Page 37 of Wretched Heart
“Do you need me to piss off so you can speak to your brother?” Rory surmises.
“Piss off, Rory,” I say with a stiff smile.
“Nice to see you too, Hunter. See you, guys.” He tips a whiskey glass in cheers before disappearing off screen.
Ash has been watching the exchange in complete silence. It’s impossible to tell which of our faces he’s currently scrutinizing on screen, but Reid is the first to squirm.
“Any developments on Barrett?” Ash asks, giving us a temporary reprieve.
Mace chimes in with an update. I’d already told Ash that we suspect the paper mill is a diversion tactic, and he listens intently as Mace goes through the growing list of targets he’s tracking. Barrett’s people are spread thinly over multiple states. He’s left one of his associates close to Brimstage, presumably to monitor what we’re doing, but as far as the others are concerned, there doesn’t seem to be a discernible pattern yet.
“If Barrett is pulling a move, having everyone spread out could be another attempt at misdirection,” Ash says. “One of them will be planting the proverbial bomb Barrett wants to put under us. We just need to work out who.”
“Agreed,” I say.
“Do you think Alice will know?” asks Reid.
I tip my head to look past the screen to catch Reid’s eye. “If your next suggestion is to pay her a visit, please don’t.”
Reid shrugs. “Just a thought,” he says. “I wouldn’t mindvolunteering. If we made some sort of veiled threat about Barrett overstepping, she might be able to get him to back off from whatever he’s planning.”
“Thanks for the offer, Reid,” says Ash diplomatically. “But she won’t rat on her golden child, and it just forewarns Barrett that we’re on to him.”
I hear a dull tapping sound and realize it’s my foot. I still my legs. “I’m going to reach out to our wider network. We’re assuming this is a move on us, but it could be an ally. We’re the guardians, and distracting us doesn’t just make us vulnerable.”
“Fair point,” Ash concedes. “I’ll brief Rory.”
“And I can speak to our friends in Vegas,” I say, relaxing. Even if Ash goes apeshit when I tell him I’m planning on marrying Maddie, hopefully he won’t question the trip to Las Vegas.
“Call me if you need back up.”
“I will,” I say.
“I’ll keep lurking in the shadows to see if anything changes,” Mace adds, eager to pursue his favorite hobby. He’s already turned his attention to one of the multiple screens on his desk.
Reid straightens a stack of documents. “And I’ll go through the paper trails,” he says vaguely. He picks up a file and makes a good show of being completely absorbed in his task.
I’d asked them both to step back from the discussion. This next part is for me to navigate, and I’m going to be walking a thin line between truth and omissions. It’s safer if the others don’t speak up and accidentally contradict me.
“So, that long story,” Ash prompts me. He reaches out of sight and picks up a tumbler. “Why the hell has Maddison Corbyn taken up residence over there with you?”
I sit back in my chair, my lip quirking as if I’ve barely given Maddie a thought. “A couple of reasons.”
I’d spent the night rehearsing this, and I’m still not sure which of my arguments to open with first. Her vulnerability, or her usefulness. I doubt it matters once I reach the punchline.
“Firstly, Hugo Corbyn is more of a prick in real life than he was on paper,” I say. “You’ve seen their father’s codicil. The women in the family don’t have a voice, which is a shame because Maddie has a lot to say. Not that anyone would have known that while her brother was busy controlling her with his fists.”
“And his foot,” Reid interrupts. “She had a bruise the shape of a boot on her back. On her fucking wedding day.”
I’d been about to shoot Reid down, but the venom in his voice stops me. It felt good hearing my youngest brother speak up for Maddie. And it serves a purpose too. Reid is the one Griffin who hasn’t yet developed a hardened shell around his heart. If Ash were to mistakenly assume Reid is the one driven by something other than logic, it might take the heat away from the fool who’s decided to marry her.
“She’s terrified of her brother, Ash,” I explain. “But she’s the one who’s been keeping the mill going, despite not having a say over Hugo’s disastrous business decisions.”
“And she’s smart,” adds Reid. “It was Maddie who figured out that Barrett was using the wedding as bait to draw us in. We were talking about the prenup, trying to understand why Barrett would expose himself to a potential future claim.”
“Thanks, Reid,” I say pointedly, needing to shut down the conversation before he gives away that it wasn’t Barrett’s prenup we were talking about.
“Oh, yeah,” he says, grimacing. “Sorry, you carry on. I have work to do.”
