Page 54 of Beautiful Secrets

I never know what to do when a girl’s crying.

It’s so quiet now, I can hear my own heartbeat.

“Hey, so, why Russia?”

She makes me wait until she’s done dressing before she replies. When the door flies open, I barely hold back a smile.

“Too many castles here,” she says, and then points at her new shirt. “And this? I will not wear this.”

I cover my mouth with a hand. “But it’s so perfect, my little—”

“Why?” she demands, putting her hands against the door jambs and leaning forward. “Why do you do this?”

I cock an eyebrow. “Are we still talking about the clothes, because that’s pretty obv—”

“Kidnapping people. Threatening to cut off their toes. Tying them up, blindfolding them, forcing them to—” She cuts off, and I really wish she hadn’t.

“Why does anyone do bad things?” I go to sit on the edge of the bed, those angry eyes tracking me across the room. “Because they think the world owes them something.”

Mika straightens, crosses her arms over her chest. The bunny on her shirt pops out even more, now grossly distorted by her perky breasts.

“Why would you think that?”

I huff through my nose, take my smokes out of my pocket, and light one up. “Happens when life deals you a shit hand, Mika.”

“Then many more people would turn out like you,” she says.

I laugh. “Other people have families. We had nothing.”

Her chin moves back, eyes narrowing. “We?”

I flick my hand before bringing it to my mouth, a cigarette between my knuckles as I suck in calm and nicotine. “Cillian, my brother.”

She nods a little, frowning faintly. “Was he the one with the gray hair?”

“The fuck you on about?” I say through a chuckle.

“The men that were with you. Was he the older one?”

Fuck, she’s talking about Paddy. The thought makes me throw back my head and laugh. “Christ, no.Jesus. I’d have been in that facility permanently if that’d been the case.”

“Facility?”

I sober up like she threw a bucket of water on my head. I already told her I was crazy, but admitting I was actuallyadmitted?

Not fucking likely.

“He’s a cousin. My brother isn’t in the business anymore. He got out early for good behavior. Got himself a nice little house with a fucking white picket fence.”

Mika’s face is softening the more interested she becomes. Which means I’m talking too much.

“He is married?” she asks, dropping her arms to her sides.

“Aye.” I narrow my eyes as a stray coil of smoke makes them sting. “Wife is just as cute as the house.”

And as if she doesn’t have a fucking clue how close to the edge she’s pushing me, Mika asks, “Children?”

I ignore the question, standing and going over to the shopping bags instead. I pull out another shirt. This one is neon pink and has writing across the front in white.