Page 111 of Reckless Devotion

“I know.” I sniff, harnessing the tender emotion filling every cell in my body to give me a temporary lift. “A really good man.”

Kathy smiles fondly, the corners of her eyes crinkling. “Pepper, when you get out of this mess—”

“If,”I correct, swiping at my eyes.

Kathy glares at me from beneath bleached lashes. “Whenyou get out of here, I think it’s time to let all of this go. Just live your life with Sunny, and Chase, if it ends up that way.”

I nod, casting my eyes away glumly. Truthfully, I’ve been thinking the same thing. It feels so disheartening that the attack on the Rénir family empire that we had planned for so long went so disastrously wrong. I gather from the interviews and the charges that Rénir Junior sniffed us out and reported us to the police before we could even find a stitch of evidence against him. And that makes no damn sense.

No part of me wants to risk ending up back here if I somehow do avoid the noose around my neck, which feels pretty inevitable here today. But I keep coming back to one thing.

“I just can’t bear to think he would have gotten away with it, Kathy.” My voice is soft, grazing against my vocal chords.

The curly-haired woman looks fiercely at me, her face completely sober. “I know, Pepper. And we really tried, but he knows you’re after him, and look where it ended up.” She casts her hand at me behind the glass. “There comes a point when the best revenge is living your own life and being happy.”

A sad glaze covers her sea-grass eyes, whisking her far away into her past where I know her own demon to conquer lives. That’s what bonded us together, right from the moment weconnected at a survivor’s support group. By happenstance, it was our first night attending—Kathy, Rosie, and me. We took one look at each other and knew that we weren’t interested in sitting around and sharing our stories. We wanted todosomething. We wanted to claim back what was taken from us. And so we set about building something together, other survivors finding us along the way until we had a network stretching all across the East Coast.

“Besides.” She snaps me back into the room. “It turns out we didn’t walk away completely emptyhanded, so let’s just say not all hope is lost.”

My interest piques, zoning in on her cryptic disclosure.

“Time’s up!” the guard barks at the door before I can question it, flicking a switch that causes a buzzer to erupt on the phone at my ear. When it’s over, the line goes dead and I can no longer hear Kathy.

“Hang in there,”she mouths simply, standing up and walking away without a second glance back.

Chapter 40

Sunny:You have champagne and cheese whiz in your fridge. That’s it.

Chase:Groceries are arriving at some point this morning, and I left my card on the kitchen counter. Order yourself whatever you want or need.

Sunny:Thank you. BUT…you live like this?

Chase:Cheese is one of the main food groups. Didn’t you know?

Sunny:And the champagne?

Chase:It’s for emergencies.

Sunny:A champagne emergency?

Chase:Correct.

Sunny:You’re a weird dude.

Chase:Unfortunately I am aware.

CHASE

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” Evelyn’s face is alabaster pale—the same way it has been for the past ten minutes while I spilled everything to her.

“I needed you to focus on keeping us moving forward.”

She scoffs, standing from the seat opposite my desk and raising a hand to her head as she begins to pace, the loosely fitting silk shift dress she wears swishing with every move. “I can’t do that properly if you’re keeping things from me, Chase.”

“I agree, and I’m sorry.” I fold my hands together, fingers meshed on top of my desk.

“You’re a real ass sometimes, do you know that?” She turns to face me with her hands on her hips.