Page 44 of The Tempo of Truth (The Monsters Duet #3)

Jeremiah handed me my blazer and quietly reminded me, “You’re supposed to be meeting your uncle. If you don’t want Mr. DeVere or Mr. Halliday involved in this matter, you probably need to keep covered up until the mark fades.”

I slipped the blazer on and made sure the sleeves were situated over the spot where I knew a nasty bruise was bound to appear.

“Good call. If I can’t handle the Byrds on my own, I might as well step down from my position now.

” I glanced at Helio and told him, “I won’t meet with Oliver alone again.

Make sure to have someone from your team available whenever he’s on the schedule. ”

Helio nodded, and Jeremiah mentioned, “I won’t let anyone who shows up for an off-the-books meeting be alone with you again. I could tell he was off with how insistent he was, so I let him see you. What happened was my fault for not being attentive enough.”

“Stop it. The only one in the wrong here is Oliver. No one is taking the blame just to make others more comfortable on my watch.”

Seeing that I was now the one who was late, I rushed to the parking garage and forced myself to focus on the task at hand so Alistair wouldn’t get suspicious and ask questions I didn’t want to answer.

I must’ve done a good job pretending everything was fine because the site visit went off without a hitch, and I even managed to make my way through a vibrant and noisy happy hour with my uncle and his wife without giving away how rattled I was after Oliver’s visit.

My Aunt Bellamy was my role model in a totally different way than my Aunt Channing was.

She was what an ideal leader should be. She fought her way to the top, battling sexism and ridiculous expectations.

She was so valued that my Uncle Win wasted no effort in recruiting her back to America from the other side of the world where my grandmother had banished her because she was too intimidated by the younger woman’s talent and presence.

If my uncle hadn’t been at the table, I would’ve asked her how she dealt with constantly being devalued and underestimated.

She must’ve been able to tell I had something on my mind because she made it a point to set a date for just the two of us to get together.

When I left the bar, I decided to stop by the gym since it was only a couple of blocks away.

The location was bound to get gentrified in the coming years.

I could tell by how close it was to the trendy bar and the location of the planned high-rise I’d just toured.

If Lev could hold on, he might be looking at a huge payout when the developers moved in.

I messaged Ky to let him know I was going to pick him up and bring him back to the brownstone for dinner.

He sent back a thumbs-up, which made me think I didn’t need to announce my arrival.

I was secretly pleased that no one batted an eye when I walked through the gym.

Most of Lev’s guys were used to me popping in and out, and the Russian man had even stopped trying to subtly prod me for different ways to give Ky money.

Ky was in the boxing ring with a huge African American man.

He was wearing a pair of cut-off sweats and black boxing gloves.

He was shirtless, and the sheen of sweat that covered his lean, muscled body made him glisten under the harsh fluorescent lights.

He looked so good that I momentarily lost track of what I was doing and bumped into a guy who was chugging down a protein shake.

The collision sent the liquid flying all over both of us before Helio could pull me out of the way.

I apologized profusely for making such a big mess.

Fortunately, the man I nearly ran over was very nice and told me it was easy enough for him to clean up in the locker room.

He even had a change of clothes, which made me jealous.

I took my soaked blazer off and contemplated tossing it in the closest garbage can.

I wouldn’t actually throw it away because that was wasteful and would prove everyone who thought the worst of me right.

Instead, I went into the women’s locker room to wipe it off and left it hanging on one of the metal doors to dry.

Before I could exit, the door was thrown open hard enough that it bounced off the wall.

I watched Ky storm toward me, the look on his face enough to frighten anyone who didn’t know him as well as I did.

Before I could ask him what he was doing, he gently grabbed my wrist and turned my arm in every direction, looking at the ugly bruise that had developed throughout the day. There were clear fingerprint marks stamped on my fair skin.

“Did Helio tell you what happened?” Despite a rough start, Ky and my head of security now got along like they’d been separated at birth.

They constantly gave each other a hard time, but underneath the snark, there was a budding friendship that warmed my heart.

It was good for Ky to have someone close by whom he could relate to when being in my world was too overwhelming for him. “It doesn’t hurt. I’m fine.”

Ky rubbed his thumb over the mark, his dark eyes full of fury as he stared at it.

“What’s the point of having a security detail if you’re going to get mauled in the safety of your office?

Shouldn’t that skyscraper be impenetrable?

What if someone wants to kidnap you again?

Are they going to walk out the door with you without someone trying to stop them? ”

I tried to tug my hand free, but he just tightened his hold.

“Today was an oversight. I’ll be more careful in the future.

” I cleared my throat and reminded him, “The only reason I was kidnapped the first time was that I got taken advantage of by a family member. I won’t let something like that happen again. ”

He let my arm drop and backed me against the sink. He put his hands on either side of my hips and caged me in. His eyes watched me carefully as he quietly asked, “Why haven’t you asked me if I had anything to do with that night again? I never answered you when you asked previously.”

I placed my hands on his bare chest. I felt his heart racing against my palm. I couldn’t tell if it was because he was angry about me being manhandled or the lingering discontentment from the old unanswered questions between us.

“I don’t know. I guess I decided I wanted you more than the truth.” There were lies I could live with. But being without him was unimaginable.

Ky sighed and pulled me into a tight hug.

He rested his chin on the top of my head and softly said, “I didn’t help your grandfather.

I found you that night purely by luck. I knew where you were because that’s where I would’ve taken you.

I never wanted to hurt you , Winnie.” His arms tightened, and his voice lowered even more.

“But don’t forget, I am a man capable of doing awful things if they benefit me. I’ve never been a saint.”

I tilted my head back and offered him a smile that came straight from my soul. “Do you really think any Halliday is living a life that’s leading them toward heaven? Our family has always been in bed with the other side.”

He bent down and bit my lower lip hard enough to make it sting. “Are you cursing our son to deal with demons when he gets older?”

I hummed against his lips and told him my grandmother’s favorite motto, “A known devil is always better than an unknown angel.”

I wanted Lowe to see the good in others and himself, but also to understand that there was a time and place where goodness wasn’t going to get the job done.

Sometimes, being bad and doing questionable things was the only option.

It was hard to have a rigid moral line when you were a Halliday, even more so when you were a Halliday and a Kent.

All Ky and I could do was prepare him for a life reigning in hell because a Halliday would serve no one, not even if they were in heaven.