Page 96 of Sinful King
“Didn’t know if he was worthy or not.”
I smiled and looked out the window.
“He’s happy. I’m glad he proved himself.”
“We have similar stories,” she said suddenly. “You and I. Different circumstances but all the same.”
My head spun a little at the confession.
What was she saying?
“I know what it’s like to be abused.”
It’s like she read my mind, but even so part of me hadn’t expected her to elaborate.
“And, I don’t know, I’m still working on being more open with the people in my life. I can see how important you are to all of them.”
There’d been a reason she said it and I wouldn’t be able to think straight until I understood why.
I let my gaze drift in her direction.
“Finn told you how I met them?”
Violet nodded.
“He did but only because I asked.”
“What did he say?”
“That you were always meant to be family and entering that storage room was fate,” she replied without pause, rolling to a stop and parallel parking in front of a high rise apartment building in Harlem. “How he wished you knew you didn’t have to try so hard to prove yourself. I guess I mentioned all this because I wanted you to know everyone important already sees you for who you are.”
Did they?
I wasn’t so sure why it mattered anymore. Why showing everybody who hurt me I could hurt them just as worse was so important.
“But,” she went on. “You should keep going until you feel satisfied. If taking everything from them is what you need, then take it.”
“Even if it means betraying someone who’s been good to me thus far?”
Our eyes met and silence stretched between us for what felt like an eternity before she responded.
“Have they been good to you or do you think they’ve been?”
I shook my head.
“We haven’t had any major issues since we met.”
“Bad people are meant to do bad things, Blair.”
Her statement painted a broader picture in an instant. I wanted to be seen as good, when I was anything but. Esmeralda had always been a stepping stone but somewhere along way I got invested.
She meant something more than I’d been telling myself, and I was struggling with that.
“Just in time,” Violet mused, eyes moving past mine. “He’s been moving weird since the wedding.”
I turned and there was Landell walking past us to get to his car.
“You’ve already been following him?”
