Maid To Be

t w e n t y t w o

? This is injustice

Woe unto thee

I pray this punishment

Would have mercy on me ?

"What are you doing here?" I asked as he slowly got up from the floor.

Kyle kept his mouth shut, choosing instead to glare at the boy in front of us.

In an attempt to busy himself, Quinn reached down to brush the dirt off his pants. It became clear he was avoiding answering my question when he started picking invisible lint off his jacket.

"She asked you a question," Kyle finally snapped after another minute of silence had passed.

Quinn's response was a little too calm for my liking. "I'm here to return the files I stole."

My eyes narrowed at his confession.

"Why?" My mind refused to accept that he had willingly betrayed us.

Quinn reached up to pull down his hood, and that's when I noticed how terrible he looked.

The bags under his eyes were noticeably dark, and his usually nice and pristine curls were matted beyond repair.

"Ethan and Eli Durant approached me a couple of weeks ago, and they told me that they would hurt someone else I care about if I didn't do exactly what they said. "

I frowned. "Someone else?"

Quinn began to pace back and forth. "I didn't understand it at first, so I did some digging. Turns out, the car accident that my dad got into a couple of months back wasn't an accident at all. Eli orchestrated the whole thing."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Oh my God?"

"Naturally, I figured that I had no choice but to follow their orders.

My brother would've been their next target, and I couldn't risk doing something to upset them.

I didn't know that you'd be the one to take the fall, Lilac, but I guess they figured that's who Kyle would turn to look at first," Quinn went on to explain.

"I'm not sure what their end goal is, but they're willing to risk everything to see it through. "

My mouth went dry as a thought that I'd been trying to suppress suddenly rose to the surface.

"This is all my fault."

Both boys turned to look at me.

Their expressions conveyed two different emotions, yet both of them had an unmistakable look of pity in their eyes.

"You were trying to tell me this at the banquet, weren't you?"

When Quinn's gaze drifted downward, I knew I had my answer.

"God, if I'd just told Justin to wait, you could've told me what was going on, and I could've helped you—"

"There's nothing you could've done—" Quinn didn't hesitate to come to my defense, only he didn't get far as Kyle quickly cut him off.

"He's right," he declared matter-of-factly. "There's nothing you could've done. I'm not sure why you two are involved, but this is between Durant and me. You getting involved without my help would've only made things worse."

"So, then what the hell are we supposed to do?" I asked. "Accept the fact that we're just collateral damage?"

Kyle shook his head. "We get even."

Quinn's face paled and I watched as he began to fiddle with the drawstring on his hoodie. "Look, I'm sorry about taking the files and everything, but I'm not looking to cause any more trouble."

Kyle placed a hand on Quinn's shoulder, calming him. "You've done nothing wrong, Quinn. I only wish that you had come to me the second the Durants approached you. I could've put a security detail on your house."

"I know, but the Durants made it clear that they wouldn't hesitate to hurt my brother if I so much as wrote you a note explaining what happened.

" A small smile then slipped onto his face as he presented his next thought.

"But if you were to find out on your own . . . well, that's a different story."

Kyle quirked a brow. "So you were sloppy on purpose?"

Rolling his eyes, Quinn retorted, "I spent a great deal of my teen years running around this house. I know where the cameras are."

"Dammit, kid," Kyle sighed. "We're going to make this right. I promise."

My lips twisted in apprehension as I began to piece together Quinn's story.

I still had major questions that I needed answers to.

Especially since I'm the one being set up.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" My question came out as a command rather than a request, but Kyle nevertheless nodded in agreement.

We stepped out into the hallway, and upon realizing the heaviness of the situation, I gestured for him to follow me into the laundry room.

"Why are we in here?"

I fought the urge to roll my eyes at him. "Because I don't want Quinn eavesdropping on this conversation."

Kyle exhaled deeply, tilting his head back against the door.

"What a weird night," he muttered while gazing down at me through hooded eyes.

Jesus.

I hummed in agreement. "Tell me about it."

I then shifted my focus to the washing machine.

Since it was almost one o'clock in the morning, and both of us were clearly out of it, I decided to cut my speech short.

"Can you trust him?" I blurted out. "I mean, not that I'd blame him for doing so, but what if he decides to go back to Eli to protect his family?"

"He won't," Kyle reassured me. "I know where his loyalty lies, and I will kill Eli myself if he even thinks about touching that kid's family."

I tried my best to ignore the feelings of guilt that wanted to come up again. Quinn had been trying to tell me what he was going through, and I merely brushed him off.

"Wait a second," I said after my mind suddenly connected the dots. "How did you even get those files in the first place?"

Kyle stilled against the door, his calm demeanor faltering for a split second.

"Let's just say that Eli and I had a . . . fair trade," he admitted slowly.

"Do tell," I deadpanned. Even though Kyle said that there was nothing that I could've done to help, I beg to differ. But, since I still have no clue why he and Eli hate each other so much, I figured I'd start there first.

"My freshman year of college, I met and befriended this girl in my financial reporting and control class. We instantly became close, and it stayed that way until the tail end of my senior year."

