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“You speak about her in past tense.” She pauses, the silence punishing.
“Yeah. I guess it’s easier that way.” My chest tightens with the coward’s admission.
“Do you have any proof she’s no longer alive?”
I swallow over the bile edging its way up my throat. “The Greek authorities like to think so. Her DNA at a shallow, burned out grave is enough to satisfy their investigation. But all they found was a tooth and some hair. Nothing substantial.”
“So there’s hope?”
“Hope?” My voice fractures. “No. I could never hope she was living through hell every day. I prefer to believe she’s at peace. But until I have concrete evidence, the thought of her suffering will haunt me.”
Her face crumples. “You blame yourself.”
“Yes. I should’ve listened when she told me about the modeling contract. She’d never mentioned stepping foot in front of a camera before. Not once. It came from so far left field that I didn’t ask the questions I should’ve. I got caught up in her excitement about traveling the world. All it would’ve taken was an internet search on your father’s bullshit company.”
“Then hold him accountable.” Her voice hardens. “Don’t blame yourself. It isn’t healthy.”
“If you haven’t noticed, none of this shit is healthy. My life is as fucked as they come. And yours isn’t any better.”
She winces and lowers her gaze to my chest. “If I could get my hands on a phone, I could sort this out. I’ll call Cole…”
I glare. “Is that what this is all about?” The bed? The proximity? The subtle manipulation? “You’re not getting your hands on a fucking phone.”
I shuffle backward toward the edge of the mattress, curing my stupidity. She’s screwed me all over again and every goddamn time I’m surprised.
“Please don’t.” She grabs my arm. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked for a phone. I wasn’t trying to betray you or escape. I just want to keep talking. I want us to get back to the way things were.”
“Back to when we were lying through our teeth? Why? What good can come from that?” I wait for a response to stop me from leaving. I honestly want her to say something to make me stay in this fantasy world. But what can possibly be said to change this situation?
There’s no righting all our wrongs.
There are too fucking many.
“I want to help you.” She implores me with sad eyes, her teeth nibbling into her lower lip. “Together we can make this right.”
I chuckle and shove from the mattress. “Nothing can make this right. The best I can hope for is a lifelong prison sentence for your father. That’s the end game. You can’t unrape all those women. Nobody can reverse the pain that’s already been inflicted.”
She sits up, bundling the covers in her lap. “That’s what I mean. I can help you get him arrested.”
I wish it were that easy. In fact, I’m pretty fucking pissed it isn’t. “You can’t help me. My cover is already blown. But you can work with the Feds—”
She shakes her head. “I won’t work with the authorities. I’ll work with you. We can do this together. You can’t give up now.”
“I’m not giving up,” I grate, hating the accusation. Fighting for my sister is all I have… Had… The battle is out of my hands now.
“Then what do you call it?” she asks.
I clench my teeth and ball my fists. “I call it self-fucking-preservation.”
She scrambles from the bed. “My father needs to be stopped. You can’t walk away now.”
“Do you think I want to walk?” Fury spreads through me like wildfire. “I’ve got no fucking choice but to run.” I can’t stop my voice from rising. “You ratted me out. Hunter knows I’m the informant. And by now Cole and Sarah would too. I can’t get inside information anymore. I’m useless. Everything I’ve worked for is gone.”
Her face pales.
“The rest of my life will be spent hiding from your brother, Keira, and that’s only if Hunt doesn’t get to me first.”
Her throat works over a heavy swallow. “I’ll speak to my brother.”
“Words won’t change the level of my betrayal. Your brother is going to fucking kill me the first chance he gets.”
“I have more power than you think. Have faith in me.”
I wish I could. Seriously, I do. But my fate is set. I either hide or die.
“I’m going to take a shower.” I stalk for the bathroom, needing to lock myself away from her deluded beliefs. I can’t be the one to make her feel better about this, no matter how much I want to.
“Sebastian, wait.”
She rushes after me, almost making the distance before I close the door on her.
“Please.” She pleads through the barrier between us. “I’ll figure something out. Let me talk to Cole.”
I smother a derisive laugh. She’ll talk to him—a guy with unfathomable determination when it comes to slaying his enemies. I bet that conversation goes down like a cheerleader at an after party.
I strip and climb into the shower, not bothering to wait for the water to warm before I sink under the harsh chill.
“Please, Sebastian.”
Christ. This woman doesn’t let up.
I step under the spray and raise my swollen face to the water. The pain blocks out her pleas as I rest one hand against the tile to keep myself upright.
Talking to Cole won’t change a thing. No matter what she says to try to convince him I’m i
At least I have a head start to escape.
Once I freshen up, I’ll pack a few of my brother’s things and flee. I can cross multiple state borders before dark. And I’ll keep crossing them, changing cars and IDs along the way—
A foreign noise breaks me from my plans, and I lean my head toward the glass shower screen to listen.
The door jangles. She’s trying to pick the fucking lock.
I huff out a defeated breath as she breaks in. I’ve gotta give it to her, she’s persistent as shit.
She approaches me, the sight of her taking up my peripheral vision.
“I can fix this.” Her determination bears down on me from the other side of the glass. My dick isn’t immune. Her tenacity is sexy as hell, no matter how hard I battle to ignore it.
I slink back under the water, keeping my head bowed, my hand against the tile.
“Sebastian…” She opens the screen. “Let me talk to Cole. I can work this out. I’ll bet my life on it.”
I don’t respond. Well, apart from my cock that continues to thicken.
“Sebastian,” she snaps. “Listen to me.” She steps inside the shower, sliding along the wall in front of me, her shoulder grazing my splayed hand.
“What the hell are you doing?” I growl.
“You should know that I hate when you ignore me.”
“Yeah, I do. But this isn’t a place you want to be right now.”
She sighs. “Yes, it is. We need to work this out.”
“Not right now, we don’t.” I straighten, backing away from her. “Get out of here.”
“Not until you listen to me. Cole will—”
“No. You listen to me.” I narrow my stare. “Comprehending this conversation would be problematic at the best of times. But when I’m hard as a fucking rock, there’s absolutely no chance. So I suggest you get out of my face.”
The slightest frown knits her brows, then understanding dawns in those naive eyes. She swallows, hard, and her tongue dashes out to lick her lower lip. “I’m not leaving.”
“Don’t do this to me,” I beg.