Twisted Palace(82)

I wonder how big a prison cell is.

I text back, I hear u.

My mind starts to race as I think about the plea deal. If I take it, I’ll be shoved in a concrete room and kept there for five years. Nearly two thousand days. Can I do it? Would I survive it?

My heart starts pounding so fast I wonder if I’m going to have a heart attack.

I force my fingers back to the phone.

When are u going to be let back in2 the penthouse?

Soon, I hope. G wants me 2 look 4 blackmail stuff. Do u think I shld?

Yeah. If it’s not obv.

Damn it, I want to break Dinah and Brooke’s hold over my family. Getting rid of this murder charge is a step toward that. I could fight, but what’s the point? Grier says my case is hopeless.

I don’t want to drag my family through a trial. I don’t want a parade of witnesses up there talking about Easton’s struggles with gambling, drinking, and drugs, the twins’ private life, distorted stories about Gideon and Dinah, me and Brooke and Dad. And then there’s Ella’s past. She doesn’t need to be dragged through the mud again.

Our family has already gone through so much. The prosecutors will rake up the details of Mom’s death if I go to trial. Everything we fought so hard to keep behind these closed doors would come spilling out.

I have the ability to stop that from happening. The price of tucking those secrets away is a slice of my freedom. And it isn’t long. Five years. Five if you’re lucky. I can live through that. It’s just a fraction of my entire life. What’s that worth against the trauma that the trial would inflict on my family?

Nothing.

Yeah, I’ve made up my mind. This is the right decision. I know it is.

Now I just have to sell it to Ella and my brothers.



* * *



Ella shows up an hour later. When she breezes through the front door, my heart feels immediately lighter. I barely have time to brace myself before she throws herself at me. After planting a long, dick-raising kiss on my lips, she wriggles out of my arms.

“Gosh, you feel like a block of ice.” She pinches my bare arm. “Put some clothes on.”

“Thought you liked it when I was naked,” I counter, forcing a light note into my voice. “I think you once said it was a crime for me to wear shirts.”

She wrinkles her nose but doesn’t deny it. “What do you think Callum said to Steve? Steve told me I could come right over and he didn’t even make a fuss. Maybe he’s coming around?”

She’s smiling so brightly, thinking I have good news for her. I don’t want to tell her, but I have no choice. This is her future, too.

“Come on.” I grab her hand and tug her up the stairs. “Let’s go to your room.”

I march down to my brothers’ rooms. Knocking on their doors, I yell, “Ella’s here.”

My brothers pop out of their rooms immediately.

“Little sis!”

Pangs of jealousy curl in my stomach as I watch Easton wrap Ella up in a big hug before passing her off to Sawyer and Seb. But the closeness they all share with her is a good thing. Especially for East.

I turn my back and walk into Ella’s room, forcing myself to quash my negative feelings. They’ll need each other after I’m gone. I can’t be angry about this.

I’m the one who put myself in this situation when I decided to sleep with Brooke. And then I made stupid decision after stupid decision. The what if game will probably drive me insane in prison. What if I’d flown to D.C. for dinner with my family? What if I hadn’t answered Brooke’s call? What if I hadn’t gone over there, thinking I could reason with Brooke?

It was my own damn pride that got me into this.

I wait for everyone to walk in before I start. “I wanted to give you guys an update on the case.”

My brothers perk up. I know they’re starving for details. But Ella… She’s frowning deeply at me.

“Is this about…?” She trails off, glancing at my brothers and back at me. She’s obviously not sure if I’ve told them about the plea offer yet.

I nod. “Yeah. And there’s another new development.”

Slowly, I go through the statements that I’ve read so many times I can recite them by heart. I offer only the highlights and leave out the stuff about Easton and the twins’ relationship with Lauren and focus on the crap the police have compiled against me, finishing with the statement from Ruby Myers.

Ella grows paler and paler with each passing minute.

“That’s an incredible amount of bullshit,” East declares once I’m done.

“If Brooke was still alive, I’d kill her myself,” Ella mutters darkly.

“Don’t say that,” I chide.