She blinks rapidly, her face a mask of confusion. “No. I didn’t even know he had a sister. Why?”
I ignore her question. “So he never even mentioned her?”
She shakes her head, and a small wave of relief washes over me. But I quickly remind myself that it means nothing. Mel didn’t have to speak to Ariana to have been involved.
I run a hand through my hair, and a heavy sigh pours out of me.
“What’s going to happen to me now?” she asks, her voice small and quiet.
I fix my gaze on her face again. I’ve spent years in courtrooms and offices just like this one reading body language and facial expressions as well as inflections in speech, not to mention every other little tick that betrays a person when they’re lying. And Ariana is telling the truth, I’m sure of it. The fact that she’s another victim of Bryce Edison makes me feel a little sorry for her, but I refuse to let her know that.
“One of your employers is waiting outside to talk to you. If you’re lucky, it will be Dante or Joey rather than Lorenzo or Max.” Not that Joey and Dante aren’t every bit as ruthless, but they are a little easier to reason with.
Her face pales, and she sucks in a stuttered breath. “Please, Mr. James,” she begs. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. Or anyone.” Tears run freely down her cheeks.
I stand, brushing the creases from my suit. I need a shower and a long fucking sleep. “Yeah, but you did, Ariana.”
I walk out of the room and straight into Lorenzo Moretti. He eyes me with concern, and I scratch my fingertips over the thick stubble on my jaw.
“Did you get what you need, compagno?”
“Yeah.” I give him a brief account of my conversation with Ariana. “I know she fucked up, but it seems she was taken advantage of. I told her someone is waiting to talk to her. So she’s fucking terrified right now.”
He grunts. “She should be.”
I glance back at the closed door. Her fate shouldn’t matter to me, but it does. “What are you gonna do with her?”
He runs a hand over his thick beard and sucks on his bottom lip before answering. “She’ll never work in this city again. Is that enough for you?”
Well, damn. Family life sure has mellowed my old friend. “Yeah, it is.”
“And what about this Edison prick?”
I let out a long breath. A big part of me would enjoy seeing the look on Bryce’s face when Lorenzo Moretti pays him a visit, but that’s not how I handle my business. And this is way too personal to allow anyone else to handle it for me. “I’ll deal with him.”
Chapter
Forty-Two
MELANIE
Iglance over my reflection in the bathroom mirror of Tyler’s apartment. No amount of carefully applied makeup can hide the fact that I’ve been crying for the past two hours. I wish I didn’t have the fundraiser tonight, but it’s the one thing keeping me from finding my brother and wringing his neck.
I sniff, stifling yet another sob. Pull yourself together, Mel. It’s not like what Nathan and I had was real. Not like he would ever truly love me.
Except it felt real. It felt better than anything I’ve ever had before. And even if it wasn’t, he made me feel like it was. He didn’t deserve any of what happened to him. Nobody deserves that, and the thought that I might have been able to stop it, or that I ever agreed to any part of it, is eating me alive. I can’t get the image of him waking up confused and terrified with some strange woman in his bed out of my head. How he told me that it broke his heart to think he cheated on me.
My head drops, and a shuddering sob wracks my body. Every thought slices through my heart like a surgeon’s scalpel. How could I have been so stupid to not have been honest with him from the start? It might have stopped him from marrying me, but at least he wouldn’t be hurt. At least I wouldn’t know the pain of losing him. Because beneath all the chatter and anger and questions racing through my head at a million miles an hour, that’s the pain that beats the hardest inside my chest.
I had the most incredible man in the world.
And now I’ve lost him.
Tyler’s soothing voice fills my ear. “Oh, baby girl, I wish I was there right now.”
I sink into the sofa in his living room and glance at his old football jersey sitting beside me. I run my fingertip over the letter M of his nickname, then pick up the jersey and press it against my face, inhaling his comforting scent. After fielding dozens of questions about where my husband was and lying to everyone about why he wasn’t with me, I left the charity event early. Every time I heard his name was like a thousand needles skewering my heart. Even the cute rescue animals couldn’t ease the overwhelming ache pulsing through my entire body.
“Your brother is a real piece of shit, you know that. I am going to kick his goddamn ass to kingdom come when I get back.”
“No, Ty, you’re not.” He knows I abhor violence of any kind, and him getting in the middle of Bryce and me always bothered me. Tyler’s had to stick up for me against my bully of a big brother for as long as I can remember, and I hate that he still has to.
“Then I hope Nathan uses some of his mob contacts to scare the living shit out of him instead then,” he huffs.
“No,” I groan. “That would be even worse.”
“Someone has to do something about him, baby girl. He’s ruined two people’s lives, and for what?”
I rub my cheek against his soft jersey and close my eyes. “I know, Ty. And I’m sure Nathan will deal with him somehow. If he has any sense, he’ll call the police, but I doubt that he will.”
“Maybe he’ll ruin him instead. Like financially. That seems more his style,” Tyler muses.
“Yeah, and it wouldn’t take that much effort. I’m sure he’s already on the brink of ruin. Goddamn useless asshole.”
Tyler snorts a laugh. “What are you gonna do now, baby girl?”
I choke back a sob. “I don’t know, Ty,” I reply honestly. “I feel so empty.”
