Page 72 of Filthy Secret
Probably the biggest I ever have, aside from walking away from Grover six years ago. Gripping the papers in my hands, I don’t even look down at them. I can’t. I was hoping I would never see these again.
“You know what it is,” I whisper.
He snorts. The laugh doesn’t sound like he’s finding this funny at all. I don’t blame him because it’s not funny. He doesn’t say anything, his angry gaze focused on me as he waits for me to explain myself.
“I signed my life away in an effort to save my sister. It was stupid. I should have never agreed to it, but she was crying and begging. She swore that it would never come down to me having to do any of it. I was nothing but insurance for her.”
He doesn’t speak. Instead, he turns his back to me and walks over to the window that looks out at the parking lot. I don’t know if he can even see anything in the dark, but he is very interested in whatever is happening, or maybe he’s just so pissed at me that he can’t look me in the face.
I wouldn’t blame him, either. I can’t stand to look at myself. I know what I did, and it came back to bite me in the ass. I was hoping that I could pretend forever that I hadn’t agreed to that, that I hadn’t signed the paperwork I did.
“You may as well have fucking lied to me,” he grinds out. “I can’t trust a fucking thing that comes out of your mouth at this point.”
“Grover,” I whisper.
He spins around, his angry gaze finding mine. “Atomic. You don’t deserve my name. I killed him. He won’t come after you. I’ll take care of your strung-out sister, too, but you’re not mine anymore. You’re just some bitch I knocked up. I’ll take care of you, take care of Adam, too, but beyond that, you’re just some bitch.”
My entire body jolts, and my stomach drops. My heart crackles and breaks into a million pieces inside of my chest. His words undo me. Sticks and stones may break bones, but these words have completely ruined me.
“Please,” I whisper. “Please.”
“Get the fuck out. Go to my room for tonight. But tomorrow, you take Adam and go back home. It’s your place now, no worries about that. I’ll pay the household bills because my kid deserves it, but that’s that for us.”
And with that. He is done with me.
And with that. My world has crashed.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT
ATOMIC
Fucking. Fucking. Bitch.
She lied.
With my office door closed, I stare at the blank computer screen, unsure of what to do next. I’ve never felt this way before. I’ve never imagined that when I walked into that hospital room a few weeks ago, this was how shit would turn out.
Fucking Ryan lied to me, and I gave her chance after chance to tell the truth. I killed people for her, but she couldn’t even tell me that she signed that shit. I don’t know what I would have done if I had known.
But then I remember that Adam is mine, my kid. And no matter what, I would not let his mother do that shit. Plus, it is not Ryan’s place to pay for Ellen’s debt. The whole thing is wacked as fuck. Ellen manipulated her, and that fucking pimp took advantage.
All in all, it ended up the way it was supposed to. Adam and Ryan are where they are meant to be now. Safe and protected by me. Even if I can’t stand to look at the bitch right now, I’m pleased as fuck that she’s safe. Because, at the end of the day, Ryan is a good woman. Lies and all.
Reaching down, I wrap my fingers around the handle of my desk drawer and open it slowly. There is a bottle of expensive whiskey sitting in the drawer, and I lift it out, setting it on the scarred wooden desktop in front of me.
I’ve kept this for years. A bottle I bought myself when I was voted in as president of the Dark Horse. I have only taken a shot here or there when celebrating something, but right now, I need to drown myself, and I don’t want to go to the bar and be around anyone else.
Unscrewing the lid, I bring the bottle to my lips and take a swig. It burns on the way down, but it’s so goddamn smooth that I close my eyes with a heavy sigh. Fucking hell, this shit is amazing. I’d forgotten how damn good it really was.
One drink turns into two, and before I realize it, I’m almost finished with the whole fucking thing, and I don’t even try to stand because I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to at this point. I’m feeling good, though still pissed with Ryan when the door to my office opens.
I don’t know who I expect to be making their way into the room. Maybe a brother, possibly a whore who notices that I’m not in the bar, but who I don’t expect to see is Ryan walking around my desk and standing in front of me.
She doesn’t speak.
She doesn’t need to.