My Cruel Salvation (Fallen Saint # 3) - J. Kenner Page 0,75

she added, referring to the attorney he kept on retainer. “And his lawyer? Think about what a field day he’s going to have pointing out that The Wolf’s son is wandering the streets of Laguna Cortez beating people up. And for what? What did this vile little man do at that restaurant that bothered you so, so much?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Devlin said, as Ellie squeezed his hand. She was standing beside him, giving him strength. And, he noticed, also not looking at Brandy.

Tamra was looking, though. “What happened at that dinner, Brandy?” She frowned. “For that matter, why are you here? How did you even know? I only found out because Arnold accepted service. How did you know?”

“I—” She squirmed as if she was sitting on coals. “Lamar heard about it. And he told me. Because I was there, you know. At the dinner.”

“Exactly,” Tamra said. “What happened at that dinner?”

Brandy looked up, her eyes meeting his, and Devlin shook his head. He did not want her telling the truth. Not this way, where she felt trapped again, with no choices.

“Brandy?” Tamra pressed.

“It was because of Ellie,” Devlin said before Brandy could respond. “He said some particularly vile things about her sleeping with me.”

“And you lost your temper?” He heard the incredulity in her voice. He had a temper, that much was true. But they all knew that he had remarkable control, too.

“I did,” he said. “It was about Ellie, after all.” Tamra would believe that. And the lie only had to hold for a while. Long enough for him to offer the kind of settlement that would make Walt go away, all tied up with a nice, ironclad confidentiality agreement.

Tamra’s shoulders slumped. “I’m surprised at you.” She shook it off. “Well, we’ll deal with it. I suppose that’s part of my job. And whatever he said to you, Ellie, I’m sorry. It must have been horrible.”

“Oh. Yeah. You know how—”

“He raped me.”

The words seemed to hang in the air. Even Brandy, who had spoken, looked confused as to where they’d come from.

“Brandy,” he said softly, and the words seemed to bring her back to life.

“No.” She drew a breath. “No, you’re not telling Tamra some bullshit story because of me. He drugged me and he raped me when I was in high school. He got me pregnant. That’s why Devlin did it.”

Tamra met Devlin’s eyes, and he nodded, confirming the truth.

“I see,” Tamra said. “Thank you for telling me. Let me think about how we can proceed without having to share your secret with the world.” She took a step toward Brandy, then met the younger woman’s eyes. “Are you okay now? Would you like me to find someone professional for you to talk to about this?”

“I don’t know.” Brandy’s gaze darted to Ellie. “I’ll think about it. Mostly, I just appreciate you asking. You can keep Devlin from getting dragged through the mud? Really?”

“I’ll do my very best. In fact, I think we should—”

The vibration of his phone caught Devlin’s attention, and he tuned out the conversation between the women so that he could check his phone, just in case it was Arnold calling to talk about the lawsuit.

It wasn’t Arnold. It was worse. Because that apparently was the way this day was going. It started off wonderful, and it was slowly spiraling down into hell.

Beside him, Ellie drew in a sharp gasp, and he realized that she’d been reading over his shoulder.

He met her eyes. She looked as angry and frustrated as he felt.

In front of them, Tamra’s gaze darted between both of them. “What? Is it bad news? Is it about Walt?”

“I don’t know,” Devlin said, working to keep his voice level. “All it says is You’re going to lose everything, Saint. I’m going to make sure it happens.”

Tamra’s brow furrowed, and he saw the anger flare in her eyes. She kept it together though, always the consummate professional. “Who’s it from?”

“I don’t know. Just a phone number. I’ll try to find out, but I have a feeling we’ll have about as much luck with that as we have with the earlier texts that Ellie was getting.”

“Anna was sending me those,” Ellie said. “At least that’s what we’ve been assuming, especially since they stopped once she died. And that’s a big thing to point out. She’s dead, so I don’t think she’s sending this text. And so is Joseph Blackstone. I suppose a lieutenant could have sent it, but considering the timing, shouldn’t we be considering