Page 119 of The Truth of Our Secrets

“I can call an architect to create some designs based on what we want. Angel, our girl has a million ideas. What do you want in our new place?”

“Both of you.” He swallows twice. “I don’t need anything but you. It’s more than I’ve ever had. More than I deserve.”

Madyson crawls into his lap and cups his head. “You deserve the world because you’re the kindest, most honest, and loving man. You deserve to get back some of the love and care you’ve given others.” As they kiss, he grips her ass.

Her phone beeps, and she disentangles herself with a groan. “I have to go back to the gallery for Von’s art show. I have a bad feeling about it.”

I help her to her feet and search her conflicted expression. “Should you cancel?” Her intuition shouldn’t be ignored.

She sighs and Emmet hugs her from behind, so we both comfort her.

“No, I don’t see the point of putting it off. Shane hooked everything up for me so he’ll be there virtually. Von’s heartbroken and he won’t get over Alec anytime soon, so it seems better to get it over with. Alec’s not coming, so what’s the worst that could happen?”

She doesn’t want an answer. Emmet and I kiss her goodbye. I watch her leave with uneasiness.

“What’s wrong?” Emmet curls his arm around me.

“I hope I did the right thing. If this makes Peter come unhinged, I’ll never forgive myself if he hurts either of you.” The goal of my press conference was to take away his ability to blackmail me or embarrass me in the press. But he’s unpredictable and hates to lose.

“As long as we have each other, he can’t touch us. Maybe move your money to a new bank, just in case.” Emmet’s kidding, but he has a point. It would be much harder for Peter to steal from us if he can’t find the money.

I kiss him for his brilliance.

“Mmm, I could do this all day long, but I gotta go to work. Shockingly, Alec’s been MIA and Cole said it’s the perfect opportunity for me to learn how to run the shop.”

Grunting, I kiss him and reluctantly let him go. Fear grips me as I dial my lawyer.

Emmet

“Firecracker, calm down. I can’t understand what you’re saying.” I stand, knocking over the chair across from Cole’s desk. Cole and Shane are so in sync, with their twin expressions of concern.

“Please find Alec.” She’s sobbing and my throat constricts with her sorrow. I only catch a few words about Von howling and a meme that’s gone viral. My only concern is calming her.

Shane can hear her and has video footage of Alec entering the loft upstairs.

“He’s upstairs,” I tell her, fixing one issue at a time.

My stomach drops. A video of Von looking and sounding as if his soul is being ripped out of him is on all platforms and trending on two of them. “I’ll take care of it,” I say too late to stop myself. There’s nothing I can do.

We all warned Alec that he was making a huge mistake. I feel terrible for both of them.

When Madyson and I hang up, Cole says, “You two finish up and I’ll hide all the knives upstairs.” He stands and rearranges Shane in his empty chair.

I pick up my chair and flop down on it. “I can’t make this better,” I confess. At first, I don’t think Shane hears me. His fingers are flying across his keyboard while his eyes scan the screen at a scary fast speed.

“Got it,” he says triumphantly.

When I don’t respond, he blushes. “I’m not good with people. I’ll leave Alec and Madyson to you and Cole, but I can help with your Peter problem.”

I unloaded on them in case Peter targets Unframed Art. It’s not like I need a friend and Alec isn’t available, so I forced them to listen to me. Not like that at all.

I raise an eyebrow since I’m all out of witty conversation.

“Peter’s using his access to the city’s computer system to get information about you and Madyson. You filed your license with the city and the department of health. Your permanent address is your mother’s on that paperwork. That’s how he found her. And the New York Fire Department uses the same system as the city, so it was easy for him to initiate a fake violation against thegallery.” Shane’s still typing and glancing at me to make sure I’m following.

“That sucks. How does it help us? We can’t prove it.”

Shane grins and suddenly looks my age. He’s so intense and put together that he seems so much older.

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