Consent (The Loan Shark Duet 2)

Throwing my full weight behind my resolution, all I eat, drink, and live for is work. I’m adjusting well in the company and get on with Michael. I respect him as a friend and boss. Elizabeth is his second-in-command. She often asks about Valentina, but gives up when she gets nothing out of me. It feels strange to work my way up in someone else’s business, but I’m grateful for the challenge. It keeps my mind off darker thoughts. The kinder they are to me, the harder I work to earn it. I want to prove my worth to them, but mostly to myself. This isn’t my father’s business or my mother’s money. I’m earning my own way, and it’s harder than I thought. I spend long hours at the office, coming home after eleven when the rest of the house is asleep, and leaving before they wake. Little by little, day after day, I stitch back a resemblance of a life.

Valentina

It’s seven in the evening when Magda’s car pulls up to our gates, and Scotts announces her through the gate intercom. What is she doing here? Did Gabriel invite her for dinner? Since the funeral, she hasn’t been back to the house. Even if Gabriel doesn’t say as much, they must have had some kind of fallout.

I brush down my dress, a nervous habit that stuck with knowing how much she disapproves of my choice of clothes, and meet her at the door.

Her manner is urgent. “Is Gabriel still at work?”

“You’ll know better than me.”

“Me?”

“He works with you, doesn’t he?”

“He hasn’t told you?” She makes big eyes. Behind her faked expression, she seems pleased. “He works for Michael and Elizabeth Roux, now.”

Wow. That’s like pushing a needle under my nail and twisting it. The fact that he didn’t tell me something this important hurts in ways I don’t care to examine.

“Come in.” I step aside, wondering how much I should ask. I don’t want to give her ammunition to shoot down the already crumbling walls of whatever warped relationship Gabriel and I have left. I’m holding onto the ruins with both my hands, digging my nails into the broken bricks as I dangle over the wall, but I’m not sure cracks of that size can ever be filled.

She looks around the space. “Where’s everyone?”

“Charlie is upstairs, and Rhett is in his room.”

“Quincy?”

“With Gabriel.”

“Ah. Good. I was hoping we could talk alone. Can we go somewhere private? I don’t want to be interrupted.”

An itch crawls down my spine. I should say no, but my gut is stirring, and red flags are waving in my mind.

“In here.” I lead her to Gabriel’s study, the nearest room with a door.

“I’m surprised he didn’t tell you he left our company,” she says once we’re inside. “Then again, he doesn’t tell you much, does he?”

Why did he hide it from me? And Rhett and Quincy? Are they in on this, too? I can’t help how defensive I sound. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I bet he never told you why you fell pregnant.”

That itch from earlier spreads over my skin, making every nerve-ending tingle in alarm. “What?”

“He replaced your birth control with placebo pills.” She pushes a USB key into my hand. “Here’s the proof, and the reason why he chose you.”

12

Valentina

Gabriel did what? I don’t believe it. He wouldn’t. Never. Why is Magda doing this? My gut warns me this is only the beginning. Magda planted a path of destruction in my palm, and my feet are firmly on it. My fingers clamp around the key in my hand that will, if true, destroy me. The heartache I felt at Gabriel’s rejection is nothing compared to the pain slashing through my insides. I prefer a hundred lashes of his belt to this. Anything, but not this. If Magda is right, he purposefully deceived me. He lied to me. Worse, he let me believe it was my fault. My nails cut into the skin of my palm around the piece of plastic. I ache in every corner of my soul.

“I’ll leave you to it.” Magda walks to the door. “I assume you prefer to watch this in private. If I were you, I wouldn’t waste time in packing my bags.” A victorious smile marks her grand exit.

For some time, I stand rooted to the spot. My body trembles, and chills run over my skin. This is game over. It hurts, really hurts. Why me? The answer I want is in the palm of my hand. Releasing my fingers one by one, I stare at the black object with Magda’s company logo. My hand shakes as I carry it to Gabriel’s desk and open his laptop. When the screen comes to life, I hesitate. Once the key hits the slot, there’s no turning back. I won’t have a choice but to face the facts. My hand hovers next to the slot.