Page 76 of The Verdict

“Or to bring him down.”

“You think there was a falling out?” I gripped my wrist, my thumb rubbing along where my pulse thumped under my tattoo.

“I think that GrowTech has made Bernard a ton of money since Bernard made Ivans fall on his sword…” Ty said, staring at his computer.

“Or there’s the possibility that with a new name, new face, and almost two decades, Belmont is bringing Ivans back into the fold and they’re constructing the foundations for a legitimate business arrangement,” Harm theorized.

“Whatever his reason for returning or for getting back into bed with Belmont, we have to go to that gala.”

Ivans. Ramos. Morte. Belmont. It was a fucking cornucopia of criminals.

“Is Ivans listed as representing the Cosmos Corporation?”

“No.” Ty shook his head. “It only lists Miguel Ramos as thedonor, but each ticket was ten thousand dollars, so we have to assume the check was for three tickets.”

“So, Ramos, Morte, and Ivans. That has to be who the tickets are for,” I said. “So we go get them all and kill two birds with one stone—catching Ivans and the men who want Merritt dead.”

“And that only leaves the bird left in your bed,” Dare drawled.

I moved so fast, there wasn’t enough time for thought to supersede instinct. Harm shouted, but not before Dare and I were already going at each other.

“Enough!” Harm hauled me off his brother while Ty barricaded himself in front of Dare.

“Fucking ridiculous,” Dare spat. “She’s a liar. I don’t know why—no, I do know why you’re so blind to it.”

My jaw pulsed, and even though the rush of anger and adrenaline was fresh in my system, it was pity that drove me to take a step forward.

“Rhys,” Harm warned, tightening his hold on my arm to prevent me from going after his brother again.

“I’m fine,” I swore with a look he believed because he let me go. I moved close to Dare, watching his nostrils flare. “I’m not blind,” I told him, lowering my voice even though everyone could hear what I had to say. “But what I see is someone who was burned so fucking bad, she’s petrified to trust anyone. Even someone who only wants to help.”

His lip curled, baring his teeth like a cornered wild animal. If there was one thing people didn’t like to face, it was a fucking mirror. They didn’t like to look at their own faults. They didn’t like to see their own weaknesses. And when those weaknesses presented in another person, it was easier to hate that person rather than admit what you hated about them were the parts you hated about yourself.

“You don’t hate Merritt because she lied,” I told him. “You hate her because she’s just as afraid to trust as you.”

Dare recoiled like I’d shot him and then stabbed him in the back as he went down.

“Fuck you,” he rasped, and then looked at Harm. “We’re going to the gala. We’re going to get to the fucking bottom of this, and then we’ll see who was right—me or your dick.”

Tomorrow.

I stepped into the hall, letting the door close before I pressed my back to it. After tomorrow, she would be safe—I would make her safe.And then I would have to set her free.Let her go.

I reached up to my chest and grabbed my shirt, struggling to breathe fully as though my lungs were filling up with steel, solidifying with each passing second into something immovable. The shroud of calm I’d had only moments ago disappeared, replaced by the knowledge of my own conceit.

I’d attacked my friend—my brother—a man I’d die for, and claimed that Merritt was too afraid to trust me with the truth. I demanded her trust, all the while letting her think she didn’t deserve mine.And God help me, she did.

I trusted her when she said she was trying to protect me. I trusted her because she’d almost fucking died trying to keep me out of this—out of her past—and handle it herself. And how had I shown that trust? By treating her like a prisoner when she could barely walk. By claiming she’d try to escape when she couldn’t even wash her own hair without pain.

I shoved off the wall, needing to tell her. Needing to prove to her that I trusted her.Maybe then I wouldn’t have to lose her.

My chest heaved like I’d just run a marathon by the time I burst through the cabin door, startling her from where she’d been reading on the bed.

“Rhys…” Her brow creased as she sat upright, seeing immediately that something was wrong. “What is it?”

I rounded the bed. The only thing I could see was the thick black band on her ankle.A prisoner.

“What’s going on? What are you—” She sucked in an audible breath when I dropped to my knees and took her foot, entering the key to release the lock.

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