Suddenly, all the questions I desperately want answered fly out of my head, leaving only one.
“Why?” It sounds like someone dragged the word from my throat with rusty pliers.
His black gaze narrows on me. “Why what?”
“Why did you do it? Did you want my brother dead? Is that it?”
Mount leans back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest. The fit of his custom-tailored suit reminds me too much of Kane, and I have to force myself not to look away.
“You have my condolences on the loss of your brother, Ms. Ransom.”
“That’s not why I’m—”
He cuts me off with a glare. “If I’d wanted Ransom dead, he would’ve been. As for why I did any of it? I don’t need to explain myself, but I will say that you getting kidnapped and killed would’ve made my wife unhappy. Keeping you safe was the only way to avoid that.”
The rage that started building in me earlier comes to a head as I stalk toward his desk.
“But you had to know about the plan to kill Rafe!”
Mount rises to his feet and plants his fists on the desk in front of him. “What I knew then or know now is none of your fucking business.”
A sob chokes me, cutting off my ability to respond, and my knees give out. I stumble backward and land in a chair, rocking forward as the tears come again.
I don’t care that I’m crying in Mount’s office. I don’t care about anything but the gaping wounds tearing me apart.
“You’re going to make yourself sick crying like that.”
I blink through my torrent of tears to find a box of tissues shoved onto my lap and Mount crouching in front of me.
“If you tell anyone I keep tissues in my office, I’ll make sure you’re never heard from again. It would destroy my reputation.”
The statement is delivered deadpan and I know it’s meant as humor, but I don’t have any to spare right now. I take a tissue from the box and blow my nose.
“You’re not helping yourself by wallowing in your grief, Temperance. I told you before, you’re cut from the same cloth as my wife. That means you will find that last reserve of strength, put some steel in your spine, and stand up. You’re not dead. Quit acting like it.”
My tears dry up. “Don’t pretend you know me. Don’t pretend you have any idea how it feels—”
“It doesn’t matter what I know or how you feel. You want to crawl into that coffin with your brother? Feel free. But you will not drag my wife down with you. I’ll make sure you’re cut loose long before that.”
I jerk back. “What do you mean?”
“Right now, you’re making her sad. I eliminate things that make Keira sad. Do you understand me?”
My jaw hangs open. “Are you seriously threatening to kill me because I upset Keira? After watching my brotherdiein front of me?”
I remember my confrontation with Gregor Standish, and how I worried for him because of what he said about Keira ... and then he died. There’s no question in my mind that Mount was responsible for his death because of Standish’s attack on her and the distillery.
My question goes unanswered, but I know Mount’s response would be a resoundingyes. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do for Keira.
I wanted that, even though I didn’t know I wanted it.Another pang of grief and anger tears into me.
“Get up. Wipe off the tears. Get your life together. And don’t go back to Seven Sinners until you can talk without screaming or crying. Do you understand me?”
Mount is harsh and brutal, and part of me hates him for it. The other part ... the other part knows I needed to hear it. I reach out to grasp his wrist before he walks away.
His gaze flicks down to where I’m touching him and moves back to my face.
“No matter how much I needed to hear that, I still hate you for whatever part you played in this.”