The Pawn (Endgame #1)(49)

He looks away for a moment, and I take in the fact that he’s on a ladder. A ladder. Where did he get it? Some kind of toolshed? Or maybe he brought it with him. This is some insane rescue attempt, except I don’t need rescuing.

No, that’s a lie. I need rescuing, but I need the money in that escrow account even more.

His nostrils flare. “God, Avery. Why didn’t you call me?”

“You broke up with me!”

“Still,” he says, seething. “Gabriel Miller! The man ruined your father.”

A flush steals over my cheeks, my chest. “I know. I didn’t have a choice in who won the auction.”

“I can’t believe you let him touch you. He turned over fake evidence to the state’s attorney. And then he had him attacked! He’s the reason your father even needs a nurse.”

My heart clenches. “No. He didn’t send those men.”

“Did you ask him?”

I did, but I’m not sure I believe him. And I’m afraid to push. Afraid to find out that he might have sent those men. Because he won the auction either way. We need the money either way. It’s sick and twisted, like the chili juice on my fingers. But sometimes we do sick and twisted things for the people we love.

“It doesn’t matter,” I say. “The auction is over. He won.”

“You’re leaving,” he says flatly.

“And give up a million dollars? Daddy needs that money.” And I needed the house more than ever. The only trace I had left of my mother. She would have known what to do, what to say, but I didn’t have her. All I had was the place that she’d lived. The place that she’d loved.

“He doesn’t need it from Gabriel Miller. The man’s a fucking criminal.”

“I know that.” My stomach turns over. “But Daddy wasn’t innocent either. That came out in the trial.”

Justin snorts. “The trial. It was a fucking sham. The whole prosecutor’s office is in Miller’s pocket.”

That’s not possible, is it? Daddy maintained his innocence until the end. Until the attack, when he’d almost lost his ability to speak at all. There’d been so much evidence, though.

And Gabriel Miller has more money than God. He can make anything happen.

Except that honesty is the most important thing to him. He keeps his father’s last bottle of moonshine to remind him of how much he believes in the truth. He wouldn’t have given false documents. Wouldn’t have lied to me.

Unless everything was a lie, even his supposed belief in honesty.

I take a step back. “You need to leave.”

“Are you listening to me?” he asks, his eyes wild. “The man’s a fucking monster.”

I had that thought in the theater, but somehow it’s different when Justin says it. More offensive. Less true. “You don’t know him.”

“Oh fuck.” Justin laughs. “You aren’t falling for him, are you?”

The air seems thin, because I’m terrified that he’s right. It’s horrible. Impossible. “Of course not. But a deal’s a deal. And they take their promises seriously in this criminal business. That’s what got Daddy into this mess.”

“What do you think they’re going to prosecute you for, your virginity? It’s fucking gone. Done. Even Gabriel Miller isn’t going to bring his whore to court.”

I flinch. This was the man I had been going to marry. Whore.

“Leave, Justin.” I pull the towel tighter around me. “Now.”

He seems to realize what he said. “Avery—”

“No. I know you mean well, but this isn’t going to work. I need the money from the auction. Daddy needs it. And if Gabriel finds you here, he’s going to be pissed.”

“Pissed,” comes a low voice from behind me. “That’s an understatement.”

I whirl and face an enraged Gabriel Miller, his face twisted into a snarl. My hands go up in automatic defense. I don’t think he’s going to hurt me, but he might hurt Justin. However much he betrayed me by breaking off our engagement, he doesn’t deserve to be injured.

“Please.”

Gabriel looks incredulous. “You’re begging for his life?”

Panic beats in my chest. Would Gabriel kill him? “He hasn’t done anything.”

“He came onto my property. He tried to take what’s mine.”

Me. He means me. I feel lightheaded. “I’m still here. Please.”

He grips my wrist, firm and implacable. He moves me out of the way, and I spin from out of his hold. The towel comes lose, and I use both hands to cover myself.

Two strides. That’s all it takes before Gabriel has Justin by the collar, face turning red, his stance on the ladder precarious at best. I run to them, modesty forgotten, pulling Gabriel’s arm.

“Let him go!”

Gabriel makes a growling sound. “I’d bury him in the woods. No, I’d leave him out. Let the wolves take care of him. No one would ever find his body.”

Justin’s eyes are wide and full of fear. “Stop,” he wheezes. “Know. The. Truth.”

“The truth?” Gabriel asks, his voice deadly soft.

God, doesn’t Justin realize how close he is to death? Threatening Gabriel Miller with the truth will only make him angrier. No matter what happened with my father, I know that Gabriel cares about honesty.