“Do you take advantage of innocent women?” I asked loudly, not able to take it anymore. “I want to know what’s going on. I need to know what’s happening.”
“So do I.” The voice was familiar, and I looked toward the door in shock.
“Katie!” I screamed and ran over to her. “Oh, Katie, what are you doing here?” I gave her a big hug and she smiled at me sadly.
“I was worried about you.” She squeezed me tightly. “I was worried about you and I kept asking Brandon what was going on.” We both turned to look at him, and he stared back at us with a blank expression. I could see Greyson looking back and forth between Brandon and Katie, and his face looked mutinous.
“I’m fine.”
“I didn’t know.” She pointed at Brandon. “You lied to me. You said you were going on a business trip.”
“This is the business trip I was talking about.” Brandon stepped towards Katie and then stopped abruptly as she threw her hands up. “I didn’t lie to you, Katie.”
“You knew I was worried about Meg being here.” Katie’s voice broke. “After everything we’ve been through, you lied to me again.” Katie’s voice was angry. “I’m so done with you, Brandon. I can’t stand—”
“I asked him not to tell you.” Greyson’s voice was direct. He looked me over for a few seconds before continuing. “I called him and asked him to come help me take care of a situation.”
“What situation?” My voice cracked.
“I asked him to come and get you.” Greyson’s voice was cold and he avoided eye contact with me. Brandon’s face looked surprised, and I felt my body growing cold.
“What?” I took a deep breath. “What do you mean?”
“I asked Brandon to come and take you away. You shouldn’t be here.”
“You wanted me to be here. You hired me.” My voice was a mere whisper in the room. I could see Katie giving me a concerned look, but I couldn’t look at her. “I’m still in training.”
“You need to leave, Meg.” Greyson’s face was like stone as he looked at me again. “You’ve been here too long. It’s time for you to leave.”
“So you’ve used me and now it’s time to discard me? Is it because I slept with you or because I know the truth about you?”
“Oh, Meg.” Katie’s words were hushed and worried.
“Yeah, so I’m a fool.” I bit my lower lip. “I know that now. I didn’t want to believe you could be that man, Greyson.”
“I never told you to believe that.” He shrugged. “You should all leave now.”
“Greyson, no.” Brandon shook his head. “You can’t—”
“You’ve changed your life, Brandon. You have real things to lose. You should leave.” Greyson walked back to his desk. “You should all leave.”
“Greyson, this isn’t for you to decide.” Brandon looked at Katie and sighed.
“Yes, it is.” Greyson picked up a pen. “I’m fine. I have a heart as cold as ice. I’ll survive.”
“I won’t let you treat women like that anymore.” I walked over to his desk. “You hear me, Greyson?”
“What are you going to do about it?” He looked up at me with bleak eyes.
“Meg, come on. We should leave.” Katie called me over to her, and I turned to look at her with unseeing eyes.
I noticed that she and Brandon were standing together holding hands. Once again, they were reunited—just like that.
I turned away from them to stop the pounding in my heart and the jealousy from seeping through my veins. Why was it so easy for them? We still didn’t even know what was going on, yet Katie was quick to believe that Greyson was the evil one.
“What happened to Maria?” I looked at the floor as I spoke. “How did she die?”
There was silence in the room then. I could hear someone’s distant footsteps as they walked around the club, and then we all listened as a door closed somewhere. I looked at Greyson then and his blue eyes gazed into mine with an emotion akin to sorrow.
“Which Maria?” Katie’s voice was squeaky, and I knew that she was in for a shock.
I spoke up then. “Brandon wasn’t engaged to a Maria in college, Katie.”
“What?” She sounded confused. “What’s she talking about, Brandon?”
“The Maria I told you I dated in college was a lie.” His tone was somber. “I was never engaged to a Maria in college.”
“But what about all the stories you told me?” Katie frowned. “They were lies?”
“I did date a Maria. And no, not crazy Maria,” he sighed. “I only pretended to date her because I promised her father I would look after her.”
“Then what f**king Maria did you date?” Katie screeched.
“He dated a girl from the club,” Greyson said. “Even though it was against the rules.”
Brandon nodded. “I made a mistake.”
“What?” Katie rubbed her eyes. “Maria was a girl from the club?”
“She was the girl who changed everything.” Greyson jumped up. “She was the girl who changed our lives.”
“She turned us from regular guys to the sort of guys you see put on trial for war crimes.” Brandon sighed.
“She’s the one who made us realize that...” Greyson paused and looked at me.
“She’s the one who made us realize that we were no better than cold-blooded killers.” Brandon stared at Katie with sad eyes and I saw her body trembling as she stared back at him. The words from his mouth had been spoken slowly, and each syllable had seemed to cause him pain. It was as if he were reliving the horror that had changed his life.
Katie stood there, frozen. She didn't know what to say or what to think. This changed everything. Suddenly everything she thought she knew had been called in to question. Now she knew that a saint and a sinner could be the same person. I looked at Greyson for a moment and wondered what his truth was. For some reason, I had a feeling that he was all sinner and that the pits of hell were waiting eagerly for him.
Chapter 2
Greyson
24 Years Ago
Two girls stared at me from across the room. One smiled at me with wide, eager eyes. The other one tried the seductive approach. They both played with their hair, and I knew that I could have either of them. I turned away from them and waited for Brandon to enter the room. I was disgusted with their behavior. Not because they weren’t allowed to flirt with me. I didn’t care about that. They were both fairly attractive. I was disgusted because I knew they were best friends. I saw them everywhere together, giggling and whispering and doing whatever else girls did. Yet they were both trying to attract my attention. Didn’t they care that one of them would get hurt if I hooked up with the other one?