Pain crushes my ribs, because I’m alone and always will be.
Foolish me for ever believing otherwise.
Chapter 35
Brody
I close the door to the hotel suite while licking powdered sugar off my mouth. “The lady wants beignets, so that’s what she gets.”
In the bathroom, the faucet switches off.
“Sorry, I may or may not have sampled one in the elevator.” A foreign sensation fills me as I set the bag on the marble table. Happiness. “The warm beignets smelled too damn amazing to resist. Forgive me?”
Somehow, I don’t even hate the fact that I’m acting like a lovesick groom on his honeymoon. Probably because I’m having the time of my life showing Trinity the city, the sights, and the food.
I’m in a great location with a perfect woman, and I plan to savor and enjoy the novel experience.
The bathroom door clicks open, and Trinity walks toward me with red eyes. Evidence of her crying.
Alarm consumes me as I swipe the rest of the powdered sugar from my face. “What happened? What’s wrong?” I scan her over quickly, then glance around the room. No visible injuries. No threats in the suite?—
“Declan texted you.”
A heavy iron ball forms in my gut as the real world crashes back into our lives uninvited. “You were snooping through my phone?”
She just stands there, trembling. “I wasn’t spying. I was looking for a t-shirt in our bag. You left the phone on the bench at the foot of the bed and it buzzed.”
Just like that, she’s no longer the smiling Trinity I gazed at over the dinner table. Nor the Trinity who shared the last few days and nights with me.
She’s not even the Trinity I kidnapped.
This woman appears meek. Scared.
Devastated.
With growing trepidation, I gently pluck the phone from the bench and read the text.
We need to solidify the exchange. Trinity and the drive. I’ll take it from there. Your job is done.
My stomach coils around the iron ball. Why did I leave my burner in the room? I’m so damn stupid.
I inhale, attempting to reel in my anger over my own idiocy. “This was always the plan, Trinity. But when I see Declan, he’ll get the drive, and I’ll get you. It will all work out fine.”
She clenches her hands together. “That’s not what you implied earlier. Do you really believe Declan’s going to compromise?”
I rake my hands through my hair. “That’s why we’re going to use the hard drive as a bargaining chip!” Shit. Yelling at her won’t help. I exhale through my nose, forcing my muscles to relax.“To secure freedom for us both.”
“But will you still care about me once the hard drive is in Declan’s hands? And what about what happens after he gets it? He’ll try to destroy my family. Did you really think I’d be okay with that?”
A tear trails down her cheek.
To avoid reaching for her, I thrust my hands into my pockets. An ache blooms in my chest.
After everything we’ve been through, after I’ve risked my life to protect her, how can she ask me that? “This is our shot. For us both to escape our families and have each other.”
She glares at me through wet eyes. “I won’t betray my brother, Brody!”
“But you expect me to betray my family? Then again, I guess no one expects loyalty from a bastard son.” I snatch the bag of beignets and toss it at the wall. Powdered sugar explodes across the paint like falling snow, but the sight does nothing to quell my anger.
