Chapter 15 #3
When Marin still lived here, she worked in that seedy strip club, more like a brothel, in one of the worst areas in the city.
I can only assume that’s how she met Griffin.
She was beautiful once, and I can see how he would be attracted to Marin, but selling her body for drugs has come at a cost, and she now looks twenty years older than her thirty-five years.
I can’t even begin to imagine what type of place she works at in Las Vegas.
Shaking and jittery, she struggles to stand still, her eyes darting everywhere like she’s a rabbit caught in the headlights before she replies, “Yeah, he was a client. He told me to fuck off when I told him I was pregnant with his baby. And when I threatened to rat him out to his wife, he just laughed in my face and told me he had ways of making me disappear.”
This is the most she’s ever told me, and I have to stop myself from asking more questions, which I have a million of. I know it’s pointless to ask her anything else because she often lies to get what she wants, and she could be lying about Griffin too. Only a DNA test would prove it.
“Are you taking note?” I look to Max to make sure he’s listening and I have a witness.
“Heard every word,” he confirms. I’m grateful he’s here today. As luck would have it, fate is apparently on my side. I’m thanking the stars.
I’ll continue to make sure that little boy is provided for. I don’t need Judge Griffin Holmes’ support, but knowing who Alfie’s father might be could work to my advantage if the adoption faces any hiccups.
“What happened to Las Vegas?” Why is she back?
“I’m done with Vegas. Too hot.”
More like she’s broke and too stubborn to admit it.
“Have you been to visit Mom and Dad?”
She turns her body away from me, and I know she hasn’t. Marin is the queen of avoidance.
“I’ll let them know you were here,” I tell her, already picturing the sadness in their eyes when I mention she visited me today.
“Let’s not pretend they care, Paige.” She fake-laughs, making her sound like she’s demented.
They care deeply about her, but the hurt she caused after her last failed attempt at rehab broke them and nearly bankrupted them as well.
That’s when they decided to sell our family home and move into a retirement complex.
It’s the best decision they ever made, and now they have an incredible social life that even I envy.
The plus side is that Marin can’t access the complex without permission, which keeps my parents safe and Marin away forever.
I cut to the chase. “Is it money you’re after? Is that why you’re here?”
She doesn’t even take the time to reply, as if she already had it scripted.
“It’s just a little, enough to help me get back on my feet, you know?
” Marin says quickly, her words tumbling over each other.
She pinches her fingers together, leaving a narrow inch of space, like she’s measuring something delicate or harmless when she’s the most toxic and harmful person I know.
“I’m not asking for much, really. Just a bit to tide me over.
I’ve got this new place I’m moving into, and I’m short on the rent, but a couple of friends are gonna come through, they just haven’t yet. Should be any day now.”
She shifts from foot to foot as she talks, her eyes flicking between me and the ground. Marin has never been shy about asking for money, especially not from me, and it doesn’t seem to faze her that I’ve already given her thousands, but today she seems different. Worse. Embarrassed.
“How much?” Max beats me to the question.
“Five.” She bites her lip before finishing her sentence. “Thousand.”
“Five thousand?” I gasp, completely taken aback that she thinks I don’t have bills, a nanny and a child to pay for.
She knows I have the money, because I’m one of the top-paid senior divorce attorneys in the city, or she wouldn’t be here. While part of me wants to give her the money, I don’t see why I should. I’m not working my ass off for her to blow it all on… well, I can only imagine.
“It’s like a drop in the ocean for you, Paige. You can more than afford it. How much was that get-up you’re wearing? Those boots alone probably cost a thousand bucks.”
I’m seething now. How fucking dare she question what I spend my hard-earned money on? But I don’t let her see or hear how annoyed I am. “At least the way I earn my living is legal and above board.” Shit, I shouldn’t have said that; it’s a low blow, even for me.
Max breaks the standoff I’m having with my sister. “You’re not getting five thousand, but I’ll give you…” He pulls his wallet out of his back pocket of his dress pants and proceeds to count out three thousand dollars.
Who the hell has that kind of money in their back pocket? That’s insane and is probably more like pocket change to Mr. Moneybags.
“No.” I step forward to stop him as Marin rushes over to him and tries to snatch it out of his hands, but Max pulls it back from her. “What are you doing?” I ask, anger climbing my throat, making my voice sound strained and gravelly.
“You only get this on one condition.” Max addresses Marin, ignoring me completely.
“I can’t make any promises,” Marin snarks back, placing her hands on her hips.
