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“He came to see me at the club a couple days ago,” I admit, chewing on the inside of my cheek, a nervous habit that I’ve taken great lengths to disguise over the years. I’ve learnt to shut down every emotional tell so that no one ever has a reason to accuse me of being a bleeding heart and use that against me. But in the presence of Hudson, I don’t have to pretend to be okay when I’m not. It’s a luxury that I don’t fucking take for granted.
“And?” Hudson asks, his eyebrows drawing together in a frown.
“He told me some things.”
“What things?”
I blow out a long breath, itching for a cigarette, but respecting Hudson’s house rules of no smoking inside. “Beast didn’t kill my dad because he wouldn’t allow us to be together, he killed Carter because he tried to use me to pay off his debts.”
“Please tell me you’re joking!” Hudson shifts forward in his seat, anger blazing across his face.
I let out a sad laugh. “According to Beast, Carter owed a lot of money after racking up hundreds of thousands of pounds in debt. The King paid those debts off in exchange forme. Beast found out and made another deal with the King. He’d kill Carter and Derby and the King would back off, leaving me to run Tales, providing he was able to stay a silent partner and Beast would keep his involvement in the whole debt exchange a secret.”
“Fuck!” Hudson exclaims. “You’re certain of this?”
“Positive. I had Beast’s story checked out.”
“You questioned the King?”
“Fuck, no. He thinks I’m still in the dark, and I’d like to keep it that way for the time being. Harris hooked me up with a hacker who pulled the information from The Crib Club’s database in under thirty minutes.”
“Harris, one of your mercenaries?”
“Yeah.”
“Those men have a lot of connections.”
“They do,” I agree, refusing to elaborate further. There are some things Hudson doesn’t need to know, and that includes just how many dangerous connections my soldiers really do have.
“Okay, so you’ve confirmed Beast’s story. Aren’t you concerned about what the King is going to make of his return?”
“The King is an arrogant narcissist. He also thinks I wouldn’t dare take him on regardless of me finding out the truth, he’sthatcertain of himself. As far as he’s concerned, I’ve reaped the benefits of him being a silent partner, and I’d be a fool to cross him.”
“Fucking prick,” Hudson mutters in disgust.
“I’ll allow the King to believe that I’m under his thumb until the perfect opportunity arises for me to exact my revenge. Right now, I’m benefitting from his connections, and despite wanting to put a bullet in his brain, I’m in this for the long haul. He’ll get his comeuppance whether that’s in a few months or years from now. I’ll make certain of it.”
“Got it,” Hudson says, swiping a hand through his hair. “And how are you feeling about it all, knowing the real reason Beast did what he did, because that’s fucking huge, Grim. It changes things, doesn’t it?”
“You want the truth?” I ask, taking another sip of my wine.
“Of course I do. You’re my best friend, you know you can trust me.”
“I do trust you.”
“Then talk to me,” he urges, and I fall silent trying to unravel the knot in my stomach enough to give him some honesty.
“I feel weak,” I admit eventually. “I feel angry,relieved. I feel guilty. But most of all I feel like that heartbroken girl he left behind two years ago, the one who refused to leave your spare room for days on end. When it comes to Beast, I’m not Grim; I’m Kate, and she’sneverstopped loving him.”
“So what are you going to do about it?” he asks me.
“Honestly, I’ve no idea,” I reply, but that’s a lie.
A big fat lie.
I know what I want to do. Iwantto make Beast mine.
That doesn’t mean I’ll get what I want though, because even though Kate would take him back in a heartbeat, Grim doesn’t have that luxury, and ultimately it’s her that has to make a decision.
