AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It’s a slow rot, one that eventually eats you alive until you’re a victim to it as much as the people you hurt by keeping them.
Without thinking about it, I reach out to slip my hand in Shane’s, a small amount of pain shooting up my arm when he clenches his fingers over mine like he’s holding on for dear life.
Obviously, I can’t solve this for him. Can’t change the past or direct how his friends will react, but I can tell him I’m still here.
I haven’t left him.
I’m not making the choice to walk away because he’s different than every other person here.
I suspect Shane’s led a long life of people walking out on him, and though I don’t know much about his family, the signs are all there.
Realizing we don’t know much about each other, it’s still not so odd that we’ve bonded quickly.
We’re two halves of the same whole. Our souls recognize when we are face-to-face with the very thing that can make us strong again.
“It was right after we’d graduated from Yale and came back here. The firm had just opened up, and Luca had married Clayton, securing her in place like your father demanded. My father told me we were taking a trip and I was needed for something. He told me I had to lie to all of you and claim I was going to a car show. I was flown down to Georgia and instructed to bleed the brake lines of a black Lincoln Navigator. Not enough to disable the brakes but enough that they would lose fluid as the person was driving and—”
“Eventually be unable to stop,” Tanner finishes for him. “Damn, Shane. Why didn’t you tell any of us? Especially me?”
“I didn’t know whose car it was. I don’t pay attention to that shit. My dad has dragged me around to do crap to a lot of people’s cars. It wasn’t until you got with Luca, and she mentioned her dad and when and where he died that I put the pieces together. I didn’t know it was him.”
My heart is breaking for him. For how he’s been used and for how shitty his family must be. Sure, my dad has apparently gotten himself tied up in this stuff, but for the most part, he’s kept me out of it.
He didn’t use me as a pawn.
Not until the flash drive, at least.
Tanner’s stern expression eases, understanding slipping in to take its place. “Why were you told to lie?”
“Hell if I know,” Shane answers. “So you wouldn’t know our shithead sperm donors were using more than just you to corner Luca? At least that’s what I assume.”
They both look defeated, Shane still in a protective stance in front of me as Tanner drops back to lean against a wall again.
Tanner curses under his breath, the room mostly silent except for the soft sound of Luca sobbing.
That silence is broken when Gabriel finishes off his drink, sets the tumbler on a side table with a soft click of the crystal against wood then scratches his jaw.
“I think we all have a lot of fessing up to do in this. It seems our families haven’t just been playing us against the world but also against each other.”
Tanner let’s out a bark of incredulous laughter. “Oh? You noticed too?”
“I did,” Gabe says with a single nod of his head.
Breathing out hard, Tanner looks at Gabe. “Then what’s your big secret?”
Gabe glances at Luca then around to all of us. “Luca is aware of this already, so I don’t mind bringing it up given her current emotional state. Her father knew our families were trying to kill him. I sent a warning to John along with Everly when she left Yale and returned to Georgia.”
“You did what?”
We all turn to eye Jase. As usual, he’s braced and ready to jump Gabe’s ass. I don’t know much about this Everly situation, but Jase has obvious issues when it comes to her.
Gabe studiously ignores him.
“I’d overheard a conversation between Warbucks and Daddy Dearest when they came with William to pick up the twins at Yale. They were discussing killing Luca’s father because of your disinterest in cornering her. I didn’t mention it because, at the time, that was a non-issue to me. No offense to you, Luca. This was very early on, before we got a chance to know you. But I did tell Tanner.”
“And this shit with Everly?” Jase demands.
Gabe flashes him a look of contempt. “I’m getting to that, Jase. Chill out and keep your dick in your pants before you give all of us herpes. I guarantee you it’s not bigger than mine, and you’re not intimidating me with your bullshit.”
