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“Call me Lindsey,” she insists between sobs.
“Lindsey,” Candy hesitates. “Whose fault? Do you know why Dash…got shot?”
She nods, wiping at her tears with her sleeve. I spy a box of tissues on the side table and snatch one, passing it to her wordlessly. “Thank you. Yes. It was my step-son’s fault. That boy has been nothing but trouble since the day I met him.”
“Trouble how?” I ask. Dash never talked about his family. We never met them. The only reason I knew where their housewas is because I had to drive him here after he was discharged from hospital and he refused to come home. We thought it was so he could avoid telling us what happened, but now I think it’s because he didn’t want to make Candy uncomfortable.
“Drugs, stealing, you name it. He owed so much money to so many different people, I’m not surprised they caught up with him.”
Candy frowns. “So Dash was trying to help his…step-brother, by getting the money together?”
His mother nods. “Yes. But it was all for nothing because Dash got shot and Jamie is dead!”
Candy inhales sharply. “Jamie?”
CANDY
This can’t be happening. I look at North with wide eyes, torn between shock and disbelief. It’s a lot to process, and I can feel the tension in the room escalating.
“Did you say your step-son’s name was Jamie?”
She nods. I swallow.
“Candy?” North asks, his brows creased with concern.
“Lindsey, I’m so sorry for everything,” I say, my voice sincere. “We had no idea about any of this, and we want to help in any way we can.”
She sniffles and nods, appreciating the gesture but too immersed in her grief to respond fully. North, however, looks like he’s about to burst with questions. I can see the conflict in his eyes, torn between the pain of Dash’s betrayal and this revelation about Jamie. He wants to know how I knew him.
“Candy, we need to talk,” he says gently, trying to guide me away from Lindsey, who is now openly weeping.
I nod, my eyes still fixed on Lindsey. “We’ll talk later,” I promise, before following North out of the living room.
As North leads me away, my mind is a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. Jamie, Dash’s step-brother, is the source of all this trouble, and Dash got involved to help him. It’s arevelation that adds layers to the already complicated situation. As North and I step into the hallway, my gaze lingers on Dash’s closed bedroom door at the top of the stairs.
He looked awful. All I wanted to do was wrap my arms around him and offer him some sort of comfort, but I couldn’t.
“Why didn’t Dash tell us any of this?” I murmur, more to myself than to North.
“He probably thought he could handle it on his own, and didn’t want to burden anyone,” North replies, his tone carrying a mix of understanding and frustration. “But keeping it from us only made things worse. So you knew Jamie?”
“He’s my ex. Or was. He was the one who stripped my flat and stole my rent money.”
“Guess that makes sense now.”
Before I can respond, the bedroom door creaks open, and Dash emerges at the top of the stairs. His movements down to us are pained and slow.
“Candy,” he breathes, and for a moment, the weight of everything seems to hang in the air.
“Dash,” I say, my voice steady despite the turmoil inside me. “You’re Jamie’s brother? What the hell happened?”
“Stepbrother.” His gaze shifts to North, and I can see guilt and regret etched on his face. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” he starts, his voice strained. “I didn’t know you knew him. I thought they were threatening you to make sure I paid up.”
“Why would they do that?” I ask, frowning.
“Because they knew I care about you.”
North takes a step closer, his fists clenched, and my emotions bubble to the surface. I don’t want them to fight. “Why, Dash? Why keep it from us? Why betray the trust of the club?”
