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“Not anymore,” he said, shaking his head and trying to figure out what to say. “Do you remember when I asked you if you were helping Maxwell Ronson for some other reason besides friendship? Do you remember how I made you say that you weren’t?” he asked, still trying to take her hands, and she kept backing away from him.
“Did everyone in your office hear that?” The mortification she felt at the thought was crippling. “Oh my god,” she gasped, feeling like her lungs were collapsing. “How could you do that?”
“I didn’t have a fucking choice! They were going to bring you in and charge you. Do you have any idea what that would have done to you and your family? The press would have been all over you!” he yelled, still reaching for her even though she kept slapping his hands away. “I got the recording and scrubbed it, but some asshole in my office recovered the parts I’d taken out. The parts of us—”
“Bianca don’t say another word to him! Get your things,” Cassiel said.
Bianca couldn’t care less about her things. She had to get as far away from Elias as she could. She blundered past her brother and out the still-open door, her eyes overflowing with tears.
She could hear Elias calling her name behind her and then saying, “Cassiel,please. Let me explain it.”
“Don’t you ever come near her again, or I will personally fuck you up. And I don’t care how long I go to jail for it,” her brother replied.
Bianca stumbled down the stairs, barefoot and still in his too-big sweats, everything blurry as a black spot kept blooming in her field of vision. All she could see was the waiting SUV and ran toward it, her bare feet slapping on the cold pavement. The driver opened the back door for her and she threw herself inside.
Cassiel was only a few seconds behind her. She bent forward over her legs with her head between her knees, feeling like she was going to pass out. Cassiel put his hand on her back, rubbing it, while the car pulled away on squealing tires. She could hear Elias still calling her name as he chased them outside.
“It’s okay Bumble Bee,” Cassiel kept saying, looking out the back window.
But he knew it wasn’t, and she doubted it ever would be.
Eleven
Cassiel brought her back to her place, but the sight of her front door sent a wave of anxiety through her.
“What if there’s still recording stuff in there?” she asked, hiccupping with panic at the thought of all her intimate moments being listened to.
“Is there any reason to believe that he put them around your place?” Cassiel asked. “He could have just recorded you that one time.”
She shook her head. “He was always telling me to be quiet when we—” she broke off, too humiliated to continue.
Cassiel cursed violently under his breath. “I’ll have a team go in and check your place, okay Bee?” he said, smoothing his hand over her back. “Do you want to just run in a grab some stuff?”
She shook her head, tears still streaming down her face. “I don’t want to go inside,” she said, fresh sobs halting her speech. “Can you go in and get Jinx for me?”
Cassiel got the dog and brought her to Rafe’s place.
“There’s a room all set up for you. You can shower and change,” Abbe said when Bianca trailed in after her brother, her head down and her eyes still leaking.
She pulled off Elias’ sweats and threw them into a corner. She took a long hot shower, and dragged herself to bed, not even bothering to dry her hair. She got between the covers and tried to force herself to sleep so she wouldn’t feel anything for a little while, but she kept having nightmares that woke her.
She could hear voices. Sometimes they were lowered so they didn’t disturb her, and other times there was shouting. She heard Elias’ voice. She stayed in bed.
Abbe crept in at one point, the sound of Jinx’s dog tags jingling. “Bianca, can I come in?” she asked, halfway into the room.
Jinx jumped up on the bed and Bianca rolled over. “Sure,” she said, her voice cracking with lack of use.
“Do you feel like eating?” she asked.
Bianca shook her head. “Maybe later.”
Abbe sat down on the edge of the bed. “Elias came by,” she said.
Tears started leaking out of her eyes again. “And?” she asked, listlessly.
“He returned your stuff from the ball. Your jewels and gown.”
Bianca stared up at the ceiling, tears streaming into her hair. “Could you put them away someplace for me so I don’t have to see them?”
