Page 58 of Tainted Love

‘The payoff.’ He barely mumbles the word.

I want to freak out. I want to lash out or cry in hysterics. Instead, I sit up straight and draw air into my lungs. ‘How? What do they know?’

His shoulders visibly drop a half-inch. ‘They’re clutching at straws. There’s nothing to find.’

‘Don’t try to make light of this and patronise me. They’re not clutching at straws; they think they’ve got something solid. No small press turns down the money I know you’ll be offering if they’ve got nothing. They wouldn’t just make up something like a bribe. So tell me everything. Right now.’

His eyes widen and his brows rise in surprise at my tone.Yes, Ryans, this isourfuture.

‘I’ve told you everything there is to tell. The money was in relation to the gun. That’s all. It had nothing to do with the murder. The deal was, if there was no murder charge, the gun would disappear.’

‘Do you seriously expect me to keep believing this?’

‘Yes. Because it’s the truth. I’ve never lied to you, Scarlett, never. There are things I haven’t told you in the past but you asked me outright and I told you, that arrangement had nothing to do with the murder charge.’

‘So if the charge had gone ahead…’ My body shudders. ‘You know what, I don’t want to think about that. What concerns me more is how convenient it is that one of the few papers that could print something on this has wound up with the information. Don’t you think that’s strange? Who knows about the bribe? Who made the deal?’

‘Me, Jackson, Barnes and his contact at the CPS.’

‘That’s it?’

‘John Harrison would be an idiot if he couldn’t work it out.’

Holy shit.‘And I thought lawyers were supposed to have integrity.’ Then I snort, thinking about the irony of that statement. I killed a man and lied about it. I know about a bribe and I’m hiding it.

‘They can’t talk, Scarlett. Jackson and Barnes aren’t even a concern but the others have too much at stake. They’d implicate themselves.’

‘Well, someone thinks you bribed a government official, Gregory. It’s an imprisonable offence for Christ’s sake, you don’t just—’ It hits me like lightning, burning through my body, turning my stomach. ‘Katrina Martin.’

He nods slowly, resolute. ‘I agree.’

‘I knew she wouldn’t go away. She’s got a vendetta and she won’t back down. She’s not that kind of woman.’ Dropping my head into my hands, I roll my fingertips over my temples, trying to make sense of everything, trying to get my head straight.

He bends to his hunkers and peels my hands away from my face. ‘Baby, please, don’t let this drag us down. No more. I’ll fight the world for you but don’t let this keep coming back.’

In this moment, his exterior might be strong but I know that’s not how he’s feeling inside. He needs me as much as I need him.

‘They won’t find a bribe, baby. Katrina Martin has nothing concrete. There’s no trail. There are no more people involved than those who absolutely had to be. She’s got a hunch, that’s all. The paper will investigate and eventually, they’ll come up empty.’

‘That’s not the point though, is it? That’s not even your biggest concern.’

He closes his eyes and covers my hands in his. ‘No.’

‘You don’t want them to dig into your past.’

‘It makes me look weak, Scarlett, and if that doesn’t ruin my reputation, the fact that people will draw their own conclusions about my motive for killing my father will do it. But it’s more than just me.’

‘You don’t want them to find Elsa.’

He shakes his head, opening his eyes. ‘She doesn’t deserve it. And it would break my mother. I need you to trust me. I’ll fix this. If we panic, we tell the world we’ve got something to hide.’

‘I’m so sorry, Gregory. This is all my fault.’ Tears roll warm down my cheeks as a knife twists in my chest.

‘You saved me, Scarlett. Please don’t be sorry about that. I never will be.’

He drops to his knees and pulls me into his chest, squeezing me against his warm, bare flesh.

‘What are we going to do?’