I could tell from the look in his eyes that she meant a lot to him.

"You liked her," I murmured in realization.

"It was hard not to," he confessed. "We did everything together."

He hesitated briefly, taking a moment to sort through his next thought.

"I made the mistake of telling my dad how I felt, and he wasted no time getting together with her father to map out our future. Her father's business was on the up and coming, so naturally, it was his idea for us to get married so that we could merge companies."

I bit my lip as I could tell where this story was headed.

"I wasn't necessarily opposed to the idea because, at the time, I couldn't imagine spending my life with anyone else, but I wanted to know what she thought about it, so I asked her," he continued. "That's when I found out that she had eyes for someone else."

I thought back to the engagement ring that I found on Kyle's nightstand a couple of months ago.

Was that hers?

If so, why does he still have it?

"Eli?" I guessed when he didn't specify this 'someone else' by name.

He nodded. "Two days after they graduated, she ran away with him. They eloped, much to her father's dismay."

He paused, reaching up to rub his jaw. "As you can imagine, my father's deal was immediately thrown off the table, which is why he still holds a bit of resentment towards me to this day," he revealed bitterly.

"So by way of compensation, I forced Eli to give me the one thing that could bring his company down to its knees if need be. "

Kyle suddenly moved over to where I was standing, and my breath hitched as he leaned against the counter beside me.

"Even though we ran in different circles, I saw the way he moved.

I knew he couldn't be trusted. So, I figured that it would be in my best interest to acquire something that I could use against him. Just in case he fucked her over."

I took a second to digest this information before composing my next question.

"Okay, but why would Eli expose himself to the police like that? Surely, he would want to cover up the fact that he's been funneling company funds into his personal account. Especially after he and his brother filed for bankruptcy," I pointed out.

There were so many intricate pieces to this story, I wondered how Kyle kept it together after all these years.

"Those idiots dug themselves into a hole the second they bought more shares than they had the money for.

It was only a matter of time before they ran their father's company into the ground.

Eli, being the pettiest of the two, was just trying to make sure that I didn't come out on top the second their business collapsed," Kyle explained.

"He's been fucking shit up for a while now, and he knew that it was only a matter of time before I made a move. "

My mind was beginning to spiral.

Thanks to this conversation, my brain was now physically incapable of absorbing anything else for the next ten hours.

"How do you survive?" I muttered while closing my eyes.

"Speak shit into existence, and hope that it works out," Kyle quipped.

My eyes flew open at his statement, and an unattractive snort escaped through my nose.

"I'm being serious." Kyle was so adamant about his answer that I almost laughed at the insanity of it all.

"I know," I said while turning to look at him.

What a mistake that was.

My thoughts began to fade as we stared at each other. Nothing but the sound of our breathing could be heard.

"So, what's your play?" I asked, shattering the moment between us.

Now was not the time to be getting lost in each other's eyes.

"We get him back," Kyle stated simply.

I froze at his pronoun usage.

We?

"I, uhm, I quit, remember?" I reminded him. "I plan to have my stuff moved out of here by Sunday."

Sure I wanted nothing more than to help Quinn, but I was planning to do so by making a suggestion or two. It was never my intention to put myself in the line of fire.

Kyle's jaw clenched at my words, and that's when I realized that that was the wrong thing to say.

"Where are you going to go?"

I opened and closed my mouth as I didn't know how he would take my answer. "Well, Veronica said that I could stay with her since I'm planning on going back to school . . ."

"I'll tell you what," he interjected, eager to strike a deal with me.

"You can stay here and not work as a maid anymore.

I have no problem with that. And, if you want, you can intern at my company next semester so that you can satisfy some of the credits you need to make up.

But, the bottom line is, I need you for this plan to work. "

I frowned.

He needed me for the plan.

That's it?

Something told me that it wasn't, but maybe I was just naive.

Either way, he was trying to manipulate me. My first instinct was to say no, but then I thought about Quinn and his family.

What if this is the only way to ensure their safety?

And what about my safety?

If I quit, there's no guarantee that Kyle will enlist someone to watch over me.

I also couldn't bear the thought of leaving Julianna, Justin, Damien, and Kass. Even though I could very well see them whenever I wanted, it wouldn't be the same.

I was in too deep.

So, with that in mind, I took a deep breath before I gave him my answer. "Fine."

Kyle's lips twitched, and I wanted nothing more than to slap the almost smirk off his face.

"I hope you know what you're doing," I said next. "Because the second this goes left, I'm out."

"Trust me when I say that I do," he confirmed, and before he could say anything else, a scream sounded from the kitchen.

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?" Veronica yelled.

I bit my lip as I could already picture her standing in front of Quinn defensively. "I'd better go before she jumps him."

"Of course, what good would it do us if she killed our only leverage?" Kyle remarked flatly. "We'll talk about this more in the morning."

"Kyle . . ." I trailed off as he turned to make his way toward the door. "Are we crazy for doing this?"

He twisted his head around to look at me, raking his eyes over my figure as I toyed with the hem of my shirt.

He hesitated for half a second longer before answering my question. "Yes."

He then shook his head and exited the room.

Great.