“She will go regardless,” Connor says. “Best fold on this, brother.”
Declan pockets the business card and takes out a wad of cash. “How much do you want to stay at home?”
“What are you offering?”
“I want to know how much you want to stay in the house?”
“Oh, you mean like be your private, little whore?” I give him an outrageous figure.
Declan grinds his teeth. “Don’t be unreasonable.”
“I’m not. This is a private party that I want to work that will be good for my business.”
“You just got out of jail and?—”
“Exactly! Great point. I need to get my life back.”
“You can never have that life back.”
I wince as if he slapped me. “Well, some of us…some of us want to live normal lives, and we want normalcy back, not necessarily the same life I lived. And why can’t I have it back?”
“Because you’re with me.” He pushes the wad of cash toward me.
I’m starting to think I’m one of the majority of people who can’t handle the truth. I’m not ready to hear it, and Declan knows, but he wants to make his point even if it hurts me. I push the money back. “It’s not about the money.”
Declan stands and buttons his suit. He pierces me with a glare that makes me shiver. It’s almost like he withdrew into himself, and all that’s left is his physical presence. “You cannot leave.”
I stand too. “Did you get me out of a police station to make me your prisoner?”
“I owed you that much.”
“I consider your debt paid, then. We’re even.”
“Dina.” He says my name as if it’s a prayer. “I don’t have the police, the International Security Command is breathing down my neck, and Ivan put a price on my head. All those people already know I’m willing to go to great lengths for you, and theywill use you to get to me. There is nothing normal about this. I’m sorry, but until I have secured that power, you are staying in the mansion.”
“Your father had all the power and look what happened to him. Can’t you see? It’s not about power either.”
Declan scrubs his face. “Fuck.”
“If you won’t let me out, then you have to let mein.”
“In?” His eyes are saucers.
Connor’s eyebrows shoot up.
“Yes,in.I go to the bridal shower, and Iinform on whatever I hear. I’m already involved. I know the rifle was yours. I know what you did with it. They all know but can’t prove it. It’s why they’re here trying to extract a confession from you.”
“She’s right. The rifle is a problem,” Connor says.
“You don’t say! I thought it was a solution,” Declan barks.
“She’s right,” Connor says.
“Leave her out of this.”
“Unless you get rid of me, I know everything. It’s a little too late to deny my involvement. “
“Which is precisely why you can’t go anywhere. Enemies are circling. There will be blood, and I can’t have it be your blood.”
