Page 164 of Temporary Vows

“Tell me,” I rasp, my voice shaking.

“He’s been set up.”

“Set up?” The words tumble out of me.

“Yes.”

“So he’s innocent. He was telling the truth. It was a mistake.”

My hope fizzles when he shakes his head, the slow sway stretching, as though it’s dragging through water.

“He’s admitted to being an accomplice.”

Jack. What the hell? What the actual hell?

A sudden dryness fills my throat. “An accomplice…to possession and distribution of…drugs?”

“Yes, but the police are charging him with everything.”

“But he was set up. They just need to find the person who set him up.”

“Baby, it’s worse than you think.” I don’t miss the endearment. He’s never called me that. I can only take that to mean I’ve only given a taste of how bad the situation is.

Dorian lifts a brown envelope from his side. I only just noticed it. He opens it, takes out two large pictures, and hands them to me.

I take them. They’re of Jack embracing a woman. The woman is…

My blood turns to led in my veins and it just stops flowing.

The woman is… “Clara.” I hear myself say.

Clara—my ex-best friend who stole from me, betrayed me, got me mixed up with Marcus and the loan, and nearly got me killed. That Clara.

Dorian takes out two more pictures. These are of Jack and Clara kissing on a beach. They were seeing each other, involved.

And there’s a time stamp on the picture. That happened last month. After everything.

He knew where she was—the whole time.

“Dorian…”

“I know, Lamb. I know.” He drags a hand over his face. “Apparently, they’ve been together for over a year. And she’s the drug dealer. Or rather she’s been working with a ring linked to a cartel leader the police have been tracking. They’ve have been looking for her, and they think Jack has been working as a mule. He denies it but… there’s no way to tell if it’s true or not.”

The shaking has stopped. Now I’m frozen, cold from the inside out. “Jack. And Clara. Jesus.” And there I was so worried about him.

Fuck. I’m so stupid. When I first went to Jack about the loan, he must have known about it already. And God, he lost his mindwhen I told him about Dorian. All that time he knew what Clara did and where she was.

“He’ll go to prison for a long time.” I still sound like the little sister.

Reluctantly, Dorian nods. “But they also want to pin charges from the past on him.”

“The past?”

“With your family business.” I didn’t think it was possible for Dorian to look more uncomfortable.

"What do you mean, Dorian?"

He releases a long, sad breath. “I think it’s time I told you about the past.”