Page 63 of The Elusive Billionaire

“They said I owed retribution for ruining both of their children’s lives. I could either work off my debt in the Dove Cage—it’s their main attraction, and the girls who dance in the cages easily make thousands of dollars in one night. I could do that to repay what they thought I owed them—or they would systematically take away my degree, my license in psychology, and my podcast. So I took the deal.”

Madi’s gasp has me looking up from my hands. “That’s when you flew to Vegas with Ace.”

I nod but break eye contact with everyone. “I came to the Hideaway to tell you I was going home for a couple of weeks, and Ace was there. He said he had a meeting and was headed in that direction anyway, so he offered to fly me there. That was supposed to be the end of his help.”

A slow, sad smile creeps onto my face. “But nothing ever went to plan with Ace. He was always ten steps ahead of me. I had arranged to work in the cage again for what I thought wastwo weeks, and I’d only told Ace I was helping a friend out at a club.

“What I didn’t know was that Helena and Corrine were making their next play to ruin and humiliate me—that had always been their favorite method of punishment.”

“Why would they go to all that trouble?” Madi asks, squeezing my hand in hers.

“Riley had just been denied early parole, and his family was pissed. My podcast had started to pick up some momentum then, so they thought they could swing the court of public opinion against me. According to them, I should be paying for Riley’s crimes. They’re…vile human beings.”

I suck in a breath, thankful when Sage hands me a bottle of water. I chug greedily.

“They thought they could break my spirit, but they didn’t know my spirit didn’t exist anymore. They got me back into the Dove Cage but stopped seating their wealthy clients in my section. I was dancing for a percentage of what I had made as a teenager, and at that rate, I would never reach the impossible quote they’d given me, so after a few days, I started taking double, and sometimes triple shifts, pushing through exhaustion, sneaking naps in the locker room between shifts, and that’s when Ace found me.”

“Jesus Christ.” Grey stands, fists clenching.

“Vegas has a lot of clubs. How did Ace know where to find you?” Sage asks.

“When I asked him, he said my face was plastered all over Vegas seemingly overnight. The DeVanes were promoting “Sin’s Retribution” all over the strip with images of me and the car accident.”

Grey paces the floor next to me, his skin a little paler than before, but his eyes are a fiery laser cutting through what’s left of my heart.

“What about your brother?” Madi asks.

God, the way Austin must hate me. That was my first real loss in life—the protection of my big brother.

I’m burning up. My skin itches as though I’ve been rolling around in poison ivy for days, and my stomach cramps like it’s the worst period I’ve ever had. The guilt of my actions is slowly killing me from the inside out.

“He was livid that I didn’t try to help Riley, and he blamed me for Paige’s condition. I tried to talk to him multiple times. I tried to tell him my side of the story. But by the time the accident happened, he was either tired of trying to save me from myself or he thought I had cried wolf one too many times, I’m not sure.”

“The crash, then the cage,” Grey says, low and deep in his throat. “That’s why you panic in tight spaces. Darkness too. Your sensory deprivation attacks—it reminds you of them.”

I wish he didn’t know me so well, but I nod in response.

“And they called you Sin.”

“It—it was the stage name Riley gave me when I was sixteen.”

“How did Ace get you out of there?” Braxton asks, his tone strained.

I shrug. “I’m honestly not sure. He just showed up one day, opened the cage door, handed me some clothes, and took me out of there, telling me I never had to worry about the DeVanes or the Ashfords again.”

The rustling of fabric has me once again looking up from my hands. Grey stands before me, sliding on a crisp white button-down over his broad shoulders. The fact that he’s been shirtless this entire time is not lost on me, but the way he methodically loops each button makes me nervous.

“The bathroom is over there,” he says, pointing at a closed door across from his desk. “Get yourself cleaned up, and then we’ll make a joint statement.”

I look down at myself, confused, because I already showered at Madi’s.

“A joint…what?”

“Ace may have saved you, Monroe, but it also put a target on your back because of the blood that runs through my veins and my new last name. The Wells family alone had more zeros in the bank than the DeVanes and the Ashfords combined. Factor in my adoption into the Reyes family, making me a Reyes family heir too, and it’s more than enough to get greedy hands grabbing. Those families have a reputation for being?—”

“Unethical at best,” Braxton supplies. “Criminals for sure, and covetous enough to think they deserve whatever they can blackmail out of any situation.”

Greyson leans down, planting his hands on either side of my lap, and instinctively, I lean away from him.