Page 90 of Hard Heart

“Well, fuck.”

Now he’d have to walk back to his cell with his cock at half-mast and his heart on fucking fire. He’d already been falling for Serafina Hennessy, but that was the moment he tumbled over the edge completely.

“With that window in the door? Out of the question.”

“So…is that a ‘yes’ on the foot rub?”

“Can you multitask?”

He dropped his hands to his lap, and she gave a soft moan as his thumbs dug into her arches. Her face was so expressive. Levi wanted to paint her, fuck her, and make her breakfast every damn morning, but instead, he had to get by with snatched moments and memories. Bitterness over his situation was creeping up on him. Prison hadn’t been so bad until she came along.

“The questions?” he prompted.

“Oh, yes, right. Uh… So we paid a visit to Blackstone House yesterday. I took the flowers for Ruby. A plant, actually.”

“Pink?”

She nodded. “A miniature rose. There was an orchid there too, so you’re not the only one thinking of her.”

“Who left it?”

“There was no card.”

“My money’s on Grey. He’s still nearby, and it seems like the kind of thing he’d have his assistant do.”

The poor woman probably had a recurring calendar entry. Once a year, she had to buy flowers for a woman she’d never met and never would.

“At least someone made the effort.”

“Thank you for going. I appreciate it.”

“I realise how special she was to you.”

“Sorry if it’s weird.”

“It would be weirder if she’d died and you just forgot about her. I mean, obviously you can’t because you’re in here for— Shit. I left my tact at home today.”

“I understood what you meant.”

She reached across the table, and he abandoned her foot in favour of squeezing her hand. On impulse, he brought it to his lips and kissed her knuckles, and she looked away with the same soft smile Ruby used to wear.

“Yes, well… I have some pictures to show you. I had to print them out because I’m not allowed to bring my phone, and the printer kept jamming, and then the colours were a bit off. But anyway… Here they are.”

Levi wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but it wasn’t this. Two pictures, a red party dress he recognised as Ruby’s, and a pair of black underwear that looked like something she might have worn, but he wasn’t sure whether they’d belonged to her or not.

“Are those Ruby’s?” Sera asked.

“The dress is, yes. The underwear, maybe. Were they in the chest of drawers?”

“No, they were hidden in the wall.”

“In the wall? What?”

“There’s a hidden cavity beside the door in her room. Did you know about that?”

“I built it. She used it for her candy stash.”

“There was no candy in there, just these. They were in separate paper bags.” Sera produced two more photos. “Do the letters mean anything?”