Kian(36)

I had nothing to fear from Kian.

A tear formed in the corner of my eye, and I brushed it away before he saw it. I didn’t want him to see that he had affected me. I wanted to be seen how I saw him—strong.

“Thank you,” I whispered. I wasn’t just thanking him for the interview.

He nodded, stepping away again. “Yeah,” he murmured. He took in a deep breath and let it out. “I’ll make it work tomorrow. You don’t have to worry. Your friend is the other reporter? Erica?”

“She’s going to be the feisty one.”

He grinned. “I look forward to meeting her.”

Here it was—the awkward good-bye. We had talked about what I’d asked him to come for. There was no reason for more talk. I knew he should go, but I didn’t want him to, and I knew that I should let him go, but I didn’t want to. I wanted him to stay—at least for a little longer.

He was right. He knew the deepest regions of my soul and what had happened to me—that touched inside of me—but we were almost strangers. It didn’t seem right.

He sighed. “This is where I go.”

I nodded. “I know.”

He didn’t leave.

I didn’t either.

We stayed and stared at each other for another minute, and then he began backing away.

I turned around and looked out over the city. I heard the roof’s door open and close, and I knew he was gone, but I’d see him again tomorrow.





The hotel suite was dark when I got in, but there was a soft glow coming from my sister’s room and another from the living room. As I passed the doorway, I noticed the French doors had been left open, and a small lamp on the desk tucked back in the corner had been left on.

I shared this suite with Felicia.

Our dad hadn’t wanted to stray from his offices for too long, and there’d been too much traveling done already from the Primetime interview and all the appeals courts. He remained back home with our mother.

It was just my sister and me in this suite while my lawyers and all of Laura’s publicist team stayed in their own rooms. There was security, too, but only one remained inside the suite while the others stayed out in the hallway. They’d switch off every few hours, and a new set of guards would come in the morning to relieve them.#p#分页标题#e#

Felicia liked to turn in early—or that was what she’d claim before retiring to her room at nine every night. The smell of booze that emanated from under her door said otherwise. I was fairly certain my sister was a closet alcoholic. I only hoped it was alcohol and that she wasn’t addicted to anything else.

After going past her room, I was about to close the door on mine when her door opened.

“Kian?”

I paused and closed my eyes.

She’d forced herself on this trip. I didn’t want her here. My lawyers didn’t either, and I knew Laura thought my sister was a publicist’s nightmare. But Felicia had demanded that she come, and I hadn’t had the time to fight her, so here she was, waiting up for me.

I prepared myself for one of her lectures. I said, “I’m here.”

She came out to the hallway, so she could see me. Our rooms were right next to each other, and I hadn’t stepped back out to answer her question. I made her come to me. As she stood between our doors, she wrapped her blanket around her form. Her makeup was smudged, and she was unsteady on her feet, swaying a tiny bit before she caught her balance fully.

She asked, the rank smell of tequila wafting over to me, “Where were you tonight?”

“I felt like a walk.”

She wrinkled her nose. Walks were beneath her. “You shouldn’t do that. Or you should take some of the guys with you. Everyone was worried about you.”

No one was worried about me. “I was fine, sister dear.”

She rolled her eyes and reached for a glass on her table. “You’re placating me.”

“Of course, I am.”

“Stop doing that,” she warned in a low tone. Her blue eyes flashed in anger. “I’m not helpless, and I’m not stupid. You’ve been disappearing a lot since we got to this town. If you’re going for walks”—she pointed to my face—“at least wear a hat.”

I flipped up my sweatshirt’s hood and pulled it low. “Look, ominous and threatening. I know you’re scared of girls flinging themselves at me, but when I’m dressed like this, they tend to run away.”

“You’re so annoying.”

“And you’re wasted,” I shot back, but regretted it. My sister had reason to worry. “I’m fine, Felicia. Nothing’s going to happen to me.” I wasn’t going anywhere. That’s what she was concerned about. I lingered on the glass in her hand. I didn’t know if she was drinking more since I left for prison and more since I got out. All I knew was that it was steady and constant. She was a problem the family would have to face sooner or later, but not now. What happened to her wasn’t my problem, at least not anymore. The small fight I had in me was gone. I raked a hand over my face. “Go to bed, Felicia. I’ll fetch you in the afternoon for lunch.”