This Cruel Love

“Yet,” she bit back. I knew from some of the things Jackson had told me about Chloe that she’d fought her fair share of demons. Maybe she was too jaded by life to make a level-headed judgement on this.

“Honestly, you don’t have to worry, just don’t tell Jackson. I haven’t told him, but I will be okay. I wouldn’t go if I thought he meant me any harm.”

“Ryley, you’re a lovely, beautiful person, but you’re naïve. So naïve, you make me nervous for you. No one can ever truly know another person. You said he cheated on you, took drugs, and basically abandoned you for months. Don’t underestimate a human’s need for revenge. There’s no way of knowing what his intentions are from a phone call. Trust me, you need to be more wary. I’ll come with you.”

“What? No! You don’t need to chaperone me. It’ll just be a boring, grovelling apology and bit of begging to take him back on his part. You don’t need to waste your afternoon on that.”

Chloe hopped off her stool and grinned. She wasn’t listening to me, that was clear. “I’ll grab my coat.”

“Chloe, please. You don’t need to do this.”

She spun round to face me as I followed her out of the kitchen. “Maybe not, but I’ll sleep better tonight knowing you’re okay. Humour me, Ryley.” She folded her arms and sighed. “I’ve dealt with enough crap in life. Let me have this one at least. I want to be a friend to you, so let me come along. If nothing else, I can scowl at your ex and tell him how awesome your new guy is.”

“Well, when you put it like that, I suppose it would piss him off.”

“Just one thing.” Chloe bit her lip and looked me dead in the eyes. “I won’t tell Jackson about the meeting, but you mustn’t tell Luca either. He freaks out even if I just pop out on an unscheduled shopping trip without one of his men in tow.”

I hadn’t ever met Chloe’s husband, so I didn’t know why she’d think I’d tell him, but I agreed and we headed out together to make the journey to Liam’s apartment.

My body was still humming with pure, unbridled anger when Ryley left. How the fuck had I managed to mess up so badly? I should’ve seen something like this coming a mile off. Ed wasn’t the kind of guy to take shit lying down. He was a slimy little fucker, always had been. Ever since our days on the streets, he’d been the guy you had to watch your back around. Luca hated him. He refused to have him anywhere near his business. In hindsight, I wish I’d taken a leaf out of Luca’s book, but I hadn’t. Back then I’d been willing to pay good money to take advantage of his moral-free existence and use it to my own ends. I had no qualms about looking the other way, turning a blind eye to his vicious code of practise. His work ethics didn’t run parallel with my own, but it hadn’t been an issue before. Not until I’d met Ryley, and then I knew I had to keep Ed as far away from her and the business as I could. He was bad news and I couldn’t risk the threat he posed to her.

Problem was, I’d been too laid back, too wrapped up in my own world to realise he wouldn’t just disappear back into the murky shadows. He’d drag us all into the darkness with him. I had to put a stop to his plans, because I knew this video was just the tip of the iceberg. I’d never tell Ryley that. She didn’t need to know the depths of depravity a man like Ed Morris could stoop to, but I knew. I’d lived there with him for most of my early adult life, but she was pure. Innocent and untainted by the cruel world I’d learnt to survive in. I wanted it to stay that way, and I’d do anything in my power to make that happen.

Cill and Dennis strode into my office. “We have a few leads, but there’s a couple more avenues I want to look into before I unleash you onto the staff in question.” Cill took over my chair like he owned the place and proceeded to bring up CCTV footage from outside my office onto the screens.

Dennis had his arms folded across his chest, as if he needed to keep his hands tied up or else he’d start punching things in the immediate vicinity. A steady tic was bulging in his neck which gave him away. Mild-mannered Dennis was as pissed about this as we were.

“What’ve you found so far?” I asked.

I knew Cill meant well, trying to keep his theories private until he had solid proof. It was his way of protecting the staff who were innocent. Or was he protecting me? Either way, it didn’t help to quash the uncontrollable ball of fury and rage burning in the depths of my soul. Right then, feeling the way I did, I’d sack every single staff member and not give two shits.

He tapped his fingers on my desk and took his time answering me.

“There’s three possible suspects. Well, I say suspects, there’s three people apart from us who have accessed your office in the last ten days. I could go further back into the security footage, but this seemed like a good starting point.”

“Cut the crap and just tell me.” I didn’t have time for his inane ramblings. Shit needed to get done. This needed sorting.

“Okay, so here we have Emily,” he said, turning the screen around to give me a clearer view. “New barmaid, only worked here for a few months. We don’t know all that much about her and she appears once on the footage.”

I watched as Cill zoomed into the shot on the video to show Emily lurking outside my office. She looked timid and kept going to knock on the door then stalling and pulling away.

“She looks as guilty as hell.” I was ready to call her in that second and tear her to pieces.

“Or she could just be nervous. She’s holding some kind of paperwork. Maybe she needed you to sign something for her. Dennis, what do you think?”

We both turned to gauge Dennis’s reaction.

“Emily is a sweetheart. Honestly, if she’s th

e one who bugged your office, I’ll do my next shift butt naked singing a medley of Celine Dion’s greatest hits. That’s how much I don’t think she’s your mole.”

“Well, let’s hope she’s not, for all our sakes.” Cill screwed his face up at Dennis’s lewd offer. “I can’t stand Celine Dion.” Then he clicked forward onto the next clip on the camera.

“Suspect number two, Kyle Connors. He comes in every day to clean the club and empty the bins. He’s been part of the cleaning crew for a few months, but for the last few days he’s been the only one from that team that’s accessed your office.”

We all leant forward to watch the footage more closely. The guy always wore a baseball cap, so we couldn’t make out his face all that well from the screen, but from what we could see nothing looked too out of place.

“Dennis… your thoughts?”