Page 121 of Velvet Corruption

She froze.

“This isn’t up to you anymore. This isn’t a debate. You’re alive because I was here. You’re safe because I made a decision you couldn’t. So no, Ruby, this isn’t your mess to handle. It’s mine.”

My hand closed around her wrist—not rough, not tender. Possessive.

“I intend to clean it up. Completely. Permanently.”

She stared at me, chest heaving, like she was trying to come up with an argument I couldn’t tear apart.

I pulled my phone out, ready to dial. “I can fix it,” I said. “But only if you let me. And that means doing exactly what I tell you. Okay?”

“Alek has to know, Kieran. He’s going to see the bruises. He’s going to know Russell died. I can’t—I don’t keep secrets from him. Other than my daughter, he’s the closest thing I have to family.”

I thought for a second, trying to fight back the headache creeping in, trying to ignore the pain at my side. “Okay,” I said. “You’re going to text him that you need to speak to him in the morning, that it’s urgent. Then you’re going to retain him as your counsel. You’re going to pay him, I don’t know, put a deposit down. That way he can’t tell anyone what you said, right?”

“You’re just trying to control me. You’re trying to control this.”

“Yes! That’s how we get out of this. You understand that, right?”

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, then her hand went to the dark bruises that had formed around her neck. “Fuck. Yeah.”

Her gaze darted down to her phone and I watched as she typed a message.

Hey, something urgent came up. I need to see you in the morning, as early as you can.

“Okay,” I said. “Send that. Then give me your phone.”

She sent it, but glared at me. “Why should I give you my phone?”

“You’re going to second guess this choice all night. If you give me your phone, you can’t do anything about it. You give it to me, you protect your friend. That’s what you want, yes?”

She nodded, her eyes wide. But she hesitated before giving it to me, barely able to bring herself to put the device in my outstretched hand. I put it in my back pocket and put my hands on her shoulder. “Good girl,” I said. “Now I need to take care of some logistics. I’m giving you a choice here. You either stay downstairs with me or you go to your room and lock yourself in there. Take a sleeping aid if you need to. I recommend the second option, but I know you well enough to know you might stay here. So which one will it be?”

Her gaze darted between my face and the stairs. “I can’t…I can’t walk past the body.”

“That’s totally fair. Wash your hands, then put your first aid kit away. Tidy your kitchen, like you would any other night before bed. I’ll handle this.”

“So just…clean? As if nothing happened?”

“People die every day. You can’t stop cleaning just because someone’s died. In fact, that’s probably when you have to clean the most.”

Her brow furrowed as she stared at me. She let out a deep breath, sharp and ragged, her fingers curling into fists at her sides.

This was insane. I wanted to tell her she should be upstairs, pretending this was a nightmare after she locked her door.

But I knew Ruby.

The body was an obstacle to getting to her room—both real and metaphorical—but I knew her. She wanted to know what the fuck was happening.

And who could blame her for that?

“What, like it’s just another fucking night? This is so fucked up, Kieran.”

“Tell me about it,” I said, grabbing my phone out of my pocket.

She didn’t say anything. Just looked at me, fire in her eyes and something raw, something exposed beneath it all. She wasn’t going to stop me. Not this time.

I pressed the number, watching her as it rang.