Chapter 42
***Kyrin***
“Meeting’s over. Get out.” Zander stared down at his hands until the last person left and it was just the three of us in the conference room. When he looked up at us, I could see pain in his eyes. “We know she did it.”
I looked away and let my own pain roll through. We’d never seen her cry. No matter what, I knew that her tears were real. My chest tightened. “That sucked.”
“You can prove that it was her, right? I mean, we know it was her, but still.” Zander shifted in his chair. “For our peace of mind, we should just have the proof on hand.”
Knight cleared his throat and I didn’t miss the thickness of his voice as he spoke. “Sure, I can. I will.”
“So, it’s fine. It feels bad right now, but that’s probably what she wanted. She’s a pro.” Zander sounded less and less sure.
“I’m going home.” I stood up and rubbed my face. “I’ll check on Gracie.”
“I’m coming, too.” Knight grabbed his laptop and I could see his mind working through something as he walked towards the door. “I’ll work better there.”
Zander followed us. “I should check on Gracie, too.”
I didn’t miss the tension in the office as we walked out. It was impossible to miss, with everyone staring and whispering. We’d always presented a professional front and in one day, that’d been shot to shit. We couldn’t even blame Aggie for that. She’d asked to speak to us alone.
The three of us took the elevator down to the garage and the silence was deafening.
It was nothing compared to the sound we heard when the elevator doors opened, though.
Broken sobs echoed through the underground garage like my own personal hell.
On the other side of the garage, a member of our security team was helping Aggie into her car.
I ground my teeth and looked away. “Doesn’t feel right.”
Zander growled and slammed his hand into the cement wall behind us. “She did this, goddammit.”
Knight watched her pull away and shook his head. Without saying anything else, he walked to his truck left us standing there.
I looked over at Zander and saw that his hand was dripping blood. “Let’s go home. I’ll wrap that up.”
He looked down at it like he hadn’t noticed it before. Yanking his jacket off, he wrapped it around his busted knuckles and pulled his keys out with his other hand. “This was her. Knight will prove it.”
I got in my truck and drove home in silence, going through a thousand scenarios in my head.
No matter what, the ending was always the same.
There was no Aggie. If she was a spy, she was gone, and for good reason.
If she wasn’t a spy, she was gone, because of our actions and words.
And she’d be gone for good reason, if I was being honest. What we’d done to her wasn’t anything I’d ever be proud of. No matter what Knight’s proof was.
Sick of my thoughts, I turned the radio on and was immediately blasted with sad country songs about lost love. Punching the power button, I turned it back off and rolled my windows down.
Pulling through the gate at the house, I struggled not to think about Aggie being thrown out of the house.
I drove up to the main house and didn’t even get to park before I saw the next problem of the day.
I opened my door and could hear Jamie shouting at Knight and Zander from a football field away.
“Pull it up on your fucking security system and watch it. It’s the least you could do.
Watch what you put her through.” Jamie spotted me and he came at me, chef’s hat in hand.
“You! I thought you were better than these two, at least, with your cowboy hat and ma’am bullshit.
You’re just as fucked up as your brothers.
You all deserve each other. Growing old together in this fucking tomb of a house and dying with no one around that you haven’t paid to be there. Fuck all three of you. I quit.”
I stood stock still, staring after a man I’d known for years after having him rip me a new one.
I looked over at Knight and Zander and blew out a deep sigh.
The sound of Jamie burning rubber as he left would’ve been the icing on the cake if the front door of the house hadn’t opened at the exact moment, with Olivia hurrying out with her bags.
She took one look at us and held up her hands. “I’m sorry, but I can’t work with that child. She hasn’t stopped screaming since you tossed out the last nanny.”
I lifted my hand in a slow wave as she raced out of the driveway after Jamie. Something snapped in my head and I started laughing. The whole thing was so fucked up that I didn’t know what else to do. “Let’s go see if anyone else wants to quit, I guess.”
Zander thrust his hands in his hair and groaned. “She did it. We’re right. Maybe it was harsh, but we were right.”
I kept laughing. “Doesn’t even matter, does it? She’s gone, we’re assholes, and everyone hates us.”
Gracie’s screams filled the house and we found her on the stairs, watching the front door. When she saw us, she wrapped her arms around herself and turned away. Her screaming at least quieted down a bit.
Mary hurried into the entryway and spotted us. Her worry instantly turned to anger. “Good. You’re home. I have a previous engagement to attend tonight.”
Knight groaned loudly. “Great! Good! Are you quitting, too?”
Narrowing her eyes at him, she walked closer and pointed her finger at each of us.
“I have known you boys for a long time. I’ve known you as rowdy boys and then as troubled men, but I have never questioned your character before today.
I’m so disappointed in each of you that it hurts.
I’m no quitter, though. I’ll be back in the morning, but I don’t know what you’ll do for breakfast. Hopefully, eat crow. ”
I walked over and sat next to Gracie on the stairs. When I held my hand out to her, she shoved it away and scooted away from me. I nodded to myself, because why not add my niece hating me to the top of the shit pile?
“Gracie, can we talk?” Zander came closer and knelt in front of her. “I want-”
“I hate you! I hate all of you! I wish Mommy and Daddy were here! I don’t want to live with you anymore! I want to go with Aggie!” Gracie stood up and raced up the stairs, leaving the three of us gutted.
Zander sank down next to me and dropped his head between his knees. “Fuck.”
Knight sat on the other side of Zander and slumped against the railing. “I think I hate us, too.”