“Well, tough shit, that’s the deal.”
“What do I have to promise?”
“When you visit the next time, it’s for one reason only.”
“Oh, yeah, what’s the reason?” She sounds like a brat.
Max responds without hesitation. “To get help. Proper help. Not some halfhearted promises to try rehab. If you show your face here again, it’s to get clean. Properly. Once and for all.”
“I’ve already tried that. Three times,” she screams at him in frustration. The tendons in her thin neck bulge out, and she flashes him her crooked, broken teeth that make me wince. Her thick hair is long gone, replaced with wispy blonde strands that look like they haven’t been washed in weeks.
All I want to do is run to her, comfort her, tell her I still love her even after she sold Mom’s engagement ring, and that I forgive her. I want to help even when I know she doesn’t want it.
If I invited her into my home, offered her a shower, she’d refuse to come into my house anyway, which is probably just as well. If it’s not glued down or fixed to a wall, then Marin will swipe whatever she can get her hands on to pawn.
I lost my sister to addiction, and I hate that for all of us. Especially Marin, because living the way she is isn’t living; it’s surviving at best.
Max stares her down, which I’ve seen him do numerous times before in court and to me specifically. He’s so bold and masculine, sexy.
Hell, no, now is not the time for those thoughts, Paige.
But there is something about the way he’s leading this conversation that makes me want to jump his gorgeous bones and kiss that perfect cupid’s bow of his.
What the hell is wrong with me?
Down, girl.
Max holds firm, locking his eyes with Marin until she finally agrees. “Okay. I promise never to come back.”
Her words make my already broken heart shatter into pieces.
Marin has no intention of accepting help, not from me, not from our parents, and not from any rehab facility.
What remains of her now are just memories of us playing in the treehouse Dad built in the big oak at the edge of our backyard.
I still believe the sister I knew, the one who was kind and full of heart, is in there somewhere.
But she’s buried so deep that without Marin’s permission to bring her back, it feels like a hope I have no right to hold on to.
Faster than a firefly’s flicker, Marin tries to snatch the three thousand bucks she doesn’t respect from his grasp yet again, looking happier than a Cheshire cat.
“Not so fast.” Max stuffs the money back into his wallet. “You’ll get the money for the rent but I’ll pay your landlord directly.”
“That’s not fair.” She wails like a baby. “You changed the rules.”
He ignores her tantrum and adds, “And if you give me your address, I will have provisions sent to your place once a week. But I’m not giving you any money to enable your habits.”
Oh, he’s good.
“No.” She stamps her foot against the ground.
“What’s your address?” Max asks, unfazed by her brat-like attempts to get her own way as he pulls his phone out of the top pocket of his suit jacket, ready to take notes.
“I’m not giving you it.”
“It’s that or nothing.” He’s so cool, calm, and collected, I’m in awe of the way he’s dealing with her. Looking up from his phone, he has a stare-off with Marin, a battle of wills where there is only one winner. Him.
“Fine,” she agrees eventually. She gives him her address, which is in one of the most run-down areas of the city.
I’ll never disclose to my parents where she is staying; all they’ll do is worry even more than they already do.
“Are we done?” she asks Max, looking displeased and pissed off that she didn’t get her own way.
“Yes.” Max nods in acknowledgment, closing his phone down and tucking it back inside his top pocket.
“Cheers for nothing, rich guy.” With purpose, she storms away without a wave goodbye, ignoring I even exist, and begins walking back along the avenue, disappearing around the corner.
I sigh and hang my head in shame at her ungratefulness, whispering, “I’m so sorry. I will repay you the money.”
“You don’t need to do that.” Max’s voice moves closer to me. It’s low, sounds familiar, but my brain is too tired to figure it out. “It’s what friends do for each other. Consider it a gift.”
Before I can stop them, tears spring from my eyes, and I begin to bawl, something I haven’t done in years.
Keeping my head down, I cover my face with my hands and I wail for Marin, for Alfie, my parents, me. For Max’s thoughtfulness and for what he just did for my sister.
I know she’ll never change. I can’t stop the sadness from overwhelming me, my shoulders bouncing up and down as I really let go.
“Let it all out.” Warm, thick arms wrap themselves around me as I bury myself into Max’s firm chest and I crumble in his arms. It hurts to breathe, hurts to think about where Marin will be this time next year.
My baby sister is slowly killing herself and there are no laws I can press upon her to stop her from doing it.
With all his strength, Max holds me up, holding me against his giant frame. “I’ve got you, Paige. I’ve got you.”