Page 4 of The Burnt Heart

But he couldn’t give me the comfort I wanted. Their rejection would forever bruise my heart. No placating words could soothe that hurt.

“I-I don’t know.” His hand dropped. “I just couldn’t let you leave... without...”

The elevator doors pinged open, and I clicked my tongue in disgust.

“Couldn’t let me leave without giving me one last parting jab?”

Briar tried to stop me from exiting and I dashed his arms away with a snarl.

“That’s not it at all, Adelaide. I love you—” Briar inhaled sharply. Tears pricked my eyes at the betrayal, but also the gall. That he could say those words to me, and they would have the same meaning. My heart wilted against its hard confines. I wouldn’t break.

“Clearly not enough.” I managed, watching him disappear behind the closing elevator door. Color drained from his tanned face with devastation scored through every line. Not the actions of someone who wanted to sow their wild oats.

It only strengthened my theory that everything wasn’t as it seemed.

2

Logan

The study felt cramped with the three of us jammed inside. But Adelaide had banished us from the bedroom, and I wanted to give her something. At least until we could fix everything. Time passed in slow motion, an eternity of holding our breath. Waiting to see if our harsh words had worked. Jesse had already sent the confirmation off to Harold, but he wanted further proof tomorrow. The Greenich Bay Awards Night. He wanted to see in person that we’d broken things off with Adelaide, and we weren’t just saying it to placate him. The lengths this old man was going to make sure we completed his bizarre stipulation made my stomach simmer with a well-earned unease. But the amount of money he’d offered?

It would get our business off the ground.

When Jesse brought the proposal to us, I balked. Why would I gamble with the love of my life? But I saw the bruises forming on Jesse’s face and the desperate fever. Harold had offered an insane amount of money. It would have been easier to take Adelaide’s support. But it would never stop the derisive whispers, side glances, and sporadic violence.

Orazio orphans.

The moniker haunted my dreams like invisible shackles. It was the truth. We were three orphans, with nothing and no one in our corner except for Adelaide. She’d already given us everything. A fact that her goons never let us forget. Not within earshot, of course. Her father was the mastermind, and he always taunted us for not having our own legacy to stand on. Now we’d been given an opportunity to prove we weren’t coasting on her coattails. Did I care about the gym as much as Jesse and Briar did? No. But I cared about them, and the future we were building. Adelaide would understand when we explained it all in a few days’ time. At least, I hoped she would. She hadn’t even slammed the front door when she left. The house already felt disturbingly bereft of our girl. Briar was chewing on his lower lip, his hands jammed in his pockets to stop wringing them.

“I can’t—guys—fuck!” He shook his head. His lean frame darted toward the door. He was going after her. Jesse made a mangled noise but didn’t stop him.

“If he ruins this...” he trailed off with a curse, playing with the silver stud in his ear. My stomach was churning so hard I had to sit down. I couldn’t even think about the possibility of this not working. Because if it didn’t? I would have lost the best thing that had ever happened to me.

Adelaide had slammed into me like a steamroller, so much power and speed that she had stolen my breath. Even five years later, I hadn’t gotten it back. We’d been unceremoniously kickedout of our foster home. And we were glad about it, even if it meant we had to sleep at Calder Place. Instead of shivering in my threadbare sleeping bag, I had gone to sleep thinking about the beautiful, teary goddess. Her skin had met mine and I hadn’t felt the rolling revulsion that always came from someone touching me. My chest had twinged with an inexplicable jealousy when she’d mentioned an ex-boyfriend. I knew the actual story now, but at the time I wanted to swoop in and protect Adelaide.

She didn’t need our protection.

She didn’t need us at all. Not like we needed her. That was the problem. She’d scooped up three wounded men and helped us start a new life. We’d barely scraped through school and now we had degrees to our name, careers and opportunities. If Adelaide hadn’t intervened, it would never have happened.

“This has to work.” Jesse gritted his teeth. This was our last chance. I never would have considered it if we hadn’t tried everything else.

“And if it doesn’t?” I voiced my true fear. “What if Antoni still considers us scum? What if Adelaide doesn’t forgive us?”

Jesse strode over and clamped his hands on my shoulders. There were only three people whose touch I could tolerate, and two of them had just left. The house was silent except for our haggard breathing. Like we had run a marathon, instead of shattering the heart of our girl. Jesse’s eyes glinted sharp and mercurial. A dangerous combination.

“It will work. The old man will have no choice but to give us his blessing. The only thing he recognizes is power and money. If we can get this gym off the ground, I already have investors who are clamoring for it. And if we can snag deals with them? We’re made, Logan. Greenich Bay has seen nothing like this. We can even use it to make Fostering Futures bigger and better as well.”

My insides didn’t agree, tossing with a violent vehemence. I wanted to believe his vision, an elite boxing gym that wouldbecome the epicenter of training and entertainment. He’d always been interested in boxing, and Briar was more than happy stuffed behind a computer crunching numbers. It wasn’t what I wanted, but I also didn’t have a choice. We were all working part time at a gym currently. We’d seen a gap in the market for a place that would provide top services. If everything went according to plan, we would be free of the violence that hung over our head. Our business would finally satisfy Adelaide’s father and he would have to back off. I focused on the aggressive grip of Jesse’s fingers, like he was an anchor in the storm that whipped around us. I couldn’t tamp down the clamoring in my ears, like a thousand warning bells.

“If this doesn’t work, if she doesn’t believe us, we’ve made a horrible mistake.”

Jesse slid aside his collar, revealing the jagged silver scar that nestled in the hollow between his shoulder and neck. The tendon in his throat flexed, and I knew he was remembering the horrific attack he’d endured. One that had sent him to the hospital.

“What if the next time they don’t miss?” He glared. “I’mnevergoing to give up Adelaide, which is what they want. They want us running scared. But this is our way to prove we are something on our own, without Adelaide having to flash her credit card or name.”

Desperate creatures made reckless decisions, and we’d been scrappy strays all our lives. Antoni Orazio was right to hate us for his only child. She was intelligent, ruthless, and beautiful. She deserved partners she could be proud of. That would never happen if we didn’t take this risk. We had waited years for Antoni to soften toward us. But if anything, he was becoming bolder. We had to do this, and if it meant putting my own creative dreams aside–so be it.

The door creaked open, and Briar slipped around it, dejected. His head ducked low and his limbs moved sluggish as he approached us.

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