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“Shall we go and find her? She’s probably still with Logan somewhere. She could have left. But she didn’t. She needs your time to listen to her, as much as you need hers.”
He wraps his hands around my waist, holding me close. “You’re too fucking good for me. Did I tell you that?”
I give him a half smile. “It’s a trick of the light. It’s all how you see it.”
His lips twitch and then flatten as he takes a deep breath. “Come on, Sunbeam. Let’s go find this silver lining.”
Chapter 25
Dax
Jasmin’sbackisstraightas she sits opposite me on the other sofa in my office. Rose came with me, and we found her and Logan downstairs in the main house. They left us to it. Jasmin just stared at me with this look of devastation in her eyes when she saw me.
It almost tore me in fucking two.
My kid sister, looking like her world just ended. All because of me and the way I reacted. Anger winning out again.
I rest my elbows on my knees as I look at her.
“I hated lying to you, Dax. I’m so sorry that I did.”
I’m afraid that if I speak, I will lose it again and say something I can’t take back.
Alistair fucking Young.
“Me and Al, we…”
I wince.Al.She even says it like he’s the love of her life, her voice lifting, her eyes brightening with that one syllable.Al.
Her eyes rake over my face, and she inhales and starts again.
“Me and Al got talking after the trial. He was… He came to apologize. For his father’s behavior. Not just for that night at the function. But throughout the trial. For him trying to increase the charge to attempted murder. For him pressing charges at all. Al tried to get him to drop the entire thing. Told his dad he was as much to blame after sending me those photos. That you were just looking out for your sister. Al said he thinks he’d have done the same thing if it were him.”
“That’s big of him,” I snort.
Jasmin narrows her eyes at me. “Don’t be a jerk, Dax. He’s nothing like his father.”
“They’re blood. Of course he’s going to be like him.”
She shakes her head. “You’re wrong.”
Heat fires across the back of my neck. Losing my head will just fuck this all up more. I told Jasmin I would listen to her. I promised Rose I would listen.
So I’m going to fucking listen.
“Go on.”
She stares at me for a few minutes before sighing and pressing her fingertips to her temples and rubbing in small circles.
“I didn’t see him for a month after the trial. And then I bumped into him in town one day and we got talking.”
I clench my fists.
“We ended up going for lunch. He was telling me how he works with his dad. How he used to look up to him as a little boy, idolized him. But then… I don’t know. He just seemed sad. Like he’d realized his hero was actually the bad guy. He said he suspected his dad was using the business as a front for other things. Illegal things. When they didn’t win the contract for Aunt Iris’s Blend, it put an extra strain on everything. Julian started doing things differently. Going out every evening. Being secretive about what he was up to. That’s when Al started digging. He doesn’t have hard proof yet, but he knows something isn’t right.”
“He has a personal vendetta against me because we got the contract with the Andersons,” I state, because it’s not a question. It’s a glaringly obvious fact, which Jasmin has just confirmed. I always suspected Julian was pissed we got their business. But now it makes sense.
He wanted me gone.
