Page 72 of Brutal Secrets
“Well, the bad news is that no one will go on the record if you’ve disappeared. You’ll need to meet with these women. You have to be ready to lead the charge, not hiding from life in bumfuck nowheresville.”
“I’ll get back as fast as I can,” I say. I can’t let victory slip away when we’re so damn close.
By the time we get to the stables, I’m determined to find a way back to my life. I’ve left Nadia at the car so she can fiddle with her riding boots and I can speak with Dex. I enter the barn, the scent of hay and horses doing nothing to calm me down.
“We can’t stay here, Dex. I’ve waited years to go after the monster who made me a star, and I need to win this lawsuit. I can’t do it from the middle of nowhere.”
Dex walks over to me and lets his hands drop to my shoulders, giving me a gentle shake. “You can’t do it at all if you’re dead.”
I tense under his fingers, and he rubs my shoulders with a wry smile.
“Give me another day. We’ll be out of here soon.” He spins me to face the horses. “Here you go. That’s Whiskey. She’s pretty gentle. Why don’t you brush her down?” he says, pointing to a bay mare. “We’ll put Nadia on Snort. That horse is so old he just wants to eat grass, so Nadia will have her work cut out to keep him moving.”
“I feel like a failure,” I say, dipping my head against the horse’s nose and breathing in her soft, grassy breath.
“Don’t beat yourself up, kiddo. I think you’re doing pretty well.” Dex moves around the front of the horse, places a brush in my hand, and lifts the brush to the top of Whiskey’s flank, helping me drag my hand lower in repeated motions. “Brush her. It’ll soothe the horse, and it’ll soothe you too.”
“How am I doing well?”
“You’re protecting your kid. You’re planning your court case, and you’ve handled this situation with Nadia’s father with dignity and grace.”
“You don’t think I’m an idiot? Stevie thinks I shouldn’t talk to him.”
Dex snorts as he bites back a laugh. “Stevie’s carried a torch for you for years.”
My head jerks up. “He hasn’t. He said?—”
“I know what Stevie said, but he didn’t mean it. Anyone with eyes can see he’s lovesick. He just knows you’re out of his league.”
“That’s what Vadim said.”
“Smart man.” Dex nods, taking his own brush and going to the black horse in the stall next to Whiskey’s.
“You don’t think I shouldn’t be talking to him?” I run the brush down the horse’s flank. “Not that I have a way of reaching him. He gave the phones to you and Nadia.” I bite down on my lip, the churning uncertainty rising up my throat.
“Nadia’s your daughter, and I work for you. He only had two phones with him. I think he’s putting your safety first.” Dex looks over, his brush pausing halfway down the horse’s side. “You can reach him if you need to. Honestly, I think he’s firefighting at the moment. That scene at your house was a shitshow.”
“I just wish...” My sentence hangs in mid-air, the scent of straw and the grassy perfume of horses mingling with my unspoken desires.
“Kiddo, I’ve known you for years, and you’ve built this business with very little help from the men around you. You didn’t ask for Nadia’s father to come blazing back into your life, and now you’re handling it with the same grace and sense as everything else.”
“Then why won’t life cut me a break?” I say, watching Nadia walking toward us from the car.
“You know what your dad would have said?”
“What?” I wave Nadia over with a falsely bright smile before looking back at Dex.
“It’s always darkest before the dawn. Hang tight, kiddo.”
I lean against the horse, wondering just how much darker it will get before the sun comes out again.
Chapter Forty-Four
Dad. I want to come and live with you
You’d better stay put.
Why? Don’t you have a bedroom? How long will it take you to get one? Mama is driving me crazy.