Unconditional (Masters and Mercenaries #5.5)(40)

He crowded her, his face flushing a mottled red. “Do you want to know why I won’t get close to your little princess, Ashley? Why I won’t even meet your kid? Because I would just look at her and wonder why she got to live when mine died.”

Tears clouded her whole world, and she felt like the ground had shifted under her feet. “What?”

He stepped back, breathing in long drags. “Our contract is void. I’ll get you your lawyer. Don’t call me again.”

“Keith? Don’t walk out.” They were too emotional. She’d just said a bunch of things she didn’t mean. “I’m sorry. Don’t walk away from me.”

He didn’t look back.

The door closed and Ashley gave in. Tears took over, pain blanketing her. Pain for Trevor and the future he’d lost. He’d lost the chance to grow up and redeem himself. She cried for Keith, who was hiding so much pain. It didn’t matter that he couldn’t love her. She loved him.

And she cried for herself because she always seemed to lose.

She felt Jill’s arms go around her, but it didn’t matter because she would always be alone.





Chapter Ten





Keith stood outside the gates to the big mansion that sat squarely in the center of Bend River, Texas, population six hundred and thirty-five. Had Ashley stood here as a kid and looked up at that gorgeous house and wondered at the inequalities of life? He sure as f*ck was doing that right now.

He’d stopped by the tiny house she’d been raised in. He hadn’t gotten out. Didn’t need to. One look at the run-down place was all he needed. She’d lived in that house just a couple of years before. She’d been a little girl from the poor side of town. No father. A bitter mother. How had she turned out so sweet and sunny?

God, he missed her. It was an actual ache in his gut. Five days had gone by at a snail’s pace, every stinking hour a reminder that he wasn’t good enough for her.

He wanted to know how she’d come out of her childhood with her whole heart intact because he hadn’t been able to do it. She’d had years of pain. He’d had a single moment and he was more damaged than she’d ever thought of being.

The gates began to open and he eased the car through. He had an appointment, after all.

He couldn’t give her much, but he could do this for her.

His cell rang, coming over the speakers of his car, and he touched the button to answer it. “This is Langston.”

Karina Mills’s very competent voice came over the line. “Are you ready?”

“I was born ready for this.” Karina was the only person he’d talked to from Sanctum since he’d walked out. He needed good intel for what he was going to do. Information made the world go round and Karina knew how to get it. She’d been in town for three days, digging up dirt on the Reids.

“You have the financials on the company, but I spent some time at a bar outside town. It took me about fifteen minutes to find someone willing to talk about the Reids. They’re not universally loved, if you know what I mean.”

He could imagine. If they’d been cruel to someone as sweet as Ashley, they likely made enemies easily. They probably weren’t the kind of enemies that had a ton of power, but all he needed were the kind who liked to gossip. “Did they give you any dirt?”

“Trent Reid has been having an affair with a woman from his church for about two years. She’s fifteen years younger than he is. Luckily he keeps regular appointments. Every Monday night when his wife has dinner with her sister he goes to a motel on the outskirts of the county. I got some very nice photos. If there’s one, there’s probably been a string of them. I just need a couple of days and I can get you a catalog of Trent Reid’s mistresses. There’s also the question of several sexual harassment suits that disappeared after the women had big payoffs. Those will be harder to get. I’m sure they signed nondisclosures.”

“I won’t need them.” He pulled up to the big circular drive and put his Navigator in park. “I’m going to speak the only language I really need to. Keep that in our back pocket in case we need an ace. Keep looking. I don’t want him coming back at Ashley.”

There was a little sigh over the line. “She misses you.”

He’d stopped himself from going to her house at least ten times. He’d driven by like a creepy pervert stalker, but he’d managed to make himself drive away. “It’s better this way.”

“We all miss you, Keith. Come back to Sanctum.”

He couldn’t. He missed Sanctum, too. It was the only place he felt really comfortable, and in those weeks he’d spent there, he’d found a weird little family. He missed betting with Derek on how long it would take before Ian swatted Adam upside the head. He missed the Brits bitching at each other about soccer teams and tea. But he mostly missed having Ashley in his lap, curled up and happy. “I can’t. Karina, when this is done, I won’t call again unless I need your services. I don’t expect to hear from you unless Ashley is in trouble.”

“Taking a hard line, huh?” She really didn’t put up with anyone’s shit. Keith liked how she managed to call him on his crap without being rude about it. She was a perfect mentor for Ashley, and Derek was an idiot for not slapping a collar around her throat. “I don’t understand it, Sir, but I will honor it. And I will help take care of Ashley. We all have our tragedies, our pain. What you haven’t figured out yet is that everything fades. Even the pain fades if you let it. I hope you figure that out before it’s too late. Good-bye, Master Keith.”