“You didn’t have to be a bitch.” She’s been silent most of this time, which is odd for Keyra because usually she makes her opinion known immediately.

“That’s rich, coming from the literal queen of bitch.”

“That man only cares about you and you swatted him away like he’s some irritating fly.”

“He thinks he cares about me. Maybe he does right now. Doesn’t mean he’ll feel the same next month or the month after or the month after that.” I look out the window, tapping my fingers against my leg.

Being a senator’s daughter has some very real perks that I take advantage of very rarely.

But this is one of those times I’m doing it shamelessly. For Jazz. And for anyone else who might be caught in the crosshairs.

And maybe a little bit for me, because I can’t just do nothing while the girl I think of as a little sister is laying in the hospital.

The car stops and we get out. I don’t know what time it is, I don’t care. There’s a slim, redheaded woman waiting in front of the tall fenced entrance. I hold out my hand but she hugs me, something I wasn’t really expecting or prepared for.

Keep it together.

“Detective Kinsey.”

“Really? I know it’s been awhile, but I think you can call me Lauren.”

“Lauren.” I correct myself, and she hugs Keyra as she comes up too. She nods to a guard behind the fence and he nods back, unlocking and pushing the fence open. We walk with her through and talk quietly, heading for the entrance.

“You have to know how unusual this is, and if I didn’t know that you’re the only one he’ll talk to…I would never condone this for civilians.” She warns me, and I nod.

“I know. I appreciate it so much.”

“As I told you when we talked, we’ve been watching Richard Brooks for awhile now, but he’s either not involved or is very good at covering his tracks. I looked at what Keyra had your dad’s team send over, and I think your sister chose the wrong career.”

“I’ve thought the same thing lately.” I murmur, stepping through when the door unlocks. We’re not at the original prison where Wesley’s spent most of his time, but a secure medical facility.

Apparently he’s recovering from some infection.

But not that one that makes him a sociopath. Every step closer to him throws me back into everything I felt after it all went down.

How stupid, how blind, how…worthless I felt.

But this can’t be about me. I have to find out if he knows about them grabbing Jazz.

We check in, and I think about how crazy this is. I didn’t expect that I’ve ever have to face him again.

I went from a fairly predictable day to day to me not really recognizing my life right now.

“He’s cuffed to the bed, but please keep a distance. Against my better judgement, I’m going to let you go in alone but Keyra and I will be right outside, along with his guard.” She stops and turns to me once we make it to a door in the middle of a corridor, holding up a little pin. “You’ll be wearing this. Everything’s recording, but we don’t have any eyes inside that room except for you. Please, be careful. If you were anyone else…”

“I know. Thank you for trusting me.” She pins the little button just under the collar of my jacket, and nods, moving back.

“It’s on. Ready when you are.” I take a determined step towards the room, but Keyra puts a hand on my arm and I turn to her.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” Concern is all in her gaze and I steel my spine, shaking my head. I can do this. It’s the least I can do.

“I got this. For Jazz.”

“Okay.” She murmurs, stepping away and I take a deep breath with my hand on the handle. I make myself open it before I can think about it any longer and close it behind me, looking at the man I thought would save me from what I thought was the worst life.

“They told me I was getting a visitor. Didn’t think for a second it’d be you.” I wish I could say the years had been bad to him. You’d think so right? The man’s been in prison, not at some resort.

But he…looks almost the same. Little older. Bulkier. Less like the smiling man that charmed me with silly jokes and compliments.

“I didn’t think I’d be here either.” I move towards a chair by the window and sit there, surveying him. So many emotions.

Smooth dark skin and a close cut, nearly bald shave. He’s got a short beard and mustache now, very Morris Chestnut-like. Probably part of why I was so drawn. I used to tease him about being a long-lost sibling.

“You look good. Stressed, but good. Little more meat on your bones, I like it.” A slow smile starts on his face, like this is some sort of chance meeting.

“I don’t care what you like.” I focus on breathing. It can’t bother me if I don’t let it. He can’t get to me if I don’t let him.

Don’t get pulled into the past.

“This isn’t a conjugal visit then? The bed’s right here.”

“Did you tell someone to kidnap Jasmine Nichols?”

His face doesn’t change, just keeps that same smirk. No hesitation, no blink, no reaction.

