Ian’s family so fundamentally a part of him. The devotion between them all so distinct.
The kids had baths, and we tucked them in, and then Ian and I went back into the kitchen to do the dishes together, telling Faith and Jace to take the night for themselves.
It was the least we could do for their hospitality.
I got the stupid inclination that this was the way it was supposed to be. Ian and me, side-by-side.
Then my phone buzzed in my pocket at the same time Ian’s buzzed in his.
Still wearing a satisfied grin, I pulled it out and thumbed into the messages without giving it any thought.
That was right when my heart that had grown too big cracked right down the middle.
Speared.
Spliced and split into a million pieces.
Ian went pale when he looked at his screen. No question, his exhibited the same images.
Ones of Ian with a woman in a dark, depraved room. Those big hands were on her bare breasts as the woman straddled him on a chair.
A prostitute.
The same one I’d seen Reed with.
The tattoo on the back of her shoulder was exactly the same. A broken ring with the number 7 in the middle of it.
I could only see it from behind, but it was clear what they were doing.
But it was the time stamp on the bottom that sent me reeling. Hot knives driven into my flesh. Splaying me open wide.
I might as well have bled out right there on the floor.
Sickness twisted through my stomach. Speeding out to saturate every cell.
A cold, lonely disease.
It was the day I’d first gone to Ian to beg him for help. The very next day after I’d gone to his apartment and spent the night.
Where he’d fucked me, just like he was clearly doing here.
Reed: This is who you have my children with? I’d think you’d be smarter than that. I told you, you’d regret this. I expect you and my children on my doorstep within the hour. I’d advise you to have every dollar of that money, too. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
Grief climbed into my throat, and I couldn’t even look at Ian.
Couldn’t meet his face.
Couldn’t fathom the pain that gripped and tore and shredded my insides.
So, I fled, not even saying a word when I pounded up the stairs and into the room where I was staying.
Because Faith was right.
It wasn’t so easy to tell love what to do.
And mine had just been slaughtered. Left for dead where it’d just spilled out all over the floor.
Thirty-Four
Ian
I stood gaping at the bullshit that lit up my screen from the unknown number. Blood draining from my face. Rage flooding out of my soul.
Unknown: You fucked with the wrong person. Did you actually think I’d let you get away with it? Do you actually think you have the power to go up against me? I’d think again.
Coming in right behind it was a grainy picture of me with that stripper at the club. It was captured right in the moment she put my hands on her breasts, right before I’d pushed her off my lap after she’d propositioned me.
Most likely nabbed by a security camera.
From the angle, it looked like I was balls deep and having the time of my life rather than being completely disgusted.
Rage clamored through my being. Like a ship tossed from side-to-side. Rocked in an unstable ocean.
I didn’t even have time to process what was going down in front of me until Grace tried to smother a shocked sob behind her hand.
Oh, fuck.
She darted for the swinging doors of the kitchen, her feet pounding down the hardwood floors of the hall, leaving a trail of that energy hammering the walls behind her.
Consuming in its disorder.
Fire and lashes.
Hate and heat.
I tried to force myself to stay rooted to the spot. I’d done enough damage. But there was no resisting the riot that spun, barbs and wires that hooked into my chest.
I flew out into the hall to the weight of her footsteps and the slam of her door.
The girl a turbulence only I could feel.
Let her go.
The rational part of my brain shouted it, but my heart wasn’t fucking having it.
There was no slowing, nothing I could do but go after her.
I bounded upstairs, my heart beating a million times a second, right out of my chest. I didn’t even hesitate when I burst into the first room on the left where Grace was staying, coming up short when I found her standing at the big window that overlooked the rose gardens below.
Moonlight streaked in and cast her in a milky halo. From behind, I watched as her shoulders heaved, her face in her hands, heartbreak radiating from her body.
My broken angel.
I clicked the door shut behind me and flicked the lock like it could keep out the rest of the world.