<b>Chapter </b><b>123 </b>


    “Rowan, I swear, I didn’t do anything–please, just let me go…”


    Rowan’s voice was cold as a de. “If you won’t talk, I’ll find out myself.”


    te squeezed his eyes shut, blurting out, “It was back in middle school!”


    Rowan’s grip on te’s cor tightened, his knuckles turning white, veins bulging at his temple. He looked ready to explode, but te broke down, sobbing, “But I never dared! Rowan! She was still under your roof back then. I might have had the thought, but I’d never have the guts!”


    Rowan’s eyes narrowed, something unreadable shing across his gaze. “Is that why you left for the States six years ago?”


    te’s heart nearly stopped.


    He hadn’t expected Rowan to piece it together so quickly.


    Back then, Rowan didn’t have nearly the power he wielded now. That night, their grandmother had put a lid on the whole thing. In the Murphy family, the matriarch still


    called the shots.


    Seeing te squirm like a duck with its neck in a vise, Rowan didn’t need any more


    confirmation.


    Six years ago.


    Elissa had only been eighteen.


    And this–this wasn’t the first time she’d been put through hell like this.


    A surge of rage shot through Rowan. He yanked te up and, without warning, mmed his foot into him.


    te screamed, rolling across the floor, clutching himself in agony, sobbing and breaking out in a cold sweat.


    Rowan turned ton, his voice ice–cold. “Find somewhere quiet. Take care of him.”


    listen to him.”


    Rowan shot Rex a re. “Since when did you start taking his orders over mine?”


    <b>1/3 </b>


    11:14


    “Rowan,” Rex said quietly, understanding, but steady, “te has to go. But not now. If he dies tonight, the olddy will lose it, and there’s no telling what she’ll do to Elissa.”


    He was right.


    Even without te’s blood on their hands, Matriarch Paige Murphy turned her fury on


    Elissa just the same.


    Elissa stayed at the hotel for a long time, trying <i>to </ipose herself before finally calling a cab home.


    “You’re finally back! I figured you didn’t eat enough at the dinner, so I ordered us somete–night food-”


    Tanya Foster heard the elevator and leapt from the couch to open the door. She stopped mid–sentence when she saw Elissa–her dress wrinkled, makeup smudged, and a man’s suit jacket draped over her shoulders.


    “What happened? Are you okay? Did something happen at the hotel?”


    Elissa kept her answer vague, not wanting to worry her. “There was just a bit of an…


    incident.”


    Tanya eyed her, unconvinced. “Just a bit of an incident?”


    Elissa forced a small smile. “Look at me–I’m fine, aren’t I?”


    Both she and Tanya Foster were about as ordinary as people came in this city. It was only because the Murphy family had taken her in all those years ago that Elissa ever brushed against that world. And she still hadn’t fully escaped it.


    But she had no intention of dragging Tanya into that mess. She didn’t even want Matriarch Paige Murphy to know Tanya existed.


    Telling Tanya what had happened <b>tonight </b>would only make her worry, and there was nothing either of them could do about it.


    Tanya’s eyes filled with tears as she pulled Elissa inside. “Who hurt you this time?”


    Elissa didn’t answer, just lowered her gaze and went straight to the bathroom. She scrubbed herself from head to toe, especially her face, washing it over and over before finally wiping down with an alcohol pad, as if she could erase what had happened.


    The dress te had touched went straight into the trash. As for Rowan’s suit jacket, she made a note to have it dry–cleaned.


    11.14


    Tanya seemed to have guessed something happened, but didn’t press for details. She just waited outside the bathroom door, refusing to leave. As soon as she heard Elissa finishing up, she quickly wiped her own tears away and spoke like nothing was wrong. “Come on, the food’s getting cold. This ce has the bestmb–<i>goes </i>great with a beer, too.”


    “Sounds good,” Elissa said quietly. She knew she wouldn’t sleep tonight anyway.


    She thought she’d hidden everything well, butter, after a few drinks, Tanya leaned against her, voice thick with determination and more than a little slur, “Ellie, I’m really trying to get stronger. Someday… I swear, I won’t let any of those bastards hurt you ever again.”


    <b>Chapter </b><b>124 </b>