CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
DENIELLE
The door clicks shut,and I lean against it with my back. The tremble in my chest makes it hard to draw in a full breath. This is not how I meant for this day to end. How is this happening? To me of all people?Whodid this? And why? Question after question bombards me, yet no answer will form.
I haven't felt this…helpless in a long time. Not that I am helpless. I have Lilly and Rhys. Ethan. And now a female bodyguard whose day job is to clean up after her assassin brothers. That's as far as I let my mind wander. And I thought my family was fucked up. Did any of us have a normal family these days? Wes and his parents flash in front of my eyes. He literally is the only one. Even Heather and Tristen, while being loving parents to their children, kept so many secrets from Lilly, Rhys, and Natty that it took them a long time to rebuild the broken trust.
A knock on my door makes me jump. My hand flies to my chest, my thundering heartbeat vibrating under my touch. My eyes flutter closed, and I inhale slowly. I'm safe.
"Babe? Can I come in?" Lilly's voice drifts through the barrier.
Drawing in one more shuddering breath, I turn and reach for the knob. Letting the door swing inward, Lilly appears. She stands in front of me, one arm hugging her midsection while the other is bent, chewing on her thumbnail. Scanning her from top to bottom, her toes are curled, and she rocks back on her heels. She looks years younger.
I wave her in. She walks past me, not breaking eye contact. Once we're alone, away from prying ears that could listen from somewhere down the hallway, she drops onto the sofa, and I follow suit. I pull my legs under and wrap my arms around myself, leaning my head against the back. Lilly mimics my position, and I can't suppress my smile.
"This was one hell of a weird day," I admit.
She sucks in her cheeks. "That's about as accurate as saying the way G introduced himself to you was alittle odd."
"Touché." I point a finger at her, and she grins.
Lilly reaches out, placing her palm on my knee. "How are you? Really."
I roll my lips between my teeth. How am I? "Confused? Scared?" A sting alerts me that I picked at my cuticle too hard. Red pools around my nail.Shit. I wrap the hem of my top around it, not caring if I permanently stain it. "Who do you think is behind all this?"
"I don't know, babe." She pulls her hand back and tucks it under her armpit. "What about Charlie? Or Collin? Could it be one of them?"
I shake my head quickly but then pause. Could they? But why? "Charlie is a good guy. He wouldn't…" He did appear out of nowhere every single time. But he never gave any indication that he was upset with me or wanted something I wasn't willing to give. As opposed to… "Collin wanted me to come home." I stare at the crimson seeping through my shirt.
"He what?" Lilly sits up straight.
"When he drove me that day, he said I needed to come home, that we had a future planned." I neglect to say, once again, why he brought me back to the mansion or the fact that my father had filled him in on our family's skeleton, a.k.a. me.
"A future he shit all over," Lilly's tone rises. "Please tell me you are not consider—"
"Oh, fuck no!" I don't have to think twice about it. Even if I had deep-rooted feelings for Collin Liberman (which I don't), the fact that he and my father went behind my back is an absolute deal breaker.
My mind wanders to the man downstairs, and heat creeps up my neck. Not lifting my head, I peer at Lilly through my lashes.
She studies me for a moment before the corner of her mouth turns up. Neither of us spells it out, though. She wants me to take the lead, but I'm not ready. So much has changed in such a short time. Do I care for Marcus? Yes. I can no longer refuse acceptance. The mutual denial of "Nothing has changed"has officially been overwritten. Was he the first person I called when I discovered what had happened to the G-Wagon? Also, yes. There was no one else I wanted. Needed. He gives me power, strength, while letting me be vulnerable. When I am with him, I can handle the darkness that has been following me since I was five years old.
"Sooo… I never expected to need my ownShadowone day, let alone someone who operates on the other side of the law." I quirk a brow at my best friend. While Lilly has bent the rules of legality at times and, technically, protected a felon, her being okay with this Jenn person is surprising to me.
Lilly rubs her palms over her face and peers at me between her fingers. She lets her hands drop into her lap, and her shoulders slump. "Trust me, I have no idea how I feel about this."
"Do you think we are safe with her?" After a pause, I amend, "Saf-er?"
She shrugs a shoulder. "Honest answer?" There is a dramatic pause. "I hope so. I'm aware of how the Davis family operates. The services they…provide for the right price. I never met—" Lilly halts, and something flitters across her face. It disappears as fast as it came, and she continues, "Jennpersonally. Marcus has, though. And if he and Ethan trust her, then I trust them."
"When has Marcus met her?" A bitter taste coats my tongue. Is this…jealousy? Did he and this woman…
Lilly can read me clear as day, and her brows shoot up. "Denielle Keller, are you…?"
"No!" I burst out before she can finish her idiotic question. My stomach drops. Is it idiotic, though?
"That was a little too fast, D," she chuckles. "We will talk about your love life eventually—especially your confession at the hospital."
My cheeks turn feverish, and a wave of goose bumps runs down my spine, remembering. Does she have a suspicion where—? No. She can't.