Manu spoke first, glaring at her with his deep brown eyes.“Who did this?”
Nyree opened her mouth to recite the lie she’d prepared before her mind came to a screeching halt.This was idiotic.
It wascrazyto accept this as her life.
She was an intelligent woman with a job she loved and people who cared for her.Ari had been vital to her once, but each time he’d hit her, that love had died.She’d wanted to unleash her taniwha but hadn’t because to do so would put her friends and family—everyone she loved—in danger.
“Nyree,” Manu said, his voice deep and compelling.“I’m waiting.”
Nyree inhaled and groaned at the automatic tightening of abused muscles.Lord, it hurt to breathe, to smile, to expect her body to do anything normal.
Emma stepped forward and took charge.“It’s time for morning tea,” she said, sweeping a lock of brown hair away from her face.“Jack, make the coffee.Manu, you can help him.”
Four sets of male gazes fixed on Emma before they swung back to Nyree.
Without another word, the men dispersed, letting Emma boss them around.Her Uncle George returned to his office while the three younger men disappeared into the lunchroom.Doors clicked shut, silence fell, and Emma closed the distance between her and Nyree.
“Come and sit,” Emma said, gesturing at a black leather two-seater opposite the reception desk.“Before you topple on your arse.You’re shaking.”
Nyree glanced down in surprise, shocked to see Emma spoke the truth.She was trembling like a leaf in a breeze.Nyree let Emma guide her to a seat.
“You sit, and I’ll get us a cup of coffee.I won’t be long,” Emma promised.
Nyree gingerly lowered her body to the seat, another anguished groan squeezing free without her permission.Lack of sleep hadn’t helped as she’d replayed the previous night.She’d been late home from work and had forgotten Ari had invited his work friends for dinner.She’d done her best with a scratch meal.During dinner, Ari had sent her chiding glances, but she’d thought she’d done well and used her initiative.She’d told Ari she’d had to work late, but he’d got it into his head that the wine he’d smelled on her when she’d walked in the door was because she’d spent time at a bar.
Not true.
Her Uncle George had poured them a glass of bubbly after they’d secured the contract from an important new client.
Her explanation hadn’t appeased Ari.
As soon as their guests had left, he’d started his accusations.
When she’d told him she’d had a drink after work—one drink—he’d backhanded her.When she’d fallen, he’d kicked her twice and continued to harangue her.She’d tried to explain—she really had, but he’d decided, and that had been that.He’d morphed from Charming Ari to Monster Ari, and she’d taken the beating to protect her taniwha identity.
Again.
“Here’s your coffee, Nyree.No, don’t reach for it.I’ll put it on the table for you.”
Curvy Emma set a tray bearing two mugs of milky coffee and two pieces of shortbread on a wooden coffee table.That done, she took the seat beside Nyree.
“Thanks,” Nyree said.
“No problem.I had to wrestle the guys for the shortbread, but I’ve been training.It was no sweat.”
Nyree smiled because her cousins were quick with food.Her smile died fast since even that hurt, and Emma, bother her private-eye-attention-to-detail, noticed everything.Emma’s gaze narrowed, and her mouth tightened a fraction, although her grin remained intact.
“Tell me what happened,” she ordered in a deceptively pleasant tone.
Her friend practically vibrated with anger, disdain, and judgment.It was the judgment that hurt the worst.Nyree didn’t understand how her relationship with Ari had drifted this far off course.To anyone else—Hana and her mother—he was charming and generous and always ready with a smile and a joke.They didn’t see the danger lurking in him.
“Nyree,” Emma prompted, a hard, determined edge to her verbal prod.“Don’t try lying to me because I’ll know.”
Nyree had lied in the past, but right now, she hurt, and fatigue slowed her down.So, so tired.Nyree hesitated before puffing out a painful breath.“Ari has a temper.He hit me.”Once the words started, they gushed forth.
“I worked late last night, and it slipped my mind Ari had guests for dinner.He was angry because I was late home and cooked an ordinary meal.”Nyree shifted to ease her discomfort and winced at the jagged shard of pain that zapped down her ribs and pooled at her hips.
A gasp escaped her parted lips.
