Page 128 of Justice II

She walked toward the door, and I followed her.

“I’ll think about the money,” she said. “But I will never forgive you for what you did. Don’t mistake me considering this for anything else.”

“I won’t.”

She opened the door and waited for me to step outside.

I had come hoping to give her a reason to rebuild. Now I wondered if telling her the truth had only given her more reasons to hate everybody connected to me. Maybe showing up unannounced had been a mistake. I should’ve had an actual proposal in my hand instead of expecting her to consider another promise from me.

The door closed before I reached the steps. I got into my truck and backed out of her driveway. This might be a problem that money couldn’t solve. I had to live with the fact that I destroyed a family’s legacy for the rest of my life.

Storie’s manipulation and lies had really ruined so much. I prayed she could be saved. But I really needed to know: Was she my child?

39

Kira

I was still staring at the menus on top of the box when Kyle came through the front door. Justice had left me with an offer I couldn’t afford to turn down, and somehow I hated him even more for making it.

Five restaurants with all the expenses covered for two years. That was a hell of a deal. It was a dream come true. An hour ago, I would’ve been happy just to know how we were going to reopen one location. Now I could have more than we ever lost, and I still wanted to throw something through his windshield.

He had the nerve to stand in my house admitting he ruined us over a lie. Then he offered to pay for new restaurants like he was doing me a favor.

“What’s wrong with you?” Kyle asked as he shut the door. I was sitting on my living room couch with a scowl on my face.

“Justice came through.”

He stopped with his keys still in his hand. “For what?”

“To apologize. Apparently, Storie killed the horse.”

Kyle stared at me. “You serious?”

“That’s what he said. She confessed, and she’s getting psychiatric help.”

“So it wasn’t the girlfriend?” Kyle asked.

“Nope, and apparently the girlfriend’s name ain’t even Skye. It’s Melody. Everybody over there got some fucking secret. That’s why I was struggling to find her when I Googled her.”

He placed his keys on the table, then ran his hands down the back of his head in disbelief. For us it was the shock of the century. I was damned confident that it was Skye or Melody or whatever the bitch’s name was, behind killing that horse.

But it was Storie! Which meant she set me up. She planted my earring there. She invited me to drop those items off.

Storie knew what Marceline’s meant to me. She had been coming to my restaurant since she was a baby. Monica brought her in all the time. I had let that child order whatever she wanted and send it back whenever she changed her mind. Then she framed me for killing that horse. How could she do me like that? I’d been so good to her.

I wanted to get my hands on her so badly. I wanted to wring her neck for the strife she’d caused.

I got up from the couch and followed Kyle into the kitchen.

“What did Justice say he was going to do about us?” Kyle asked.

“He wants to fund five new restaurants. Everything paid for the first two years.”

Kyle pulled out a chair and sat down. “Everything?”

“That’s what I said. He’s even offering to hire a PR company to clean up our name.”

“And you told him what?”