Page 79 of Ruined

“Fine with me.”

She turned away once the call went through. “Hey baby,” she crooned. Her face changed. “I know that. Yes. I get it. I told you. Later. After my shift.” She listened for a moment, then motioned for me to come closer, “I know that. I’ll see if I can. Yes—”

I grabbed the phone, “Aldrich?”

“—my damn home.” He paused for a second. “Mel? Where the fuck is Mel?”

“It’s Haley. I’ll give her the phone in a minute,” I said. “But I have a few questions about Lucas.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Did he ever try to back out of the bet?” I asked. “Change the terms? Stuff like that?”

“You think he suddenly has a heart?” He laughed, a hollow, tinny sound. “I’m not interested in that. What I am interested in—”

“I told you, I’m not going to do knife play—”

“—is Nora.”

My heart stopped at those words.

Not her.

“How,” I started, but it was so hard to get out the next words, “How do you know about my sister?”

“I’m a man of my word,” he said. He sniffed, as if disgusted with the situation. “Did Lucas ever tell you that? I told him I’d make Bella mine. And I married the fucking bitch. Just like I agreed to the bet. I lost. So I handed over my company.”

I didn’t give a fuck about the money he had lost. It had nothing to do with my sister. “Don’t you dare do anything to Nora!”

“Don’t worry, Hales. I won’t hurt her,” he said, his voice in a sing-song tone that made me nauseous. “Well, maybe I will. If she resists me. But I’m going to take what’s mine.”

“She owes younothing.”

“You owed me your virginity, so where does that leave me and my dignity?”

I could feel my heart pulse in my face and hands. I could barely speak. “She’s fifteen, Aldrich! Fifteen!”

“I’m a man of my word, Haley. And I don’t like being fucked over by my old protege and a worthless whore.” He paused. “Do you think her age will stop me?”

Blood raced through me, making me ache. I dropped the phone, and Mel apologized quickly before she hung up with Aldrich.

“What did he say?” she asked.

I could bring myself to say it. I could only think about what Lucas had said: Aldrich wives died mysteriously. And Aldrich had never truly cared about my boundaries.

Nothing was stopping him from hurting Nora.