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Asher felt the elevation of his pulse as he moved to the window, staring out into the dark night. He breathed deeply, trying to control the simmering rage boiling beneath his skin. His father always lashed out in rage. Asher promised he’d never be like him. He shut his eyes a moment, getting control of the beast inside. When he felt calm enough, he went on. “Whether it was a plan or not, how could you all be so fucking stupid?”
“Actually, it wasn’t stupid at all,” Kinsley said with a snippy voice, turning Asher around to face her glare. “We were careful, making sure that Damon didn’t ever come back for the money. From the way I saw it, all of Damon’s other victims were going to be paid back. You told me that, Boone,” she said to her brother, and then glared again at Asher. “They were all going to be okay, but what was Remy going to be? Heartbroken, forever, with nothing?”
“Kinsley, you will do well not to defend this,” Boone warned, voice tight. “What you’ve all done is wrong.”
“Oh, yeah—why?” Kinsley shot back, her arms folded across her chest. She always could go up against them. A force to be reckoned with, for sure.
Only Asher didn’t appreciate that now. “Why is it wrong? Are you fucking kidding me?” He felt his nostrils flare, sensed his control slipping. “It’s wrong because now you’ve got the attention of Joaquin King. A criminal known to kill people who owe him money. What do you think he’ll do to Remy? Take her apology? That will never happen. This money that Damon owed King got Damon killed because he couldn’t pay up. That’s what is hanging over Remy now. That is what spending that money has done. Her life is now in danger, and the fault lies with each one of you for not stopping this fucking plan.”
Asher blinked out of the rage. His hands fisted at his sides. But he knew deep down, this was all his fault. He’d done this to Remy. He’d set her life on this path.
Peyton’s head hung, her shoulders shaking. Boone moved to her, tugging her into his arms, obviously not nearly as angry as Asher. But Peyton wasn’t the target of King’s attention. Remy was.
“Stop it,” Remy cried, finally looking at Asher, tears streaming down her face. “I’m sorry, okay? I should have stopped this. I should have known better. I just…” Her voice broke. “I just wanted to be happy.”
Asher’s gut clenched at the fear, regret, and everything in between he saw in her expression. The blame fell on his shoulders, and yet, his blood was red-hot, his anger simmering, and his control nowhere to be found.
“You have no reason to feel bad, so put those tears away,” Kinsley said firmly to Remy, and then scowled at Asher. “How could we have known who the money belonged to? I mean, come on, you know that anything in that bag would have gone to the Treasury Department. It would have sat there for years and then been destroyed. The money was in Remy’s house. That’s her property. She didn’t commit a crime.”
“She didn’t commit a crime?” Asher sucked in a deep breath and then spoke in a very controlled voice. “She could be charged with larceny or theft. Fine, you found the money, you should have contacted an attorney for advice on how to proceed going forward if you didn’t want to go to the cops.”
“Oh, please, that’s a stupid idea,” Kinsley said with a snort. “Then the money would have been destroyed and Remy wouldn’t have gotten any of it. At the time, with what we knew, this made sense.”
Boone scoffed. “You do remember that you’re the chief of police’s daughter, right?”
“I know exactly who I am, thank you very much,” Kinsley said, glaring at her older brother. “So I don’t live by the letter of the law that you all do, but it was the right thing to do in that circumstance. I don’t feel bad about it one bit. We weren’t hurting anyone. All the victims were getting their money back. Remy was taking a tiny cut to see her dreams come true. You all know she deserved that, so you can all cool your jets.”
Heavy silence descended, making the air feel thick and impossible to inhale. Until Rhett said, “She’s not wrong.”
Asher slowly turned his head toward his friend and stared, incredulous. “You cannot be fucking serious.”
Rhett examined Kinsley for a long moment and then shrugged at Asher. “Does this fall in the cracks between the law? For sure. But I can’t think of a single district attorney in any county who would bring up charges against Remy for this. The money was in her loft. It’s her property.”
“That is not the fucking point,” Asher spat, feeling his skin prickle with heat. His gut burned. His fists clenched. The danger…the blame…Heat rushed rapidly through his veins. “The money is dirty. Remy should be nowhere near that, and now King knows her fucking name. He’s seen her face. There is nothing I can do to change that. Do you have any idea of how bad that is for her? How much danger she is in? King had Damon killed. He’s going to come after her too.”
Boone suddenly moved, catching Asher’s attention. He gestured at Remy and shook his head. Her head was buried in her hands and she sobbed uncontrollably.
Fucking great. Now he was terrifying her.
He drew in a long, deep breath, regretting everything he’d just unleashed. He’d seen this view before. Many times. Only in place of Remy was his mother who’d been on the receiving end of his father’s wrath. With a final look at her hard cries, he turned away and left the house before he made everything worse.
Again.
* * *
Once Remy opened the floodgates, she couldn’t stop, apparently needing to cry more than she thought she did. She had no idea how long had passed while Kinsley and Peyton held her tight, letting her get out the fear and sadness…and whatever else was lingering in Remy’s heart. By the time she didn’t have any tears left, Rhett had moved into the kitchen, and Peyton and Boone had gone upstairs to talk. When they came back down, Boone and Rhett, looking utterly miserable, grabbed some beers from the fridge and headed out to the porch. Kinsley grabbed three more beers, then returned to her spot on the couch, offering each Peyton and Remy one.
“Thanks for coming to my rescue,” Remy said, cracking the beer open and dropping the cap onto the coffee table. “You didn’t have to do that, but I appreciate it.” She took the biggest gulp of beer of her life.
“God, don’t thank us,” Peyton said. “We were so scared for you. Boone has told me all about Joaquin King. That guy sounds scary.”
“You don’t have to tell me that,” Remy said. “Here I thought Lars was bad news, but Joaquin was scarier…calmer…cooler…I don’t know, just not a guy I want to ever know.” Remy placed the chilled bottle against her sore eyes. “I still can’t believe any of this. It’s all so fucked up, and I’ve landed myself right in the middle of it.”
“This isn’t all on you,” Kinsley said, then shrugged. “The truth is, you wouldn’t have spent the money without my pushing you, so I’m as much at fault in all this as you.” She drew in a deep breath before continuing. “Besides, I came here the second Peyton told me about what happened because you’re way too nice. You never would have said what needed to be said. You did nothing wrong. Damon did the bad thing here—and that fact can’t be forgotten. We couldn’t have known it would come down to this. Now we just have to find a way out of it, is all. And once the guys calm down, they will see that too.”
“Yeah, finding a solution is the problem, though, isn’t it?” Remy’s throat felt raw and sore like a hundred knives had gone through it. “If I had listened to Damon when he asked me for a favor and paid off his debt, maybe he wouldn’t be dead.”
Kinsley’s whole demeanor softened. “You’re not responsible. You didn’t owe Damon any favo
