Page 40 of Devil’s Candy

I promised myself I’d take whatever he gave and be grateful, but I can feel my heart breaking. My eyes slide closed and I shake my head. “Is it true, Angel?”

Angel clears his throat. “I wasn’t there, but when Sver dropped you off this morning—” Angel stops and I force my eyes open.

“What?” I ask, just needing the bad news as quickly as possible.

“He left me a bag of money and told me it was for you in case he didn’t come back.”

The tears I can’t quite hold slip down my cheeks.

The door opens wider as my arms loosen at my sides, and I press my forehead to the door frame. “I should have known.”

“What should you have known?” Killian asks. “That he was a piece of shit who doesn’t care about anyone or anything other than himself?”

“Killian,” Angel chastises. “That’s enough.”

I force my eyes open, more tears leaking from them. “I should have known that I wasn’t enough.”

I see Killian’s face pinch, but I can’t think about him.

Feelings I’ve hardly admitted to myself rise up, pushing past my lips. “I keep saying that I have shit taste in men, but I think it might be time for me to admit that not even my parents loved me.”

“It’s not true, Candy. Everyone here loves you.”

I shake my head. “You turned me out, Angel.”

“Candy, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It was my fault. I don’t just have shit taste. Let’s be honest, I am shit and no one worth anything will ever love me.” I feel myself sinking.

Not just my body. My soul.

I’m not enough to keep Sver. I’ve never been enough for anyone to stay and love me.

“Candy,” Angel growls, his hand wrapping around my bicep. But I barely feel it as the darkness inside swallows me deeper. “Are you fucking happy, Killian? You wrecked her.”

“He deserves this,” Killian growls, but I can barely hear him.

Angel pushes the door open with his free hand and then wraps his arm around me, lifting me off the ground.

But I can barely feel. I’ve gone numb. I’m limp as he carries me over to the table.

“Fuck. Candy?” Harmony cries out. “What’s wrong with her?”

“That’s what you do now, Killian? You hurt innocent women as collateral damage?”

“She’s hardly innocent and he’s done way worse. Sver killed my brother’s fiancée. This is nothing.”

Those words draw some energy back into my muscles as I lift my head, meeting Killian’s gaze over Angel’s shoulder. “What?”

“That’s right. Your man kills innocent women.”

“Are you…are you saying all of this to hurt him?” My hands tighten on Angel’s shoulders. “Is it even true?”

Killian’s lip curls. “Both are true.”

I don’t know how I feel about what Killian accused Sver of doing, but I know what I think of Killian attempting to hurt Sver through me. My anger replaces the hopelessness that had just filled me. “Take your bullshit somewhere else.” I glare at him, even as Angel’s hands on me tighten. “I won’t be a part of whatever you’re trying to do.”

I realize my mistake the second before Killian starts moving.