Play Me Right (Play Me 5)

“Do something?”

“We can’t make what happened to them any better, can’t undo what they suffered. But maybe we could, I don’t know, start a foundation or something. For victims of violence. To help with medical bills, and help them get their lives back on track.”

Sebastian looks at me for long seconds, and I’d almost think he hadn’t heard me except I can all but see his brilliant mind whirling with ideas. “We could do that. We could totally do that. We could even have services and stipends set aside for the families of victims. To help them get counseling or whatever they need.”

I know he’s thinking of Janet now and somehow it makes me love him more. I don’t know how—out of all the pain, all the violence—I managed to find this man. Don’t know what I ever did to deserve him. But I’m keeping him.

“We could name it after Dylan,” I suggest tentatively. “Maybe see if Janet wants to be involved somehow. It could help her get clean.”

“Yeah. And you could run it.”

“Me?”

“Damn straight. Maybe you can finally put that Vassar degree of yours to work.”

I start to smile as the idea sinks in. “Yeah. Maybe I could.”

“We’re doing it, then. You’ll run the foundation and I’ll…”

Something about the way his voice trails off makes my voice chill. “You’ll do what?”

“From the moment I found out about Dylan, I’ve always known I would bring the Valduccis down for what they did to him. But now…”

“Now what?” I ask, almost afraid of his answer.

“Now, after what Carlo did to you? Bringing them down isn’t enough. I’m going to destroy them and everything that matters to them.” He looks me dead in the eye and that’s how I know he’s serious. Because there’s no fury in his green eyes now, no pain or outrage or horror. There is only a stone-cold determination to make his words come true. “By the time I’m done, they will, quite simply, have ceased to exist.”