Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 147545 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147545 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
He shrugs. “What they deserve doesn’t matter. We don’t live in a fair world.”
My eyebrows rise. “So you’re okay with the people who have the most power just steamrolling right over the little guy?”
“What I’m okay with doesn’t matter. I’m only the emperor in your mind,” he says with a wink.
I fix him with a glare. “We’re being theoretical here, and you know it. Do you believe the people at the top of the food chain are better than the people at the bottom?”
“No. They’re probably worse across the board, morally speaking—and intellectually once spoiled, dipshit heirs come into play. The people who actually accumulated that kind of wealth and power likely did some pretty bad shit to get it, but the fact is they’re willing to. They don’t confine themselves to the same boxes as those on the lower levels because they know they don’t have to. They know the rules don’t apply to them. They know they can get away with it.”
“Not always,” I state. “Your brother didn’t get away with it.”
That’s a little mean, but it’s the truth.
“You’re right, but you’re also proving my point. The system didn’t make him pay. You did. And in doing so, you broke the norms and mores of your assigned level. The problem is you don’t have the money or power to do what you did, but you did it anyway. That gets most people put in prison—gotta keep the plebs in line. But you lucked out. You have a protector with the right resources, and I’m willing to play dirty to keep your freedom—even if you aren’t.”
His chosen words cause my heart to skitter. Of course he’s been my protector, but to hear him commit to the role…
Even if I know he can’t get me out of this after what I’m sure Russell has told—or is currently telling—the police, I do appreciate how hard he has tried.
“Can I ask you one more thing?”
“You can ask me anything you want.”
“You didn’t stand up for me before. If you felt… if you weren’t really on your brother’s side, if you didn’t believe he was innocent or didn’t agree with what he did, why were you always on his side before?”
He sighs, considering, then his gaze finds mine again. “I wasn’t raised to follow all the rules like you were, but I was raised with one unbreakable value. Family loyalty to me is what all your good girl shit is to you. It isn’t easy for me to break that.”
I sit with his words for a moment, then ask the question that has been on my mind since however many hours ago it was that my life changed forever.
“Then why would you do that for me?”
He holds my gaze for several quiet heartbeats, then says, “I had to make a split-second decision that I knew would impact the rest of our lives. I had to trust my gut, and all I knew at that moment was that I wanted to protect you—no matter what it cost.”
His words make my heart flutter and soften at the same time, but he’s not even finished.
“Watching you navigate life since last summer has been eye-opening for me. I know you don’t like to hurt people even when they hurt you, and I know how much you must have been hurting to reach a point where this felt like your best option. I wish you hadn’t been the one to pull that trigger. I wish you didn’t have to carry that. I can’t change what happened to you, and I can’t erase the pain you’ve had to endure since. What I can do is shield you now, and that’s what I’m going to do. We don’t live in a fair or safe world, Cassie, but I’ll keep you safe if you let me.”
CHAPTER 12
CASSIE
Breakfast is delicious, but it’s hard to enjoy it with a shoe hanging over my head, waiting to drop.
I get a refill on my hot chocolate, sad that I’ll never get to have it again. I don’t know the specific details of what’s available to prisoners, but I feel quite certain hot chocolate isn’t on the list.
Around the time the waitress delivers the bill, Tor’s phone lights up. The lawyer is calling.
I frown, digging my own phone out of my purse and turning it back on in case they tried to call me, too. Maybe they’re calling about the arrest. Maybe the police have been in touch.
Now that breakfast is over, it’s time to face what’s coming.
I watch Tor for hints about the subject of the phone call, but his expression is controlled and carefully blank. His words aren’t much help, either.
“Oh… Okay, so what does that mean for us? Yeah, I do… That’s right… I can do that.”
I think he’s being deliberately vague, so I have to wait for him to hang up before I get any information.