old silver half-dollar that he used to carry with him everywhere and began rolling it over the back of his fingers, looking lost in thought and reminding Hunter of all those times that he wished that he could forget.
“What’s that?”
“Does she have empathy?” Grey asked, watching him as that coin continued to flip from one finger to the next.
“She’s beyond fucking kind,” he bit out, noting the way that Grey nodded absently.
“People pleaser? Apologizes a lot?” Grey asked, once again looking lost in thought.
“Yes,” Hunter said evenly before asking, “What does this have to do with anything?”
“They’re never going to stop,” Grey said, making everything in Hunter go still. “But you knew that, didn’t you?”
“I figured out that much for myself,” Hunter said, even though he’d been hoping that they would get bored and move on.
Nodding, Grey glanced at the closed office door before asking, “Do you know what a narcissist is?”
“I’ve heard the term.”
“It’s an overused term,” Grey explained before adding, “but not in this case.”
Nodding, Hunter dropped his head in his hands and slowly exhaled as he closed his eyes, feeling sick to his stomach. “You’ve seen the file.”
“And the letters, their online posts, and all the fake reviews that they’ve been having their friends post about Shadow Securities. They’ve been very busy.”
“You think her parents are narcissists?” Hunter asked because he thought they were just sick fucks that belonged in jail.
“I think she’s lucky to be alive,” Grey said, meeting his gaze head-on.
“And that’s why you’re here,” Hunter said, dropping his hands as he stood up and headed for the open patio doors, feeling like the room was closing in on him and-
Felt himself relax when he spotted Kylie through the kitchen patio doors. God, she was so fucking beautiful, he thought even as he couldn’t help but hate himself for not being there to keep her safe when she needed him most.
“That,” Grey said, as he joined him, “and I still owe you for saving my life.”
“Take care of her and we’ll call it even.”
Chapter 34
“That is so wrong,” Kylie mumbled hollowly to herself as she continued to hit Delete only to force herself to look away as the image of the woman old enough to be her grandmother, the glitter, cucumber and so many things that were wrong on so many levels seared into her brain.
She was definitely asking for a raise, she decided, absently clicking on the next email as she stood up and headed to the refrigerator, deciding that she’d more than earned a second cheat snack this week. Trying to block that last image from her mind, and God, she didn’t think that she was ever going to be able to look at a bottle of vegetable oil the same way ever again, she grabbed a Coke from the fridge.
Needing another minute, she walked over to the patio door and-
Found herself releasing a shaky breath when she spotted Hunter through the office patio doors. When she took this job, she’d never expected anything more than a job that she hated and to move one step closer to her plan. Instead, she’d fallen in love with her best friend and she was scared out of her mind, she realized, as she once again pushed away the panic that threatened to take over. She’d never been this happy before and that…that terrified her. Every time something good happened in her life, something bad always followed.
Every. Single. Time.
But even knowing that this couldn’t last didn’t stop her from smiling as she met Hunter’s gaze. Right now, all she wanted to do was to enjoy this moment. Everything else could wait, she decided as she reluctantly walked back to the computer and-
Felt the air rush out of her lungs when she saw the email waiting for her.
Mr. O’Mallery,
I’m sorry to have to write you this, but I’m afraid that I don’t have a choice in the matter. When we learned that your company Shadow Securities hired our daughter Kylie Davis, we became very concerned.
We’ve been trying to contact you for quite some time now. We’ve sent you numerous letters, but we never heard back from you and can only assume that Kylie found a way to make sure that you didn’t see them. We flew to Florida to attend the convention, hoping to have a word with you in private, but we were turned away and escorted from the premises thanks to our daughter’s lies. I can only imagine the stories that she’s been telling your