Wretched Truth (Wretched #4)

Chapter 1

Ash

Six Years Ago

Above the rattle of dying leaves, there’s the dull thud of earth hitting the polished oak coffin. I turn sharply and ignore the mutterings of the other mourners as I walk away.

I’m slipping off my black tie when a heavy hand clamps onto my shoulder. It has to be one of my brothers, but I don’t slow.

“Ash, wait,” Hunter says. “You’re leaving?”

Shoving the tie into my jacket pocket, my fingers graze my cell phone. My very silent cell phone. “I need to get back to Eastham Grove.”

We’ve spent the last two weeks at Dad’s bedside, and as precious as that time was, there’s nothing more I can do for him now.

Hunter falls into step next to me as I head for the BMW on the far side of the cemetery.

Jake’s leaning against the hood, ready to hand over my keys.

Our head of security had followed the funeral procession in my car so I could make a quick and relatively painless getaway.

He knew better than to ask why. If only it were that easy with my brothers.

“Give me a day, and I’ll follow you,” Hunter says.

“No, your place is here. Close up Dad’s house and I’ll see you back in Chicago in a few weeks.”

“A few weeks? I thought the project in Eastham Grove was dead in the water?” When I shrug, he guesses the real reason. “It’s the girl, isn’t it?”

Muscles in my jaw feather. “It’s none of your business, is what it is.” I hadn’t intended on telling Hunter anything about Belle, but he can be a persistent bastard. “And do not breathe a word of what I told you to the other two fuckwits.”

“I hope that’s not us you’re talking about,” Mace says, catching up to us.

I roll my eyes. As the oldest son of James Griffin, my brothers tend to follow my lead, which can be both a blessing and a curse. They usually do as I say, but rarely without question.

“Where are you going?” asks Reid on cue.

My shoulders sag and I turn to face all three brothers. “Business that won’t wait,” I answer, not looking at Hunter.

Mace raises an eyebrow. Shit. I’d forgotten how much information he can absorb lurking in the shadows. Like Hunter, he’ll know that the project I’d been working on in Eastham Grove has already reached an unsatisfactory conclusion.

The three of us are in partnership together, and while I respect their opinions, not all of my business is their business, and I’m not about to pour my heart out. I need them to be focused, because right now, I’m not.

Mace joined Griffin Corps straight from college two years ago, as Hunter had done two years before that. I was the one who set the company up when I was twenty-one. I can’t believe that was six years ago.

We each bring something different to the investment company that’s fast expanding into an empire. My expertise is innovation, Hunter’s is finance, and Mace… Mace is a fucking pain in the neck, but he’s also our IT specialist and a skilled hacker.

“Does this have anything to do with John McConkey?” Mace challenges.

My eyes widen in warning for bringing up that name, but it’s too late.

“Who’s John McConkey?” asks Reid. At just nineteen, he’s the baby of the family. He’s also the one that’s going to be kept the hell away from the firm if I have anything to do with it.

“A friend,” I say through gritted teeth.

It’s not quite true. You can only be friends with the head of the Irish mafia up to a point, but Reid doesn’t need to know that. Our association with the Irish has left blood on our hands, and that’s not the life I want for him.

“And no, Mace,” I continue. “It has absolutely nothing to do with him.”

“Then what’s the rush?” Mace persists. “Dad’s literally been in the ground ten minutes. Your place is here, with us.”

Despite the acid tone, his words are laced with anxiety that most people wouldn’t notice.

“Don’t, Mace,” Hunter warns. “Ash doesn’t have to explain himself to you. We’re all fucking grown-ups. We don’t need him to hold our hands.”

I’m about to shoot Hunter a look to remind him that he’d more or less just offered to hold my hand, when Mace scoffs.

“Not all of us are grown-ups,” he says, elbowing Reid and making cry-baby sounds.

Reid punches his brother in the arm. “Leave it alone, Mace. Can’t you at least give me a break today of all days? I’m the one who’s just been made an orphan.”

Mace’s face darkens.

“Oh, shit,” Hunter mutters as Mace launches himself at Reid with a roar.

Mace traps Reid in a headlock. “We’re all orphans, dickwad!” he yells down our brother’s ear. “Not just you!”

“Yes, just me! You’ve still got Mommy Alice!” Reid hollers back, his face turning puce as Mace tightens his grip.

Simply uttering Alice’s name so close to the final resting place my father now shares with his second wife, Lisa feels wrong.

Our stepmom – Reid’s mom – died last year, and it took less than twelve months for Dad’s broken heart to fail him completely.

