Our grandmother had doted on me. “She splurged on clothes, shoes, on beautician appointments. She’s the reason I have a manicure fetish.” I flexed my fingers, still badly in need of nail work. “She used to say how she’d only ever had sons so loved having a girl to spoil. Austin would joke about the money she’d spend on me but then happily sit through my fashion show. I grew up dirt-poor, so it was like winning the lottery. I was so happy there.”
Mila added her thoughts. “I always found Primrose cold. Or not so warm as our grandfather. I think I understand why now.”
Because they’d lost me.
By the end of me describing how I’d had tutors and homeschooling, and how I was never far from their side, we’d stopped at the room I’d previously used as a bedroom.
It had been emptied of the few things I’d left, probably by Tyler, though I still hadn’t opened my boxes in his apartment. Now, the space was set up for work. A camera, a four-poster bed, a screen so the cam girl could check her angles. Though no one was in here, the work on the floor hadn’t slowed, the girls getting countless calls from men across the city and around the world, needing a cute ass to get themselves off.
If it was an odd place for the heavy conversation, I didn’t feel it. With the sex noises competing with music, the women couldn’t hear us, and if anything, the familiarity helped.
“Tell me about Grandpa,” she asked.
“He was the sweetest man. Exactly what I’d always wanted in a father figure.”
Mila smiled, but it was tinged with sadness. “Same, though I had a stepdad. Did you?”
“No. Mum had a number of boyfriends, but none stuck around for long. She was shit at choosing well. A proper freak magnet, bringing home men who made points with their fists or party animals who offered me drugs. I craved normality. So when Austin Marchant rocked up, all warm hugs and big heart, I was in love.”
Mila leaned on the open doorway. “He was so kind. Even after everything, that’s my enduring memory of him. Every time anyone came to him in need, he stepped up. Family, employees.” She twisted her lips, her gaze down. “It’s no secret how much I’m struggling with the allegations against him. One thing I never understood is how he started paying off relatives. I don’t suppose you know about that?”
My heart lifted, and I took a breath of happiness at something that would help her. As otherwise, I’d only been making her feel bad. “I do. He used to have me sit in on meetings, and I was there the day he devised a plan to set up a family payroll. Want me to tell you about it?”
Mila’s eyes shot to mine. “Please. Lovelyn has been helping me, and she worked out that some of the people he supported were in genuine need, but they acted as a front to lots of others who didn’t. Would it be okay if we brought her into the conversation?”
I already knew from Tyler that Lovelyn and my brother were one storey down in a room on the hotel floor. I’d promised myself to stop being a wimp and go say hi.
I raised my gaze to Tyler, and he straightened from the wall and closed in on us.
“Everything okay?”
“We’re going down to meet Kane and Lovelyn, if that’s all right?”
He was already reaching for his phone. “Convict will check it over for us.”
I’d seen Convict earlier when meeting up with Mila. He’d bounded up like an overgrown puppy and hugged me. No drama, only a laugh when Tyler warned him off, and a claim that he was an engaged man. So he and Mila were getting hitched. That was wild.
Tyler lifted his gaze from his phone. “All good. Follow me.”
“With that ass?” I quipped. “Anywhere.”
Mila giggled, and Tyler shot me a patient look then called the lift.
“Dixie?” a voice hailed me from the entryway to the stairs.
A tall man stepped through, perfectly high cheekbones, a lean frame, and a shirt with the sleeve holes cut so deep it barely held together. His eyes widened in recognition, then Lex closed in on me, astonishment in every look.
“Baby girl. Thought you were long gone.”
He swept me up in a hug, my feet leaving the floor.
Panic shot through me, but it was gone as quickly as it arrived, because Tyler had Lex’s arms behind his back and the man shoved up against the wall faster than I could stumble away.
“Don’t touch her,” my protector growled.
Lex wrenched to see me, his face smushed. “I didn’t mean anything. Shit, sorry.”
I touched Tyler’s arm. “It’s okay. We used to work together. Lex isn’t a threat.” To Lex, I added, “Maybe just no grabbing?”
