12
“Don’t be a fool, Kitty,” Jeremiah said.
He and the twins were huddled on her bed, Leo asleep in her arms.King had given them plenty of room, but the siblings had been so used to being crammed into the same bed all their lives and right now it was a comfort to have her family close when her heart was aching so badly.
She shot her brother a scowl.“I’m not being a fool.I’m being pragmatic.”
“By giving back the money King gave you?”he asked in disbelief.
She shifted, unable to meet his gaze.Somehow, miraculously, her brother hadn’t learned yet just why King had given her that money.When she’d told him she’d gotten the money to pay back Maloney he’d mistakenly believed it was an act of charity.
Or a gift, perhaps, because he was of the mistaken belief that King fancied her.
She plucked at the blanket beneath her.He didn’t.For a moment there she might have let herself get swept away in a fantasy, but now she knew better.And each passing moment that he avoided her presence, made it ever clearer.“It doesn’t belong to us,” she said.“And while it was…kind of him to give it to us, we cannot afford to be in any man’s debt.Not again.”
Jeremiah grew solemn at this.He more than anyone knew how hellish it could be to be indebted to a cruel and powerful man.
Not that King was anything like Maloney.But still.There was no way she could walk out of this home with King’s money burning a hole in her coin purse.Not when she knew what she’d done to get it.
She shut her eyes against the memory of his look.
“Well, Beast says we won’t have to worry no more,” Molly said.Her eyes were so wide with absolute faith in the overgrown enforcer, it was rather sweet.
Kitty and Jeremiah shared a smile.
“It’s true,” Jeremiah said to Kitty.“I saw Tracker on his way out.He had orders to bring Garfield back here to talk to King himself.That must mean he’s helping to get Maloney out of there, right?”
Kitty nodded, trying not to let the mention of King’s name bother her.
She was failing mightily.Every time anyone so much as said his name, she felt her chest clench and heat steal into her cheeks.
But her heart…her heart felt like it was breaking every time she thought of the way he’d ordered her away.She couldn’t stop thinking about the look of betrayal in his eyes.
One part of her wished she’d explained, or at least had tried to.Another thought perhaps it was for the best.
Her heart already felt too sensitive and raw around the man who was little more than a stranger.
No.She gulped in air at the memory of the way he’d looked at her, held her, soothed her…
Not a stranger.
But not a man she could have a future with either.
She’d known what she was getting into.She knew he wasn’t an ordinary man.And so of course she couldn’t complain now that he’d turned back to the cold, unfeeling King everyone thought him to be.
“Well?”Jeremiah said.
Kitty blinked.Clearly her brother had been talking but she hadn’t heard a word.“It’s a good decision,” she said.As if anyone cared what she thought.“That neighborhood will be better off without Maloney and his men terrorizing the streets.By all accounts, Garfield is tough but fair.”
Jeremiah arched a brow.“That’s all fine and good, but where are we to go without any money?”
“If we’re safe to return home, we’ll go there,” she said.“And then…then I will find employment, and you will as well.”
Jeremiah started to protest at the impossibility of him finding employment in their neighborhood.
“You won’t be a servant to Maloney anymore,” she continued.“You’ll be able to get real employment—”
“Where?”he shot back.