James Griffin’s fragile heart had always been his weakness.

It was our birth mother, Alice Emerson who first shattered Dad’s heart twenty-three years ago.

Mace was just a baby when she walked out on us, and Hunter was two.

At four years old, I was the only one old enough to witness the devastation Alice left in her wake.

I thought her rejection was the worst injury a woman could inflict on a man’s heart. I guess I was wrong.

Lisa had been the balm to heal us all. Dad stopped simply existing and learned to live again – dared to love again. And it was a risk that almost paid off for him, until she died.

Why the hell does love have to hurt so damn much?

I tighten my grip on my phone, still tucked away in my pocket. “Can I leave you to deal with these two?” I ask Hunter with a sigh.

Reid elbows Mace in the stomach, and as Mace doubles over, Hunter grabs both of them by their shirt collars.

All four of us have been blessed with naturally muscular bodies, and Hunter’s stature is most similar to mine, with broad shoulders and biceps that strain against the sleeves of his suit. Reid is the tallest and leanest, not quite as broad as Mace, but a good match judging by their endless fights.

“Enough!” Hunter bellows, showing no effort as he pulls them apart.

Reid backs down immediately, but I see Mace’s hand tighten into a fist. I cock my head and narrow my eyes at him. He might consider challenging Hunter, but he isn’t going to challenge me. His hand relaxes, but not his tongue.

“Reid started it. We’re all orphans.”

“But you never called her–” Reid begins before I direct my next glare at him. He snaps his mouth shut.

I know what he’s about to say – that we never called Lisa, Mom, and that’s on me. If I’d chosen to call our stepmom by the role she clearly filled in our lives, Mace and Hunter would have done the same. But I didn’t.

And it wasn’t because of some mistaken belief that Alice would show up for us one day. Nor was it a rejection of Lisa’s love. I simply wanted our scars to remain visible. I needed the reminder of what can happen when you love the wrong woman.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but loving the right woman could also deal a fatal blow. My dad is testament to that.

“Reid, get yourself back to college next week. And Mace, listen to Hunter,” I say with a nod to my second in command.

“He’s in charge until I get back to Chicago.

” I’m about to turn away when I offer Mace one last warning.

“And if I find your fingerprints anywhere near Eastham Grove, you and I are going to have words. This is not your concern.”

I hold his gaze just long enough for him to know that this is no casual threat.

Mace shrugs. “Whatever you say. Just stay safe.”

“I promise you I’m not in danger. It’s not that kind of problem.”

When I reach my BMW, Jake drops the keys into my open palm. He presses a hand to my shoulder, then simply steps away. That was how my exit was supposed to go, and I’m grateful to him for making this final stage of my departure easy.

It’s only when I reach the interstate that I put my foot on the gas, eating up the miles that have separated me from… from what I don’t yet know.

My hardened heart was never equipped for loving someone like Belle, but I fell for her the moment I set eyes on her.

It was only when she said she loved me too that I questioned what the hell I was doing.

My involvement with organized crime casts a shadow that’s going to last a lifetime, and she needed to know who she was getting involved with.

I don’t know who I was trying to scare off, her or me.

Probably me. Whether Belle was the right woman, or the wrong one, our relationship was destined to end in heartache, and watching Dad wither away after Lisa’s death should have cemented that belief.

But in the last coherent conversation I was ever to have with him, Dad put me straight.

“Son, if you’re looking for a reason to run away from love,” he rasped, “don’t use me as your excuse.

Just one day with Lisa was worth the pain of losing her, and we were blessed to have two decades together.

” He shuffled up in bed, taking a sip of the water I offered.

“And I know you don’t want to hear this, but loving Alice was worth it too. ”

He smiled at my horrified expression, water dribbling from his mouth.

“In spite of everything that conniving woman took from me, she gifted me three sons. All types of love come with their own rewards, even if you can’t see it at the time.” He lifted a hand to my stubbled cheek. “Take the risk, Asher. And whatever the outcome, grow from the experience.”

So here I am, taking a risk.

I have no idea what awaits me in Eastham Grove because Belle won’t answer her damn phone. When I’d messaged to say my dad had died, she’d replied with two words. I’m sorry.

Did she mean she was sorry my dad had died?

Sorry she’d missed all my calls? Or was she sorry about something else?

I don’t know because I haven’t heard from her since.

I’d been arrogant enough to think the decision about our future was mine to make, but what if Belle’s already made the decision for me?

I need to know.