I winced at yet another malicious reminder of the history between them, but Devin was staying relatively balanced. Even as close by him as I was, I saw no further change in expression or posture. “I simply mean that I know I cannot trust you now, and it would be absurd to claim otherwise. But with that understanding clear between us, we can still each reap some benefits.”
I could see my parents were startled that he had been so honest about his mistrust. For them it was clearly quite reasonable to let a truth hide in plain sight. “What is this connection with you worth,” asked Daddy, “if you remain so suspicious?”
“At least as much as you are worth to me,” Devin returned. “And when it comes down to it, all I want from you is her.”
Knowing exactly where I came from, what I could offer, he had found me imperfect, but still worthwhile.
“And her ring,” he added.
“What?” said Mum, like she couldn’t possibly know what he was talking about. They’d confiscated it that morning and I thought they were hoping nobody would call them out on it, which said a lot about how dire a position they had gotten themselves into. Devin just had to move one eyebrow, and Mum scampered off to fetch it.
The distraction wasn’t enough to help me overwhelm the feelings I’d been grappling with before it happened. My parents looked terrified when I started crying in front of them even though I was apparently getting everything I wanted, and Devin was clearly bemused too, but he gave me a bigger smile than I’d expected him to show in the presence of the other dread Mahoneys, and promised there were far more things ahead I’d want to cry about, so I’d better pace myself.
He wasn’t kidding about that, either.
“I don’t want to see Caroline,” I told Devin. “I understand staying on good terms with parents, but she’s just a cousin. You aren’t even very close to her.”
Devin allowed a slight grimace. “Mother is, unfortunately. And in a way it’s now more important than ever that we stay close to people on our side.”
“She’s not on our fucking side!” I exploded. “That bitch pretended to be my friend so she could hand me over to my parents!”
“Julia.” Devin put his hands on my shoulders and sat me down on his hotel bed. He’d decided he wasn’t going to be outsourcing my care to his relatives any more, so we were getting used to being in very close quarters. “I am not going to tell you what to do in our relationship.” I braced for a fight. “But I would like to ask you to do this, to help me.”
I was so startled by this mild request from a man I knew could take a knife to another man’s dick and not think about it the next day, I realised I was going to agree.
Devin adjusted his jacket, because he also knew I was going to agree. It pissed me off a little, but I couldn’t say I hated his confidence. “In any case, you are wholly the wronged party here. It’s not like all those other times in your life when you’ve done something to earn a harsh response. So you should try to attend this meeting with confidence.”
I realised something we hadn’t talked about: part of Devin’s reasoning for not revealing his history with my parents for so long was my own part in it. There was a case to be made for there being something profound about the way we had been connected in that incident, and then come together later. I would definitely have felt that way if I’d known.
I was feeling that way now, but it was different. We had a recent history now: short as it was, I could decide to attach more significance to those things I couldn’t remember with open eyes.
“Anyway,” Devin added as he headed for the door, “Caroline won’t tell Mother or myself much of the story. It’d be interesting to hear what she’ll reveal to someone she feels she owes an account to.”
Seeing it as a service I was doing for Devin, an information-gathering exercise, made me far more interested in the project. I wanted to show I could pull my weight in our developing partnership.
Devin blew a startling, deadpan kiss at me before walking out the door, and I was still reeling when there was a knock, and Caroline made a wary entrance.
She closed the door behind her and stayed standing near it. “Thank you for seeing me.”
I gestured her over to the little table, where I had laid out biscuits, and started the coffee machine without asking her if she liked what I’d picked. I kind of enjoyed the feeling of being wronged. It took me back to my old days of messing with guys’ heads, except there was no need to stay up at night wondering if what I was doing was quite right.
Even while I was at the machine, I watched her carefully. “If I’m going to invite you to my wedding, I think I need answers about what happened that day. I thought we were supposed to be becoming friends.”
“We were,” Caroline started, and then she frowned. “Are you still going to invite me to your wedding, then?”
“I haven’t decided on that yet. Apparently I have to invite my parents, so it’s not like you’d be the guest letting the team down or anything.”
Caroline’s smile looked like one she’d practiced a lot for use in situations where the last thing she wanted was to smile. Even on the O’Hare side of the family, being compared to Mr. and Mrs. Mahoney was clearly not a desirable outc
ome.
“Like I said.” She picked up a cream-filled biscuit from the tray and rolled it from hand to hand. “I intended to become your friend. But also, like I said, it’s not easy in our sphere. You always have to be thinking about protecting what you already have… and in my case, my greatest asset is my relationship with Angel.”
“Oh, you are not going to tell me that you arranged for me to be kidnapped by my parents because you were jealous of my spending time with Devin’s mother. That bitch doesn’t even like me!”
Caroline grimaced. “It wasn’t exactly the smartest thing I’ve ever done…” Her face turned wicked. I knew I was about to learn a little more than I wanted to know. “Actually, when I talked to Angel about this she told me she’d tipped your parents off to where you were living. So it turns out things wouldn’t have ended up much differently for you if I hadn’t acted, although I suppose they might not have been able to deactivate the cameras so easily as the security system without my assistance.”
It was much less of a shock to hear that Angel had her own scheme already active.