“How could you do this?I hate you!”
Grief takes me to my knees and I pound on the floor, not caring what Harriet must think below me.
I beat the scarred wood until my fists feel bruised to the bone. Dropping my forehead to the floor, I sob.
“How could you do this?” The words come out as barely a whisper, because I have nothing left.
He took everything from me.
A pile of bricks filled with hunks of metal means nothing now.
Nothing.
Someone knocks on my door. “Temperance, it’s Harriet—”
“I’m okay,” I reply, my voice cracking.
“You have a visitor.”
“No!” I bark out my answer. I don’t want to see anyone. Can’t see anyone.
“It’s your boss, dear.”
Great. Just who I want to see me like this.
I collapse into a pathetic heap on the floor. The door opens before I can find the energy to rise to my feet.
“Temperance? Oh, honey. I’m so sorry.”
Keira’s heels click over to me, and she drops to her knees beside me before wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
I haven’t seen her since my brother’s funeral—although I think she’s been here while I was sleeping twenty hours a day. She told me to take as much time as I need and that everything would be fine at the distillery.
I took her at her word, forgetting completely about the responsibilities I used to be proud of handling, and wallow in hell instead.
“What can I do?” she whispers, and I hate the pity in her voice. But why wouldn’t she pity me? I’m the dumbass who fell for the guy who killed her own brother.
I’m a joke. A disaster. A mess beyond all hot messes.
I swallow and try to think of something to say. Anything.
“He gave me a building.” I sit up and stare straight ahead, not meeting her gaze.
“What?” she asks.
“He gave me a motherfucking building!” I reach for the shreds of paper on the floor in front of me. “How could he do this to me? He lied, and I believed him. How could I have been so fucking stupid? How?”
My reserve of tears should be empty, but they flow faster and faster. I ball my sore hands into fists again and try to wipe the droplets away.
Keira hugs me, squeezing tight. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” She repeats the words over and over, rocking with me as I bawl like someone who had her heart ripped out. And I did.
To top it off, it was my own damned fault.
I might as well have pulled the trigger myself. Rafe died because of me. He came because of me. Kane lied to me. Used me.Betrayed me.
The wounds are still too fresh.
“How could he do that?”