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Did she now?
‘How about after dinner, I’ll take you to my bedroom and make youslipa couple of times more?’ I wasn’t quite done with her. I just considered the bed to be a much more suitable location for what I had in mind.
‘Hold that thought... for acouple of days more.Jenna is coming here later for a sleepover.’ She was demolishing my dreams one by one, making me curse in the back of my mind the day I decided to give her so much freedom.
Still, I wasn’t willing to let her go. I just helped her rearrange her clothes and remained in front of the fireplace to hold her in my arms until Alfred announced dinner.
Bea disappeared right after grabbing a few bites, going up to her room to wait for her friend Jenna. It was fine by me since I had a little schedule of my own, although I would have preferred her to spend the night and continue from where we left off.
Chapter 27
Ihad to go to the Pit and meet with Brax. Some cash was needed so he could use it as a stimulant for the Annelids’ bosses. It was a job that I could let Alfred do, or even ask Brax to come pick up the money himself. But I was trying to break the ice, venturing beyond the gates of my house to take a shot at a new kind of life. They were only baby steps since it was a half an hour’s ride. However,I did manage to force my luck and stop at the cake shop where Bea had taken me for our date.
Okay... I had to admit the cakes made me do it. And since I needed a stimulant to leave the house, getting some treats made perfect sense.
I ended up returning with four full bags of sweets. Alfred and Cole needed to know about one of the greatest delights hiding right under our noses. One of the bags was for me, of course. And then there was Bea who I wanted to surprise with her favorite dessert.
I could see the excitement in her eyes as I went to her room to bring the goodies. Though that same excitement diminished when she found that I was coming from one of Brax’s clubs. I knew exactly why she was so paranoid about it. I did have a fewgood timesthere, but that was way back in the past. Now I hadsomeonemuch more important to focus on.
Bea’s friend arrived while I was away, and that worked perfectly for me because there was something I also need to talk to her about. Ever since I found out about the diamond bracelethad done some digging of my own. I needed to learn exactly who Bea’s friends were. That girl’s family situation impressed me. It was no different than anyone else’s living in the Pit, but I felt responsible to help her.
In a strange way, my generosity was based on selfish reasons. I was doing it because she was Bea’s friend, but I was also fully aware that my decision to offer her dad a well-paying job at my company would change their lives forever and I saw it as an opportunity to wash a few of my sins away.
With everything going on, I never got the chance to make the offer. So, having her there that night was giving me a perfect opportunity to ask her to invite her dad to my headquarters the very next morning. In the end, it was making Bea happy. And her happiness meant my own.
Retreating to my room, I let the girls have their fun for the rest of the night. Little did anyone know that those would be their last hours spent together. The very next morning Brax called me on his way back from the Academy. The girl whoselifeI decided to change had been shotdead, and Bea was right by her side when that happened.
Brax was trying his best not to let Bea remain at the Academy for a moment longer so they both were on the way back to my house. I didn’t even have time to process his explanations as I found myself in front of Bea’s limo, ready to catch her in my arms the second she got out.
She was safe. That’s all she needed to know.
We were facing a hard road ahead of us. I knew best. That was giving me a hidden leverage because I knew exactly what she was going through. Words couldn’t do much for her, and neither did I except keep her in my arms so tightly that she would become a part of me.
She needed comfort, and despite everything we lived in my room — good and bad, I’d considered that to be the best place to take her.
With the softest kiss, I reassured her that she wasn’t going through this grief alone. I would always be there to give her comfort. And in those moments, that meant carrying her to cuddle on the small sofa in front of my fireplace.
She was struggling with the loss. I could hear that in the tone of her voice which was demanding to see Jenna.
The sight of a cold corpse wouldn’t help her at that point. It would only create new nightmares to haunt her.
I thought that a generous glass of whiskey would momentarily ease the pain, but Bea turned the extra-large drink into a shot. It was meant to gently dilute her senses, not to numb her completely. Losing contact with reality was never a solution to grief. I’ve been down that road and it led nowhere.
I refused to give her a second glass, especially since her mind was already taking her to places she didn’t belong. For some reason she considered herself to be responsible for Jenna’s death, blaming our plan for what had happened.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t dismiss the possibilities that we might have had a role in the tragedy. But we definitely did not cause it.
I tried to soothe her, although I knew from my own experience that words weren’t of much use. She needed time. Time helps you forget and time helps you heal. I just needed to be there for her until that happened.
However, her state of mind was much more affected than I initially assumed as her next question left me in a momentary shock. ‘What does it feel like to take a life?’
‘I’m fucked up in every sense of the word. I don’t think I’m the right person to be asked this question.’ What could I tell her? That I enjoyed killing the one who hurt her? That wasn’t the answer I would have wanted her to hear, even though she seemed determined to follow down my path.
‘I want to see the person responsible for this pay.’ She snarled as I could clearly observe in her eyes the painful determination to keep her promise.
‘I’m not going to let you have that on your hands.’ For her, killing a person would have been a lot different than it was for me. And that was leaving me with only one choice. ‘But I do promise that when we find the one responsible, I will give you the revenge you need.’ If anyone would kill the assassin, it would be me.
‘No, you can’t do that. This didn’t happen because of you. It happened because I set things off balance.’
