Page 52 of Hart of Vengeance
“Are you going to say something?” I shouted in Duke’s face as the tears started again, rolling out like a fast-moving river after a severe rainstorm.
The man only took in breath after breath. His lips were cemented shut.
It was time to go, to leave behind all the bad in my life, and to shed the evil that was the Hart brothers.
Cara stood next to Mallory with shock and awe on her freckled face.
“If you don’t want to die,” I said to Cara, “leave now and never look back.”
Mallory took her sister’s hand. “Come on, Cara.”
“Sorry, sis. I’m not leaving. I love Duke.”
Duke cringed. It seemed he hadn’t known that and didn’t like hearing she loved him.
Mallory moved her head back and forth. “No, you don’t.”
Oh, the irony.The tables had turned. I was watching Mallory pry her sister away from the very man who had been my sister’s downfall.
While Mallory had pulled me out of the depths of hell after I’d reasoned and yelled at Savannah until I’d been blue in the face, I couldn’t help my best friend in that moment. My feelings were too raw, and the wound was too deep for me to care about someone else. It was time for a fresh start. A new life. A new place. Maybe after I buried Savannah, I would find my aunt and join her in Africa. Or maybe I would find a cheap apartment on a beach somewhere warm.
Denim studied me, no doubt waiting for some cue from me that it was okay for him to come near me, touch me, or kiss me.
I wasn’t giving in, no matter how much I longed for him to press his lips against mine and tell me he still loved me. I was beginning to realize love was fleeting to men like Denim. He would just sweep a girl off her feet, whisper sweet nothings, shower her with kisses, then kick her to the curb.
Been there. Done that. Got the T-shirt. No more. No, thank you.
I started for the elevators. My legs were trembling, my hand was bruised, and my heart had disintegrated into a million pieces. I could feel Denim’s penetrating blue gaze on my back.
Don’t turn around. Don’t give into him.
I stabbed the button over and over and over, willing the door to open quickly.
“Cara, I swear if you don’t come with me now, I’ll make sure Mom and Dad cut you off,” Mallory chided.
“I don’t want their money,” Cara said. “And you can’t tell me what to do. Not anymore.”
Poor girl.
“Everyone, out of my house,” Duke grumbled in furious undertones.
“Even me?” Cara cried.
“Yes,” Duke said. “Jade is right. I’m no good for you.”
I tossed a look over my shoulder, scrunching my face. “The man finally speaks.”
Sadness flashed in his eyes before he quickly banked it.
Cara rubbed her hands up Duke’s chest. “You don’t mean what you said.”
He pried her hands off him. “Get out.”
He was doing her a favor, even though she didn’t know that yet. I wished he would’ve acted like that with Savannah years ago. Maybe then I wouldn’t be mourning her death.
Cara sobbed. “I need to get my things.”
“I’ll have them sent to you.” He glared at Cara. “And don’t bother coming back either.”
