Page 191 of Chandelier Sin
I held her gaze, not giving anything away.
“What did you do, Atticus?”
“In what regard?”
“I need to find her.”
“I’m sure she’s fine.”
And she was—Jake had extracted her and saw that she was reunited with her family. Eve was safer not knowing the details.
She narrowed her gaze. “You sound convinced. Like you know something.”
“Did Jewel send you?”
“No, and you know what I think of her.”
“Right.”
“If there’s a rescue of the others, I need to be part of it. Do you understand? I have to make up for…” She lowered her gaze, but not before I saw her sorrow.
“Make up for what?”
“They don’t talk about it enough. The sense of futility. The living in fear. The constant dread you’ll do something wrong and they’ll…” She lifted her sad gaze to mine. “They always blame the victim—acting angry that they didn’t walk away or weren’t smart enough to avoid such a predicament. There’s little sympathy. Your pain is an inconvenience, and they hate you for it.”
Her empathy for the submissive gave me the hope that the part she played at Pendulum was minimal.
I leaned on the central island. “You should have been honest with me from the start.”
“Oh, how ideal.”
“At the bar, when we first met, you could have told me then.”
“We were strangers.”
Don’t say it, don’t fucking say it.
Yet my guarded nature came through. “Still are.”
That upset her. “Your fourth partner? Are they someone I need to be concerned about?”
I studied her carefully. “Fourth partner?”
“He gave you each a wristwatch. You, Jake and Greyson. You all have a variation of the same watch.”
She’d seen my wristwatch that time she’d snooped. I should have kept it hidden for when nosy sirens visited. Eve had been watching Jake and Greyson at the club. We’d messed up by wearing the gift that connected us to Cameron.
My gut twisted at her insinuation. “They were a Christmas present.”
“The initials CRC are engraved on the back of your watch. If I examined your friends’ watches, I’d see those same initials on theirs, too.”
I considered my next move. “You’ve been reading too many mystery novels. Need to switch to romance.”
“Is Cameron Cole your fourth partner?”
I laughed and it sounded convincing.
She arched a brow. “I think he is. I’ll never share that with anyone.”