“Kidnapping? How unfortunate.” Jackass. I get up from my seat, walking around the room. There’s a small cabinet and I open it, finding what I’m looking for. I palm it, and take my seat again, leaning forward.

“I don’t have time for this.”

“And yet here you are. This girl must mean something to you. She must be important, someone you care about. Someone that, if they betrayed you, might hurt you beyond repair.” Steady, clear, you’d think he was reading off the weather so casually.

“Why are you doing this now? What do you have to gain? Who are you talking to on the outside that’s facilitating this? Is it Richard Brooks?”

“Ah Richie. How is he? I miss him. He was my father’s best friend, you know. An uncle to me, you might say. I hear he’s got a new woman. I hear you’ve got a new man too?” I don’t know why I didn’t see the emptiness in his eyes before. It’s like he’s putting on a persona but isn’t really here. Isn’t invested.

“How are you hearing anything. You’re in prison. Probably someone’s bitch. You couldn’t get it up a few times, I remember.” I haven’t forgotten what he doesn’t like. The things that set him off.

“I had a condition.” He grits his teeth, the first real emotion I’ve seen other than his cockiness.

“Yeah, called you wished I had different chromosomes. I bet you’re happy to be around so many buff, tough men. You can finally get your fill without judgement.” It’s so cliche, questioning his manhood to rile him up. But it works. “I don’t miss that. You getting mad at me when you couldn’t get it up. I was a kid, really. And you, a grown man, blamed me for your issues. I don’t deal with that now.”

“Your little lover-boy satisfying you?” His jaw is ticking and I stand, walking closer to the bed.

“So much. Multiple times a night, even. I mean, I thought I knew what good sex was and then I met him and…oh my god.” I bite my lip and roll my eyes back, like even the thought of him is driving me crazy. “He’s more of a man that you’ll ever be.”

He jumps suddenly, pulling at his restraints and I don’t even flinch. I’m too far good. Too pissed off.

“You were always a little whore. You were ripe for the taking, the perfect little thing. Poor little rich girl, wanted an escape from your hard-knock life. I gave that to you, and what the fuck did you to me? Turn on me.”

“You sold me.” I bite the words out, twisting my face. “You told me you loved me and then you gave me away for god knows what. For money. You took away the innocence I had left FOR MONEY.” I yell, shaking.

“And I’m going to take away hers too. I’m going to take away the happiness you think you’ve found, for putting me here. I promise you that.” He vows. I swallow, moving back and pulling out the bottle I palmed.

“You know what this is?”

He takes a breath and sits back, calm as ever again.

“I’m sure you’ll tell me.”

“D-Tubocurarine.” I pull a needle from my pocket, and pick up his IV line, trailing my fingers over it until I find the point I can insert the needle into. “Do you know what it’s like to be paralyzed and still feel pain? You can’t scream or move or a single damned thing. Just stuck inside your body until either, someone stops it or…it paralyzes your diaphragm so completely that you can’t even breathe.”

“You don’t have it in you.” He laughs, shaking his head. “So soft. Always so fucking soft.” He says, almost reverently.

“You underestimate how much I hate you.” I stick the needle in the bottle and release the syringe, filling it up. “I don’t know what the correct dosage is, I might accidentally overdose you. But whatever.”

“You can’t kill me. You’d go to jail.”

“I was never here, so that’d be hard to pin on me. Benefits of being a poor little rich girl, you can buy things like silence.” I smile. “Who knew? ”

“Kaija…” His voice is hesitant and he watches me put the bottle down, tracking my every movement. “What, what do you want me to say?”

“I want you to tell me if you’re working with Richard Brooks, what Bahi Amin is doing, and I want you to leave my family the fuck alone.”

“I can’t tell you that.” He gives one last try at belligerence, and I shake my head like I’m sad.

“Well…look at it this way. You won’t have to spend the rest of your years in prison.” I insert the needle and push the syringe, putting the fluid into the IV. He watches it with frantic eyes and I see the bead of sweat on his forehead.

“Stop it! Stop! I’ll talk, fuck I’ll talk!” He finally gives in, yanking at his restraints, trying to yank the IV out and I pinch the cord before the liquid makes it to his arm.

“Tell me everything. And if I don’t like what you have to say, I’ll let my finger slip.”

* * *

Keyra and Lauren push off the wall where they’re leaning, walking to me. We ignore Wesley screaming.

