Page 130 of No Longer Mine

I held it out to her. “Oliver said I can come with you if you’d like.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Where did you find that?”

I hooked a thumb over my shoulder toward the couch. “In the cushions.”

She took the phone away from me carefully, as if I would snap at her. I didn’t know what I felt, but I knew I wasn’t going to hurt her or her feelings just because I didn’t agree with her lifestyle or how she wanted to continue with it.

“He’s offering you another job.”

She nodded her head slowly. “I figured he would.”

“Do you wanna tell me why you didn’t tell him you were shot?”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she tucked the phone against her chest. “I didn’t want to worry him or Cleo. We sometimes go weeks without speaking… The ghosts and demons get too close to the surface, and we just disappear for a while. He didn’t ask, and I didn’t tell.”

“Because he would have insisted that you quit?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe I just didn’t want to worry him for no reason. He’s seen me at my absolute worst too many times. I just wanted to spare them from another scare.”

“Okay,” my voice came out resigned and slightly sorrowful.

She lowered herself onto the arm of the couch and watched me. “I don’t have to leave for a few more hours.”

“What would you like to do?”

She tucked the phone back into the couch cushions and watched me for a beat. “Last night, I asked you to tell me about your past, but I was worried it would ruin our night.”

She was right, it would have ruined it. The last thing I wanted to think about was all of the things I’d done wrong while I was sitting across from the one thing I’d done right.

She continued, “Your family told me a little bit about the woman you were involved with before.”

“Of course they did,” I muttered as I closed my eyes. I could still see Cassie in my head. I didn’t want to think of her when I was with Scarlett. Especially now that I assumed she was a traitor to begin with. I didn’t want to sully my time with this woman by thinking of another.

“They didn’t tell me much, if that helps.”

I blinked my eyes back open and nodded. “They didn’t know enough to tell. I kept Cassie a secret from all of them. My father wanted me to end up with someone influential. Someone with money and connections in this elitist bullshit world. I was already planning on proposing to her when he sent his suggestions for future brides.”

Her sad gaze went to the floor beneath my feet.

“He put a hit on her just as he did with Audrey last year. He wasn’t successful with Audrey. He was successful with Cassie.”

“That…” She swallowed. “That was who the ring was meant for?”

I nodded. “It wasn’t until a few months ago that I realized she was probably working for my father all along. My brother, Ace, dropped a little hint at dinner one evening, as I would have never answered the phone if he’d tried to call. I tried to push itout of my head. But the more I think about it… the more it makes sense. I was careful. The only people who knew about us were the grannies.”

“You don’t think they—” She started.

I shook my head. “No, they don’t exactly like my father. They tolerate him, but if they knew everything…” I shrugged.

“I’m so sorry,” She slid off the arm of the couch and took a step toward me before she stopped herself. “I didn’t know about the ring. I guess I thought it didn’t mean much to you because it wasn’t locked up tight in one of your safes with your other valuables.”

I reached forward and brushed my fingers over the back of her hand. “I tossed it into that drawer to try to forget about it. I didn’t think sticky fingers here would be the one to find it.” A small smile stretched my lips.

She stared at our hands, her brow furrowing slightly. “I didn’t mean to open an old wound.”

“You didn’t,” I said gently. “Cassie was a scar.”

Her gaze lifted to mine at that, and the weight of it settled in my chest. There were a thousand unspoken things in her eyes—fear, understanding, a flicker of something dangerously close to hope.

---