CHAPTER FOUR
Suffice it to say that the air was chilly between Griff and I as he drove the Aston Martin to the women’s penitentiary in upstate New York. It was a three-hour drive and let me tell you it was the longest drive of my life.
When we arrived at the prison I practically dove out of the car to get away from the stifling tension between us.
Griff’s treatment of me in the hazard room had puzzled me. Before that encounter I’d thought he was going to try to be civil toward me at least, but it felt like his anger toward me had slipped out. Surely someone couldn’t be that angry with you if feelings weren’t involved, right?
The man confused the hell out of me. I hated the idea of hurting him. However, I also hated his behavior toward me. It was spiteful and mean and everything I hoped I wasn’t.
“Wait.”
I sighed and stopped my journey toward the entrance of the prison, waiting for Griff to catch up to me. To my annoyance he grasped my elbow and started to escort me.
“You don’t need to do that,” I grumbled.
“Now who’s being immature.”
I stopped myself from rolling my eyes.
When we got inside he annoyed me even more by speaking for me. “Griffin Mandeville,” he said to one of the two correctional officers manning the front desk. “My fiancé Scarlett Jennings is here to see her sister Melanie Jennings.”
The officer typed something into the computer and then frowned. “Spell that for me.”
I did before Griff could.
She looked up at me. “I’m sorry but we don’t have an inmate under that name. Do you have a prison I.D. number?”
Confused I shook my head. “No. But she’s here. She’s doing eighteen months here.”
The officer frowned. “All I can tell you is that we don’t have an inmate of that name here. Perhaps you have the incorrect facility.”
Nope. My sister definitely said she was here.
An ugly dread settled in my stomach.
“Perhaps,” I mumbled. “Thank you.”
I felt Griff following me out of the prison but I was too busy fumbling with my purse to look at him.
“Scarlett, what’s going on?”
I shook my head and yanked my cell out. My fingers trembled as I swiped the screen and hit the button for Octavius. Griff took the cell out of my hands before I could stop him and ringing pierced the air. He’d hit the speakerphone so he could listen in. He handed it back to me with a hard-faced nod.
“Woman, this is a bad time,” Octavius answered.
“Put Melanie on the phone.”
Griff sucked in a breath beside me but I couldn’t concentrate on his reaction. I was too busy dealing with my own emotions.
After a moment of hesitation, Octavius asked, “And how am I supposed to do that?”
“I’m standing outside the penitentiary she isn’t incarcerated in, Octavius. Put her on the phone.”
Instead he hung up.
I looked up at Griff and whatever he saw in my expression made him soften somewhat. “What’s going on, Scarlett?”
“I’m not sure.” Tears burned in the back of my eyes and I looked away, trying to hold them at bay. I didn’t want him to see me cry. “Something I hope I’m wrong about.”
The cell buzzed in my hand and I fumbled to answer it, hitting the speakerphone for Griff’s sake. If my worst fear was about to be realized I needed him to hear and to know the truth. “Hello?”
“Scar?”
I let out a shaky breath. “Mel. Where are you?”
“Where you suspect I am.” Her tone was soft, placating. “I’m sorry.”
Tears burned in my throat so my words rasped with the effort of forcing them through the pain. “The truth? All of it?”
There was a pause of silence and then, “I was never in trouble. Not really. It started when Mandeville approached Octavius. We realized we could take him for a lot more than what he was paying out. The guy thinks he’s a god, untouchable, and that Tavius could be trusted because he owed him. Tavius and I struck a deal. I’d take the job, marry Mandeville, but instead of keeping it professional and walking quietly away like the guy wanted, I’d set him up. First I’d seduce him, make him want me, blind him, so he’d never suspect me. Then I’d set him up to cheat and get a huge settlement in the divorce. A settlement Tavius and I would split.”
My heart pounded hard in my ears as I looked at Griff. He was glowering so hard at the phone it was a shock it didn’t shatter under the force of his anger. “He was going to make you sign a prenup. Your plan wouldn’t have worked.”
“We know that now.” She had the audacity to sound bitter about it. “But back then we thought this was a great plan because all we knew was that I had to sign a confidentiality agreement. We were so sure Mandeville was arrogant enough to believe Tavius would never cross him. Anyway that was the plan until… Tavius and I fell for each other.”
Nausea washed over me as my sister led me to a truth I just did not want to believe.
“Tavius didn’t want me to be an escort anymore. Plus, we soon realized in those first few meetings with Mandeville that I wouldn’t be able to get past his defenses. He was too smart to be seduced by me. He could see right through me. He’d know I was only interested in his money.”
I clutched my stomach, my face prickling as a cold sweat flushed through me. I was vaguely aware of Griff touching my shoulder. “That’s where I came in,” I whispered.
My sister sounded uncharacteristically chagrined. “I thought of you and knew you would take over the deception if you thought it meant saving my life. So I came up with the lie about Rodrigo.”
