I shrug my shoulders as a soft groan pulls from deep within me. “What do you want from me, Ember? Those eighteen years aren’t exactly something I’m comfortable talking about. I purposefully go out of my way to not even think about it, let alone share it with someone who’s going to force me to face it.”
“I … I wouldn’t do that,” she argues. “I just want to know you. You’re supposed to be my best friend.”
“I know that, but can’t you be happy knowing that I’ve shared the parts of myself that I actually like? I have way too many demons, ones that you couldn’t even begin to understand, ones that would shock you.”
“Yeah,” she scoffs, the distaste in her tone coming through loud and clear. “Trust me, I know all about the bullshit you’ve been getting up to that would shock me. Tell me, Winter … or Elodie, whichever one you go by now, have you killed anyone else’s boyfriends lately?”
My stare hardens. “Come on, that’s not fair. We explained that. It’s not my fault that Jacob was secretly plotting against me and using our friendship to do it.”
“No,” she says, softly shaking her head and letting me see the real Ember, the one who is riddled with pain and hurt from my betrayal. “But it’s certainly your fault that you hid it from me. How long have you known that he was a part of Dynasty and that his father was bad news?”
I let out a broken sigh and meet her pained stare. “A few weeks,” I admit in a quiet, timid voice.
“Exactly,” she mutters. “You could have told me, you could have trusted me, and none of this would have happened. I would have broken up with him straight away, and I never would have told him every time you were coming to a party with me or when we were hanging out at your place alone. You would have been safe, and had those hitmen actually gotten through and hurt you, that would have partially been my fault. Don’t you see that?”
I shake my head. “I don’t,” I tell her. “I see you as an innocent. You don’t have to be involved in this mess, and I don’t want that for you. This world … it’s not nice. I wanted to protect you from it, but Jacob insisted on dragging you right into the middle of a shit fight.”
“You killed him, Winter. You and the boys killed a man. Killed my boyfriend.”
I nod. “Trust me, I’m more than aware of that. Every single day something happens where I’m reminded of the shitty things I’ve had to do in the name of Dynasty. I hate it.”
Ember lets out a heavy sigh and backs up a few steps until her ankles are hitting the bottom step of her massive staircase. She sits down and leans on her elbows, keeping her stare on the expensive tiles at her feet. “I … I really don’t know what to say to you.”
“Yes, you do,” I tell her, walking toward the stairs and dropping down beside her. “Not once since the day that I met you have you ever been lost for words. Just hit me with whatever you’ve been wondering about, because I know damn well that there’s a whole list of things, but first, tell me that we’re okay.”
A small smile pulls at her lips before she flattens them into a tight line. “I’m not giving in that easy,” she tells me, proving just how stubborn she really is. She raises her head and meets my stare, the curiosity in her eyes shining brightly. “What’s the deal with Knox?” she asks. “One minute we’re hanging out with him at a party and the next thing I know we’re waking up here and you’re telling me that his uncle was a sex trafficker, but then a few days later, he completely disappeared and no one has seen him since. Does he have something to do with Dynasty?”
I shake my head, letting out a heavy sigh. “Knox has nothing to do with Dynasty, but are you sure you really want to go there? What happened with Knox isn’t exactly a happy story, and fuck, it’s going to be hard to tell. Once I tell you and open you up to that, there’s no going back. You’re going to see me differently.”
Her brows furrow as she watches me. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she questions, her back straightening. “What happened to you? If he’s got nothing to do with Dynasty, why haven’t you told me? What did he do?”
“His uncle was a sex trafficker,” I say, even though she already knows that. “That night when Knox took us to Sam’s club, he was putting me on display, trying to sell me to make a commission.”