Page 34 of Promise of Hellfire

I drove to the small diner we’d eaten at weeks ago, my hand resting on her thigh. We didn’t speak as Rayne stared out her window, deep in thought. Her face was serious with her lips pressed into a thin line and jaw tense. It looked like she was debating something with herself. As I pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot, I reached for her hand and twined our fingers together. “What are you thinking about?”

“It’s nothing,” she replied as she squeezed my hand gently. Letting go, she reached for her door handle and slipped from the car. In thirty-two years, the one thing I’d learned was that whenever a woman said it wasnothing, it was definitely something.

I waited until we were seated inside before approaching the topic again. “Tell me what’s on your mind.”

Her face was buried in the menu, and she frowned. “I think this time I’m going to order a strawberry milkshake.” She looked at me for a moment before adding, “Last time we were here, someone wouldn’t share.”

I raised my eyebrows at her. “Last time we were here, you told me you could be allergic to strawberries.” The waitress came by to take our orders and after she disappeared, I smirked. “You were so bratty that day. Now stop avoiding the subject.”

She clasped her hands together in front of her on top of the table. “If you absolutely must know, I was just thinking about the future. A degree in education seems like a waste when I’m going to be laundering money and running a strip club.”

She had a point. All the classes she’d worked so hard in for the past several years weren’t exactly applicable to her inevitable future. “What do you want to do?” I asked gently.

She puffed out her cheeks in frustration and leaned further back into the booth. “I have no idea. Part of me wants to finish my last semester just to say I did it. The other half of me thinks it’s pointless.”

Her current demeanor was a far cry from the one she wore when we first met. She’d seemed so sure then, knowing exactly what she wanted. Now she looked so conflicted sitting across from me, allowing herself to be vulnerable. I wished I had answers for her and knew what to say. “I’ll pay for it if you want to finish.”

She scowled at me. “I don’t need someone to pay for it. I’ve saved most of the money I earned from my last job. You know, the one that landed us in this whole situation.”

I sighed. “It was just an offer, Rayne. You could take business classes online if you wanted.”

She placed her hands in her lap as the waitress approached, setting our milkshakes on the table. “I’d rather not,” she said before placing the straw in her mouth. “That sounds like hell. Besides, I have the three of you to help with the finances.”

“Oh, I see. You’re thinking long-term. Planning on keeping us around solely to help you with the books I see,” I teased, trying to lighten the mood.

Her face lit up with amusement. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. That’s just one perk.”

“Oh, that’s right. It has to be our sparkling personalities.”

She snorted at me and just like that, the cloud that had been hovering over her all day lifted. “Yeah, it’s definitely your personalities.”

I had so many other questions I wanted to ask her about the future. Did she have any other dreams or aspirations? Was she going to try to find closure with her remaining family? What was her favorite childhood memory? Did she want children of her own one day?

I held my tongue knowing that any of those topics could potentially be a landmine. There would be plenty of time to discuss the future after we dealt with Ayers. After she was finally safe.

Chapter twenty-one

Rayne

Somuchwasonmy mind lately. I could almost see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I was both relieved and conflicted. Obviously, I was now destined to take over Oliver’s empire, but who did I really want to be in the end? Should I finish my degree just to say I did it? Did it really matter? Hunter’s discussion with me at lunchtime helped to ease some of the anxiety, but my fears stayed firmly planted in the back of my mind along with nagging thoughts of speaking to my parents and taking care of Ayers.

Ash felt like I needed closure from the childhood I’d escaped, but I thought it was fine. My way of dealing with things was ignoring them, and so far, it had worked out for me. Still, a small part of me wondered if he was right. The journal suggestion was therapeutic after all. What if I did need to visit my parents and see if things had changed since I left home?

When I walked into the penthouse late that evening, the dining room table was set with four place settings. Candles littered the top, flames dancing on the wicks, and a small floral arrangement sat directly in the middle.

The smell of garlic wafted through the air as Dominic hummed to himself, stirring something over the stove. Ethan chopped vegetables next to him and both seemed oblivious to our presence.

I leaned close to Hunter and lowered my voice. “What is all of this?”

Hunter lifted one shoulder, and a shadow of amusement played on his lips. “Ethan did some more digging and found out your birthday is next week. He wanted to do something nice for you, but with everything happening, he was afraid we would be busy. Since he screwed up our original timeline when he decided to murder his father, we wanted to make it up to you.”

My eyes widened at what he said. “We don’t need to celebrate. I’m fine. Really.”

Typically, other than a few drinks with Victoria or Oliver after the club closed down, I didn’t celebrate. Like Christmas, birthdays had taken a back burner. Between poverty and addiction, the cost of a celebration seemed frivolous. The money spent on a cake would be better spent on groceries or rent, but looking back, it probably went to drugs.

Other than receiving gifts, gestures of kindness were hard for me to accept. After spending so many years just trying to make it and blending into the background, I wasn’t sure what to say. Emotion welled in my throat. Damn these men, always making me feel something.

“We didn’t have to celebrate, but we wanted to. Besides, after dinner, we can always discuss our plans for Ayers. That always seems to put you at ease,” Hunter chuckled at me, pushing me toward the table. “The guest of honor has arrived,” he stated as he pulled a chair out for me. Dominic whispered something to Ethan and gestured toward a bottle of wine on the counter.

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