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She glares at me through half-lidded eyes. “No, it’s not. I can take care of myself. Whatever Caroline thinks she’s protecting me from, I guarantee I can handle it.”
The way she hurls words at me, accusations laced with venom, makes me think she might already knowsomethingis up with her sister. But it’s clear she doesn’t knowwhat, and it irks her.
Same as it does me.
Watching her, I take note of the exact moment her chest begins rising and falling more slowly. Her breathing evens out as the fight leaves her. We sit in silence for a few minutes before I page Benny into the room, instructing him to send her to my house in a cab and make sure she gets inside okay.
It feels as if I have fewer answers to the mysteries of my life than I started the week with.
I plan to get to the very bottom of my wife’s true history soon and figure out what she’s hiding, but for now, I’ll sit in the shadows, watching, keeping her safe.
Hopefully, Kieran and her father will lose interest.
Because the only way I’m letting her go now is if they pry her from my rotten corpse.
“Juliet? Are you okay?”
The younger Harrison slurs something sleepy and unintelligible, and I slink back further into the shadows, not wanting Caroline to see me just yet. Pressing my back into the shrubbery surrounding our back patio, I try my best to blend in as Benny helps my sister-in-law inside. As they drag Juliet to the couch, I make my way to the door, which they leave open, and lean my ear against the jamb, listening. “She passed out, and you just happened to find her?”
“Yep. I called the boss, and he said to drop her off here.”
“Okay, well... thank you, I guess. I’ll take care of her from here.”
Benito walks out, fist-bumping Leo on his way through the door, and stops to look at me for his next order. I hold out my hand for the tablet he keeps on hand, strapped to his side next to his gun.
He sighs, handing it over. “You’re real creepy; you know that?”
I roll my eyes and wave him away, then set up camp on a chaise lounge slightly obscured from Caroline’s direct line of vision outside. Pulling up the security footage app, I let the camera load as I stretch out, dialing up the volume.
Caroline kneels beside her sister on the couch, pressing a damp rag to the young girl’s forehead. She stirs, trying to brush her away. “Ugh, where am I?”
“My house. One of Elia’s men dropped you off.”
“Oh.” Juliet blinks, a blush spreading over her cheeks. “Well, this is just like old times, isn’t it? You trying to keep me from a massive hangover.”
“I thought you stopped doing this, Jules.”
“AndIthought you weren’t gonna cut me out of your life anymore. Why haven’t I heard from you since you got married? Did your heart shrivel up and die or something?”
Caroline sighs, sitting back on her haunches. She reaches behind her and picks a muffin off a tray on the coffee table. “Here, eat this. Maybe it’ll absorb some of the bitterness in your gut.”
“I’m not bitter. I just miss you.”
“And I’m not actively trying to cut you out. Married life is hard, and it’s taking more of an adjustment than I’d first anticipated.”
“Well, what am I supposed to do when I need you? Sometimes I do, Caroline, even if I don’t want to admit it. Mom and Daddy can be so... cold, sometimes.”
They’re silent for several beats, and then Caroline’s voice filters through, her tone icy. “Has Dad said or done anything to you?”
“Like what?” Caroline doesn’t answer, so Juliet shrugs, rubbing her forehead. “No, he just acts like I’m not there. As usual.”
Caroline bends down, dropping the untouched muffin back to its pan, and shoves herself under Juliet’s legs. She hugs her knees to her chest, and they just sit there, not talking, just existing.
A love I can’t comprehend—a protectiveness that rivals my own.
After a while, Caroline pats her sister’s knee, and I can hear the faintest whisper drop from her lips. “I see you, Jules. You’re not invisible. You never have been.”
My heart feels oddly full, watching Caroline dote on and care for her sister. It’s clear that she’s looking for an outlet, something to channel the goodness within her, to distract her from the evil vying for her soul.
