Page 54 of Cash

Fucking goddamn shit.

I tightened my arms around her as tightly as I dared.

“Sweetheart, I’m not leaving.” I promised on a monumental lie.

As soon as we had actionable intel, I would leave her.

Then when we brought Lore home, she’d whisk Cara away and disappear again—leaving me.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“When you’ve had enough, Blair, you can stop this,” Damion calmly said from behind me. “Just give me the account numbers.”

Never.

When I didn’t answer I heard the woosh of the leather strap before I felt my body jolt with the impact. There were three more in rapid succession.

I’d completely lost track of time.

Pain was no longer registering.

Doubt had started to creep in.

“It’s time for your meeting,” a man said from somewhere in the room.

“Get her down and clean her up,” Damion instructed. “I’ll be out a few hours, but I want her up and ready by the time I get back.”

Fear pulsed through me. The moment I came back to myself I wouldn’t be able to stay numb. The excruciating pain would rush in.

“Look at me,” Damion demanded.

I cracked open my lids enough to see my brother standing in front of me.

I stared into dark blue eyes and couldn’t find the barest hint of the brother I’d once loved. The boy he’d been before he’d turned into my tormenter.

The monster who took pleasure in hurting me—then and now.

“I’ll break you. I always do.”

Never.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Are you sure?” I asked Cara, looking around the room now packed full of kids.

Jasmin and Linc’s twins, Robbie and Asher and their cousin Eric were the first to run into the conference room with Jaxon and Violet’s son Mason in tow, loaded down with Nerf guns and asking her to play.

At first Cara didn’t budge, even with the boys jumping around telling her how much fun it was to run around the office. But when Giorgia Gillonardo quietly slipped in holding her sister Francesca’s hand and sweetly asked Cara if she wanted to play tag with them, she finally lifted her head off my chest. From there it took minimal coaxing. But now that she was inching off my lap, I wasn’t so sure I wanted her to leave the room. The stupidity wasn’t lost on me. The office was secured with the latest and greatest in biometrics. No one was getting in or out. But tag was dangerous, wasn’t it? Cara could trip and hurt herself, maybe smack her head on the corner of a desk and give herself a concussion. Or one of the boys could shoot her with a Nerf dart.

Cara nodded and wiggled off my lap.

“Okay.” But before I let her go, I couldn’t help but to tack on, “Be careful. No running too close to the desks.”

She rolled her little-girl eyes. “You sound like Lolo.”

I waited for the sadness to creep back in, but when Cara did nothing but stare at me with impatience, I nodded. “Have fun.”

“Boys,” Zane boomed. “Take care of them.”