“They got it all. They’re picking up Brooks and the others right now, and Bahi.” Lauren says the last part regretfully, and I swallow.

It’s hard, knowing someone you were close to was such a part of hurting you. But I’ll get over it.

The important thing to me right now is that Jasmine is safe, and I can put my past completely behind me now.

“He took the bait?” Keyra asks, nodding towards where Wesley can be heard sobbing, begging someone to help.

“Yep. He’s going to feel like an idiot when he realizes it’s just saline. Now he knows what it feels like to not know what the hell’s going to happen to you, to feel that pinpointed fear.”

“Like I said, your sister chose the wrong career.” Lauren laughs, nodding towards the guards and we head to the exit. “I don’t want you to worry about anything. We’ve got it from here. I don’t want to hear from you about anything other than you RSVPing to my wedding.”

“Got it.” I smile, hugging her. So much weight feels lifted off my shoulders. Keyra and I have been watching this, trying to put the pieces together, and now it’s finished.

I hate that they put Jasmine in danger, hate that I put her in any danger.

I slide into the backseat of the car and Keyra follows, giving a deep sigh. “I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to sleep.”

“Me neither.”

“You need to call Harlan. Let him know you’re home and okay.”

Harlan.

“I…I’ll do that at some point. He’s got a long next few days. Just…tell Dane I’m okay and he can pass it along.”

“First off, what makes you think Dane and I keep up with each other like that? And second, they’ll be even longer if he doesn’t know if his girlfriend is done being a royal jackass yet.”

“You were pretty into him that night we were drinking, stroking his biceps and all, sitting in his lap.”

“I was not.” She laughs, but I only raise my brow and she sobers. “Are you serious? I don’t remember any of that.”

“The night’s fuzzy, but I do remember that.”

“Okay…that…whatever. We’ll talk more about that later. Anyway, what is your problem?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why are you trying to push him away? This whole, “I’m strong, I don’t need a man” this is not suiting you.”

“That’s not even what it’s about.” I mumble. And it’s not.

“So what is it? I know it’s still new but I’ve never seen you like this with someone. You haven’t let anyone get this close since…” She trails off.

“Since Wesley.” I finish, nodding.

“I honestly thought Charlie would be a good distraction, but you didn’t let him in either.”

“There is no way you know me if you thought Charlie and I would be a good fit.”

“He grows on you, okay? You didn’t give him a chance to grow.” She laughs. “I think he’s talking to someone new anyway.”

“Good. He annoys the hell out of me, but maybe someone else loves it.”

“I wanna see you happy, Kai. And not fake happy, going through the motions but the kind of happy I’ve seen you when you’re with Harlan. Even if he has a sex tape.” She scowls.

“You think I can’t be that kind of fulfilled and happy without him? He’s not magical, he didn’t walk in and all of a sudden, I’m complete.”

“Did I say that? Catch an attitude if you want, but don’t be mad that I’m calling you on being really shitty to him when all he wanted to do was make you feel better.”

“It’s just too much, Keyra. And I can’t deal with it right now.”

“So, when? In 5 years? 10? You think guys like him just fall out of the sky when you decide you’re ready to not be a shrew anymore?”

“Are you dating anyone right now, Keyra?” I ask sweetly, grateful the car is stopping.

“If I had a man like Harlan wanting to be in my life, then I would be. Don’t be stupid because you’re in your feelings.”

“Yes, I will try not to feel what I feel so I can try not to be stupid. Thanks. Makes perfect sense.” I push the door open, getting out. “I’m going to sleep. I don’t want to be bothered unless it’s about Jazz waking up.”

“Don’t be stupid!” She leans across the seat and I close the door.

Sisters.

Like it’s just that easy.

After tonight, I just…I don’t want to deal with it. I don’t want to deal with the uncertainty, with wondering when he’s going to decide he wants to do something different with his life that doesn’t include me. Wondering if he’s going to end up being bad for me, what he’s hiding…it’s too early.

I don’t know if I could handle it this time if he’s not everything he seems to be.

It…I can’t.

It’s early enough to bail without too much damage.

That’s what would be best for everyone, and Harlan will see that once I explain it to him.

I hope.

Maybe I’ll just…talk to him less and he’ll breakup with me first. The best plan of action is to make guys think they had the idea first.

Right?