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Dillon sat in the dark nursing his celebratory scotch long after his brothers had hustled Penny off in their awaiting Towncar to speed away as if he were the devil He’d acco a seed of destruction in their little world and he’d used Penny to deliver the poison Hell, maybe he was the devil after all
His plan had worked nearly to perfection He could be fairly certain his brothers were twisting their guts in a knot knowing he’d been inside their pretty, gullible pet, and while that gave him a certain amount of pleasure, he couldn’t entirely revel in the victory knowing how deeply he’d cut Penny
Why did he care? Penny was a tool — a means to an end
He could tell hie the creeping guilt beginning to tighten his chest like lass, staring into the amber liquid as if the answer to his dilemma were in the smooth depths
This was for Isabel, he reminded himself with no s in useless self-reproach And possibly, his unborn child Who knew if Isabel had been carrying his child or his brothers? But just knowing the possibility existed made it imperative that his brothers pay for their sins
Your hands are not clean, either You’re far from innocent
His brother’s voice cut at Dillon and he winced as a different memory bloomed in his mind
“Fuck the to tell me how to live my life,” Dillon had shouted, still hot as hell at his father for trying to push hi like silk across her shoulders, tucked the tresses behind her ear, distressher fair features but Dillon was too pissed to care how anyone else felt at theto force hi money I’ll live on the streets before I take another dime”
“Dillon, you’re angry Calm down before you make a decision that will affect the rest of your life You’ve never been poor; you don’t know the first thing about being on your own Maybe it’s not a bad thing your dad is asking — you need a career of soht?”
Dillon looked at Isabel, freshly irritated that she wasn’t i unconditional love? “Whose side are you on?”
“Yours,” she said quickly “But…ill you do for money if you’re cast out of the family?”
He cast her a dark look “I’m not totally helpless I don’t need their money I’d rather sleep in my car than accept another dime from my father”
“Didn’t your father buy your car?” Isabel asked tentatively When Dillon shot her a dark scowl, she continued in a rush “Baby, listen toin the lap of luxury; you don’t kno to be on your own Everything you own belongs to your family Please don’t make a decision you can’t take back You don’t knohat it’s like to be alone” She tried to reach out to Dillon but he cut her doith a cold stare “Please Dillon…I’m on your side I love you”
“You have a funny way of showing it by telling me to suck up to my father for the scraps from his table I never realized how useless you think I am,” he said caustically
“I don’t think that at all! But you don’t knohat you’re doing The world isn’t going to fall at your feet just because you’re a Buchanan unless you have the Buchanan cash to persuade the you a chance to make your mark Why is that so bad?”
“That just goes to sho much you don’t know about the Buchanans My father isn’t interested in helping shape ive in to his demands, it will never end!”
Tears glistened in Isabel’s eyes and he knew she hadn’t heard a word he’d said All she could see was the gravy train coot tossed on his ear Suddenly, instead of seeing the wo before hie crested the wall of control “Unbelievable,” hehis head Isabel’s crestfallen expression pushed his anger sidewise and he lashed out at her, saying, “Go on, get the fuck out of here if you’re so inclined to agree with my family Chase after the money, Isabel”
“Dillon, wait!” She tried to stop hiry to care that he was being reckless and cruel to the one person he loved He had to get away from the hypocrisy, the lies and most of all from his disillusionment that Isabel hadn’t cared about his money She was just as petty and shallow as the rest Fuck her She cried, “Dillon!”
But he hadn’t stopped No, in fact, he’d est mistake of his life — one that would haunt him for the rest of his life
Dillon squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to push the memory farther from his consciousness but Isabel’s stricken expression haunted hinant already when he’d kicked her to the curb along with everyone else in his life? Had she felt scared and alone with no one to turn to? He’d been a bastard but his brothers had taken it to the next level; they’d swooped in on a vulnerable girl during a desperate e
He drained the scotch Hating hi a cold, heartless bastard, for not knohen to quit, for destroying every single good thing in his life — butPenny’s shattered expression at his betrayal Why did he care so much? Why did it feel as if hot needles had just been shoved into his heart? Forget it…he didn’t want to know the answer
The oppressive silence in the cab of the Towncarvehicle if only to escape the judgaze
“Why?” Vince was the first to break the silence with a terse demand “Why did you do it?” Penny didn’t have tiun to boil over in a torrent of words thatto her eyes How could she explain so she didn’t understand herself? She was mortified and humiliated by her own
gullibility — and yet, there was a piece of her that desperately refused to believe that everything she and Dillon had shared had been a farce “He’s a liar and a soulless dick,” Vince shouted, pushing his hand through his hair, agitated Penny winced and wiped at her eyes, ashamed that she still wanted to talk to Dillon, to see for herself if he’d truly done this despicable thing to si listen? What is it about Dillon that makes women lose their minds?”
Penny wisely remained silent and simply cried in the darkness If either could tell she was crying, neither was inclined to comfort her, not that she expected them to She’d screwed up “I’m…” she didn’t knohat to say Her throat closed as she struggled to find the words that would convey how she’d felt — how he’d lorious —madly, deeply and inexorably in love with the bad boy Now, she just felt sick to her sto so naïve as to think that she would be the one to taot asked to school dances or ad other than her brains Sure Thatnose and for lack of a tissue, had to wipe her hand on her pants What a colossal mess she was in Oh, Papa, I never should’ve taken the deal What a to do with myself now?
It seemed an eternity before the brothers dropped her uncereoodnight and as she finally cli sex she and Dillon had had o, she shuddered under the blunt force trau heart She felt broken — shattered into aleft but to weep into her pillow like the sorry loser that she was Dillon didn’t want her and she didn’t knohere she stood with Vince or Nolan Good gravy, they could barely look at her but it hadn’t ust in their eyes Would they ask her to pack her things? Clearly, she was in breach of contract — she quaked at the ra her back to the apart to kick her to the curb? But did she want to reardless of how Dillon felt, she knew she’d given her heart to hi had happened She closed her eyes and ed it tight, breaking inside from the pain and heartache
“Stop pacing you’re giving me a headache,” Nolan said to Vince as Vince wore a hole in the Audubon carpet He lounged against the overstuffed chair, druainst the fine fabric The situation with Dillon had gotten out of control but how did one stop a runaway train? Their sins were legion — the Buchanans excelled in debauchery not good deeds — but seeing Penny so destroyed plucked at a chord deep inside hiret for his tastes “Your anger is clouding your judge for a second and listen to me” Vince stopped but rewarded Nolan with a dark scowl “We need to decide what the hell we’re going to do about Penny”
At the , Vince snarled “She broke the rules She must pay the consequences”
“Come now brother, you and I both know Penny was no match for Dillon’s charm More sophisticated women than Penny have fallen for his honeyed words and been left broken-hearted for their troubles Should we truly punish her for being outmatched? We’re the ones who should accept the blame We didn’t prepare her adequately”
“He did this on purpose”