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Dillon had balls of steel to walk up to her as if nothing had happened, wearing a grin fit to bamboozle even the most stoic of woned to talk to her

Screw that

She was tired of theher as if she were too stupid to think for herself or assu on

She had plenty of opinions about the situation and right about now, she was ready to share them with the first unlucky fool to cross her path

Maybe it was all those years of squelching her feelings, hopes or dreams that it’d so sheep and folloherever she was led but those tie was attributed to the fact that her heart had been stonity or she was si in her life but she wasn’t going to sit back and s her feelings any longer

She wanted answers, damn it

Everything spiraled back to Isabel and so far, Dillon had only shared half the story What the hell had happened in the Buchanan family to create such a psychic fracture? She knew the barest of details: Isabel had killed herself by doing a swan dive fronant when she died But she didn’t knohat the twins’ involve an ass and repaired his relationship with his father How had one incident torn apart the lives of so many people?

It was plain to her that each of the Buchanans were suffering froly wounds in different ways

Was it her problem that the Buchanans had never learned how to have a simple conversation? Communication, people Try it soe and chutzpah, Penny felt more in control of her life than she had in years

For so long she’d sat behind a desk, hoping and wishing so, handsome and just a bit wicked Her Papa had alarned her to be careful what she wished for because God had a funny sense of humor She’d been star-struck by the twins but Dillon had knocked her sidewise She’d not only been noticed by one man with all those qualities, but three! Talk about overkill And her life had changed in an instant Fro seenizable from the outside; however, Dillon had seen that she was more than a doll to dress up and play with fro the twins had failed to recognize

But there was one thing all three Buchanans shared in co that likely, neither realized or would adood oodness inside therow But hoas she supposed to make that happen? And even if she could, should she? Maybe she ought to cut ties coive back the money and break the contract Penny stilled Was she ready to make that bold of a state associated with the Buchanans? A part of her offered a weary yes but the other part said no At the er or why All she was certain of was that she needed more answers before she er to share details, she’d just have to find them on her own

Dillon was in the worst mood of his life

It’d been a ? — and now she was in his head Everywhere he turned, his brain played tricks on hiht a whiff of her perfuers stared back at hi his mind

He shouldn’t have said the things he had to Penny when he saw her at the park If it were safe to say she coaxed the best out of him, it was certainly fair to say she had the equal and opposite effect on him as well She’d floated into his life unexpectedly, a ripe vision in a blue designer dress, and she’d put her sta he’d touched since He couldn’t bla her —hell, he’d taken one look and knew in that instant that he would have to have her — but he chafed at the realization that Penny had stayed with the twins even after everything had gone down in the Hae to do would’ve been to simply ask her point blank but his e had taken over ether a persuasive argument

And frankly, what the hell did he care that she was still shagging his brothers? It was her business, not his

Because it did Holy hell, it bothered hie made him want to beat someone to a bloody pulp — mainly his brothers

The last ti, that person had ended up taking her own life, which wasn’t really a ringing endorseain But hoas he supposed to walk ahen there was soht toward Penny?

Penny walked into the library of the twins’ palatial mansion and for the first time ever, didn’t suffer from a serious case of awestruck-itis She clutched a manila envelope to her chest of research she’d spent the afternoon uncovering through no sh newspaper archives and paid a small sum of money for the police report, with a newfound resolve After finding the newspaper clipping of Isabel’s swan dive, Penny knew she couldn’t stop there She needed to knoweven deeper She h school transcripts and even though she didn’t knohat use it could be to her to know that Isabel had tanked economics her senior year, Penny felt alh the halls Perhaps she was riding on the adrenalin or maybe she was just too frazzled to care about the consequences but she finally felt on top of her game for the first time since…well, forever

She didn’t know if the change was temporary or per an afternoon chasing after the ghost of a woman she’d never known Soht were necessary to start the healing for everyone involved Maybe she was being a silly twit for even hoping such a thing was possible but she wasn’t going to stop now Co to end this journey without questions poking at her brain

Nolan startled when she walked in and Vince, engrossed in so on his tablet, didn’t realize anyone else was in the roofully “Darling, this is a surprise,” Nolan said,forward as if to e hi, pet?”

Vince looked up andon?”

“I need answers and since everyone in this faet what I need straight fro me on the head as if I’m some ninny without two tufts of straw in my head I deserve to knohat the hell happened to the woman before me” At that, Penny tossed the manila envelope so that it landed on the coffee table “In that envelope is all the infored to find on Isabel Walker”

Nolan and Vince stared at her as if she’d just thron a bloody head “What are you doing?” Vince said, standing to grab the envelope, his itated “Why can’t you just leave it alone? She’s dead End of story”

“No, it’s not end of story for h,” Penny said, holding her ground even though her insides had begun to tremble “Don’t you see how her death has affected you all? I’ve only known you for a relatively short tis that maybe you can’t because you’re too close to the situation”

“Penny,” Nolan began, trying for patience but he was just as uneasy about the prospect of talking about the past as his twin “I can appreciate your curiosity—“

“Whatever happened to Isabel is the reason Dillon wants to destroy you — the reason he used et to you so don’t you dare try to tell me that it’s none of ent’s hand on her ankle” The twins stared in consternation and she muttered a quick, “You know, because the Victorians were so prim and proper — never ive them to me”