Page 43 of Cruel Debts
I perched on the fucking counter, fuming at the betrayal Hawke had just pulled on me. I mean, there was no love lost between us, but for fuck's sake, was there no honor among killers?
Apparently not.
Liam stood at the counter, washing an apple like the damn thing might poison him if he didn't. He didn't bother to turn around to answer me in the driest tone I'd ever heard from his mouth.
"You know, there's a reason he didn't take you, Trin."
"Well, it's not a good one, whatever it is," I groaned, throwing myself back on the counter like I'm preparing to serve myself for dinner. "Just fucking end me yourselves, you cowards, because staying cooped up in this place, day in and day out, is killing me."
"So dramatic," Asher drawled from the living room, his hands working on the shiny scalpel he's been polishing for ten minutes now. "He didn't take you because he's gotta work, and that means he won't have time to watch you."
"I don't need watched," I growled, but he had a point, and I knew it.
"Last time you were at the damn place, someone got stabbed, and the whole damn thing went to shit."
He had a point. "Okay, you're not wrong, but?—"
"And the likelihood of him being recognized alone is way lower than if he's got you with him." Liam threw in, taking a bite of his damn apple as he watched me cautiously.
I hated when Liam was right. I hated to be wrong. But I hated that he was right more.
"Just drop it, Pretty Bird," Asher mumbled, and though he thought I didn't hear the term of endearment, I'm pretty sure everyone in the room heard it.
And I was pretty sure Liam wasnotimpressed.
Thankfully, he didn't have time to say anything about it, as his phone started ringing. He stepped out of the room to grab it, and when he came back, it was with a look of irritation on his face.
He held the phone out to me. "It's for you."
I raised my eyebrows in question, but he didn't say another word, just waited for me to take the damn thing from him.
I knew better than to take that phone. There was only one person in the world who probably knew where I was and with whom, let alone how to get in contact with them. But I was stupid. And in a moment of weakness, a moment of wanting to hear another voice outside of this den of demon men, I answered with a chipperhelloand was met with the wrath of my own mother.
"Trinity fucking McCoy, I want you home."
Oh, great.
"Mom," I started, but she ran right over me, just like she always did.
"No, girlie, I'm not having it. I want you home. We have things going on that require your presence, and you know this. We hadplans.You have a future here that needs nurturing. Wyatt Pierce?—"
Oh no. Not her plans to marry me off again. "Mom, I told you, I'm not interested in becoming a Pierce so that Daddy can expand into the western market." If she'd stopped to listen to me once in the last three years, she'd have known that.
"If not him, then it'll be Dalstan."As if. James Dalstan was an abusive, neglectful, cheating piece of shit."If not the boy, then the girl. I know you kids have rather questionable habits these days, but they're both good-looking. You could do worse, really."
Yeah, and their fortunes were split down the middle. It wouldn't matter to my mother and father which one I married, as long as the clout that came with it could be benefited from.
"Besides, dear. You've been in that hellhole long enough. I'd have thought you'd let go of your silly little manhunt ideas by now, but apparently not." Her voice dropped, and I knew my father must've joined the conversation. "It's time you put away your fancy little ideals and start accepting reality."
"Keehn isn't dead, Mama. He's still out here somewhere. I can feel it in my bones. I know it. I'm not giving up on him, even if the rest of you so-called family and friends have." I shot a pointed look in Liam's direction, but he clearly wasn't phased by the dig, if his interest in his fingernails was any indication. "I'm not leaving here until I find him."
"You can't leave here now, regardless," Asher reminded me, setting his scalpel down to move to a pair of hemostats covered in suspicious red flecks. "Remember? Killer on the loose, assassination attempt?"
Liam groaned as I lit up like a Christmas tree. "Oh, right. I can't come home now, Mom. Someone is attempting to kill meevery time I step out of this compound. I'm safest right now in this apartment with the guys."
"I'm not a fan of you living with three grown men, either, young lady," my father chimed in, his voice heavy, with an edge of frustration to it. "We haven't seen them since?—"
"Yeah, yeah, since Keehn went off to war, right, I get it. But really, are you saying you don't trust the men you hired to come find me in the first place?"
