“Hey, I never agreed to that,” Cora says.
Eric ignores her. “This is a bad plan even by your standards.”
“At least it’s a plan.”
“So you’re going to trust a girl that snitched on you and sent you to prison to cover her own ass? Doesn’t seem smart to me.”
“I told you, we’re over all that. Now let it go.”
His jaw works. “I did time too, if you remember,” he says quietly. “Yeah, I know, her testimony didn’t put me there, but her testimony got the ball rolling. I’m not putting my life in her hands.”
“You don’t have to. You can put your life in mine.”
Eric turns and storms into the back, looking disgusted.
I watch him go. I knew this would be a problem but it’s something I can handle. I’ve known Eric for a long time, and I know he needs to process this little change. There’s a reason I didn’t tell him about what happened yesterday—I needed to make sure Cora was down for the deal before I let slip that she’d be working with us first. I can’t give him any room to wiggle away. This is the new reality, and he’ll get used to it once it all processes.
Cora comes over, glaring, while Alex carries his mug back toward the office. “Thanks for the coffee, it’s good. Nice to meet you.” He grins at Cora and I nod at him.
Cora stands with her hands on her hips. “I’m going to help you beat the ORB?”
“It’s possible.”
“Fuck you, Nolan. I don’t know anything about them.”
“Kady does.”
“I’m not bringing Kady into this.”
“You already did.”
She stares at me with barely hidden rage. “You said I’d be your secretary.”
“Executive assistant, and you are. As part of your duties, I need you to tell me everything you can find out about the ORB.”
She rubs her face. “I thought you knew everything about them already.”
“I know some things, but there’s a lot more going on around here than a bunch of racist bikers. Those are a dime a dozen.”
“I’m not happy about this.”
“And you think I am?” I move closer, staring into her eyes. “My neck’s out there for you. Don’t fuck it up.”
I turn and walk away. She’s staring at my back as I go but I’m too angry to stick around right now. Let her hang around the bar and get it prepped for tonight if she needs something to do.
The rational part of me understands this is a mistake. Cora doesn’t know nearly enough about the ORB for our deal to make sense, and that Jaxson guy was barely a bit player, which means Kady doesn’t know shit either. This whole executive assistant thing is a farce at best and a joke at worst, and it’s going to drive a wedge between me and Eric, and might even draw some unwanted attention from the bosses in New York.
But the second I saw Cora back in my office, I didn’t give a damn about anything else in the world. I knew that no matter what she asked for, I’d give it to her, assuming I had the power to make it happen.
And in return, I’d make her mine again.
Because the only way I’m going to find out the truth about what happened seven years ago is if she’s around to flush out the real rats still living in my house.
Chapter 4
Cora
Kady kicks her feet up on the porch swing and rocks back and forth as she sips some tea. I sit in the chair across from her, drinking wine and watching the sun set over the woods. Our neighbors are having an ugly fight again—drunk John is shouting at equally drunk Colleen, and she’s about ten seconds from throwing a shoe at his face, and he’s about twenty seconds from threatening to divorce her.
“You know in about an hour, they’re going to be having some truly heinous sex, right?” Kady scrunches up her nose and makes a disgusted frown.
I grimace and take a long sip, trying to drown away the memories of past fights. “I don’t want to think about it.”
“They’re not quiet. They want you to think about it.”
“God, Kady, stop it.”
“They’re old too. Like in their sixties. Hell, maybe their seventies. I bet they’ve been doing this for like forty years. They’ve sure as hell been doing it once a week for as long as I can remember.”
“I’m genuinely horrified.”
“Think Momma used to hear them going at it?”
I shake my head. “For her sake, I hope not. Do you remember hearing it when we were kids?”
She hesitates and looks down at her tea. “I don’t remember much from when we were growing up, honestly. Everything before Momma died is a blur.”
I watch my sister carefully and don’t tell her that I feel the same way. All those days feel like one long nightmare, except for the time I spent hidden in the woods with Nolan, but that only makes me feel guilty. I had an escape and someone to share my pain with, even if we didn’t understand that’s what we were doing back then, but Kady? She was stuck in the house just trying to survive.