“The jail cell?”
“Tavius has connections. He called in a favor. It was all part of the ruse. The hardest part was keeping you away from visitation at the prison. We knew that was a risk but we’d hoped we could keep you distracted, that you wouldn’t be able to get away from Mandeville without making him suspect what was going on. Obviously, that’s the part of the plan that let us down.”
Tears I’d been trying so hard to keep back spilled down my cheeks. “Did you ever love me?”
“Scar,” Mel sounded gruff, “If I thought for a second that you would be in danger I would never have roped you in. And I was going to take care of you after this, make sure you got your cut. You were barely scraping by in that job, living in that tiny fucking room in that old lady’s house. At least this way you were living like a princess, you know. No big deal.”
At her lack of remorse, it felt like the world fell away from my feet. I swayed and felt a strong arm circle my waist. “No big deal? You’re the only family I have left and you conned me. You conned me into thinking you were in danger. I’ve been sick with worry! And all the time you were conning me. You conned me into lying to everyone around me. You conned me out of my life!”
“Yeah well, it didn’t work out for me,” she snapped defensively. “We got fuck all and you get to marry a fucking millionaire, Scar.”
Griff cursed and his arm tightened around my waist.
“Who was that?” she asked. “You not alone?”
“Our parents would be so ashamed of you.” I could barely see through my tears. “I can’t bare it.”
“Well they’re dead.”
I went cold. So cold. Staring through blurry vision at my phone, life as I knew it changed in an instant. “So are you. You’re dead to me. Do you understand? As of this moment I have no family left.” I fumbled for the end call button.
The wind rustled my hair back. My heart raced too hard, too fast.
“Scarlett?” Griff said.
Abruptly I buckled over, throwing up my feelings on the asphalt outside the prison. Sobs followed and I wiped at my mouth as my body shook with tears.
I heard him say my name before I was gently pulled up. He pressed my face into his chest and I was too tired to fight his comfort. Too shocked. Too exhausted. I sobbed my heartbreak into his strength.
***
I think I’d known for a long time that my sister had shut me out of her heart. Having lost my parents and then Eric, I just hadn’t wanted to believe it. I didn’t want to believe that I was truly alone. That there was no one left in this world who loved me.
I don’t know how to describe that realization. Of knowing there was absolutely no one who loved you, or for whom you were a priority. It was scary and isolating and it made me feel as brittle as glass.
“What can I do?” Griff asked. His tone was soft, concerned. So unlike him.
He was driving us back to Boston. After sobbing in his arms for what felt like forever he’d put me in the car. I hadn’t said a word, trying to make sense of my life now that I’d cut my twin out of it.
“People think twins are always close,” I said instead of answering his question. “Mel and I never were. We were opposites that didn’t attract. We were just like any siblings really and not particularly loving ones. She used to pretend to be me all the time, trying to get me in trouble. She was always doing things I didn’t understand. Always making our parents worry. Always so selfish. She never asked, you know. She knew I found them, our parents.” My voice broke and more tears spilled over. “I smelled the gas as soon as I walked in the house. I was terrified walking into their bedroom. From a distance they looked like they were sleeping. They weren’t sleeping.” I wiped impatiently at the tears. “She never asked how I got through that. How it affected me. She didn’t care.”
“I’m sorry, Scarlett.”
I looked at him.
He seemed sorry. Genuinely so. My sister. She’d fucked us both up. “I’m sorry, too. I’m sorry I believed her and that I lied to you. I’m sorry they were planning to con you.”
Griff shook his head, throwing me a quick glance before turning his attention back to the road. “You did what any of us would do for someone we love. I wasn’t sure what your part in all this really was, Scarlett, but I see now they tried to make you as much a victim as me. And trust me, Octavius won’t get away with this.”
“What do you have on him?”
“You don’t have to worry about that. Just leave him to me.”
“I don’t want you to take revenge, Griffin.”
“Why? He deserves it.”
“Revenge chips at the soul. He’s not worth a piece of your soul.”
He threw me an undecipherable look. And then he nodded. “Fair enough. But I damn well am getting the money back I paid him for your sister’s employment.”
“Fair enough.” I leaned against the headrest, exhaustion aching through me.
“Sleep,” Griff said. “You and I will talk once you’ve rested.”
The next thing I knew Griff was waking me. Once I was out of the car he swung me up into his arms as if I weighed nothing and carried me into the club. My eyes slammed closed, like they couldn’t physically stay open. I was aware of him talking to Xavier.
My eyes fluttered open briefly when I felt softness beneath my body and the heat of Griff’s fading. He was braced over me. “You moved rooms.”
“Mmm.” I turned into my pillow, closing my eyes.
“Sleep. We’ll talk in the morning.”
Apparently, he didn’t need to tell me twice. The escape of unconsciousness was so tempting it pulled me under again without any struggle.