Page 76 of Cash

But none of that had been possible under the watchful eye of a chatty little girl. Which was damn good because the longer I sat at the table with Stella and Cara, listening and watching their interaction, the faster the poison leeched out. And it kept leaking when we finished breakfast and Stella loaded the dishwasher.

And it continued after we piled into my truck, making the trip into the office silent on my part, but not uncomfortable for my two female passengers. Cara I found had a lot to say and Stella had all the patience in the world to listen to her prattle on. For some reason that made it worse—an unnecessary reminder I had no business being around Stella now that Cara was in her life.

So, yeah, fuck yeah, I was grateful a seven-year-old had a lot to say and in doing so reminded me I needed to stay the hell away from her before I could do more damage than I’d already done.

The last thing sweet little Cara needed was a piece of shit like me polluting her life.

Silence seemed to be the theme, and I didn’t break it on the way up to the office and only did when the elevator doors opened and Cara started to run out.

“Hold on…” I caught the word sweetheart just in time to make the correction. “…Cara.”

She glanced back and it hit me; with Stella standing there I had no right to tell Cara what to do. Truth be told, I never should’ve been the one in charge of her in Stella’s absence. What I should’ve done was put a fair amount of effort into getting Cara to go with Nebraska or Zane and Ivy. Hell, any one of my teammates would’ve been a better option.

But it was too late, I’d called her name and now she was staring at me. “Don’t go far without telling Stella where you’re going.”

Cara’s gaze swung to Stella, shot her an adorable smile, and declared, “I’m just going to Cashy’s desk to get my coloring books.”

Cashy.

Serious as fuck, hearing that felt like a dagger to the heart. Knowing I was going to lose it, felt worse.

Cara skipped off leaving me with Stella.

She immediately whirled on me and true to form launched right in, “What’s wrong with you?”

So much.

Everything.

“Nothing’s wrong with me,” I lied.

Stella leaned closer, and with a shake of her head she muttered, “You’re full of shit.”

She pulled back, squared her shoulders, and yanked her Lore mask firmly in place. I instantly wanted to tear it off.

“I appreciate you taking care of Cara yesterday,” she rapped out like she was anything but appreciative. “But you don’t have to worry, we’ll be out of your hair today.”

Before I could explain that she and Cara wouldn’t be out of my sight until I could track down her brother and rip his goddamned throat out, Zane came down the hall and announced, “We’re in the conference room.” His gaze swept through the office, paused on Cara, then gave me his attention. “You good with her going downstairs with the other kids?”

“Not my call,” I told him and looked over at Stella. No, the set of her shoulders, the clench of her jaw, and the glittering in those fantastic blue eyes meant Lore was still firmly in place. “There’s a daycare downstairs for the little kids, and Asher, Robbie, and Eric are homeschooled so their teacher, Amy’s down there along with Molly.”

There was an angry beat of silence that matched the annoyed waves of hostility rolling off Lore. I’d barely beaten back the urge to rage against the mask of indifference with demands she drop the bullshit when Zane grunted, “Not your call?”

“Hey, Mr. Snake,” Cara chirped, running back to our huddle, coloring books in hand.

Yeah, thank fuck for chatty little girls.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

I started at the picture. The tight knot in my stomach had worked its way up to my chest and constricted tighter.

Deep breathing, box breathing, breathing in general, counting to ten then counting backwards was not working.

Nothing was.

My life in the form of photographs and reports was scattered across the large conference table for everyone in the room to pick over.

A life I’d worked hard to bury.