than I ever thought I would.
Seeing her mother like that, curled in and crushed, all because that pathetic asshole has been lording over them their entire lives, it drives me to fucking violence.
I’ll never let my Regan end up like her mother.
Which means I have to get past my own petty bullshit.
And there’s only one way to do it.
CHAPTER 27
REGAN
Kelly refills my wine glass and plops down on the couch beside me. “You sure you’re okay? You’ve never appeared on my doorstep like this before.”
“No, I’m fine, and if you don’t want me hanging around—“
“Are you kidding? I’ve been living alone for like two years and I’m sick of it. You want to stay a few months?”
I smile at her. I know she’s saying that to be nice, but it does help. “I think we’ll try one night first and go from there.”
“Here’s to roommates for a night then.” She clinks her glass to mine and sips. “You want to talk about it?”
“About what?”
“I don’t know, maybe the reason you appeared out of nowhere asking if you could crash at my place with no clothes, no phone charger, not even a change of underwear? Seriously, how do you not have a change of underwear? I keep a pair on me at all times.”
“I mean, it’s fine, it’s nothing—wait, you keep underwear on you at all times?”
“Constantly. Seriously. I have a pair in all my bags.”
“That’s… really?”
“Girl, what is better than a fresh pair of underwear? If I’m feeling down, new undies. Feeling gross? New undies. Bored? New undies. Horny?”
“Okay! Got it!”
“Seriously, you don’t have to tell me what happened, but I can listen if you want.”
I cradle my wine in both hands. I’ve been here for a couple hours and she hasn’t so much as pressed once until now. That’s what I love about Kelly, she’s always quick to forgive and willing to let people be who they are. If I told her I’d rather we didn’t say anything, she’d accept that and move on.
But I feel like I owe her at least some explanation.
“My family’s going through something right now,” I say, thinking of how I can possibly phrase this. My brother betrayed my family’s criminal organization to a rival Russian Bratva and might be running for his life, plus my father’s an abusive asshole. I should probably start small.
“Family’s hard,” she says with a nod.
“Mine’s harder than most. My dad… well, I mean, you know…”
“Your father, the big scary CEO of our company? Yes I’m very aware of him.”
“He’s always like that, you know what I mean? There’s no other… mode with him.”
“That must’ve been hard.”
“It was, but I learned how to deal with it. Except lately… I don’t want to deal with it anymore. I don’t want to be… the shape he wants. Does that make any sense?”
“Not really, but I’m catching pieces.” She puts a hand on my knee. “I’m so sorry you’re dealing with whatever this is, Regan. You’re a good person. When I first got hired, nobody was all that nice to me, except for you. Do you remember inviting me to lunch?”
“Honestly? Not at all.”
“Well, you did, and I haven’t forgotten it.”
“Are you letting me stay over because I asked to sit with you at lunch?”
“Yes! And no, but mostly yes. I’m trying to say you do good things for people, and whatever’s happening now, you don’t deserve it.” She hesitates, her eyes flicking to the window, and her voice lowers. “Are you in trouble? Does this have to do with that guy you married?”
“No, it doesn’t.” Thinking about Liam sends a thrill into my core. I hate the way we left our last conversation. I was so mad at the way he handled it, but now I can see it was exactly the way my father took the news. Maybe I have more of him in me than I like to admit.