Razor Edge: Razor Trilogy Three (Razor Thriller Romance Novella Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

enough and
tough enough to deal with her. But Joel was only five and couldn’t defend
himself. She was critical and cruel.”
    “What does that have to do with my journal?”
    “Not your journal, but what you wrote about
that night.” He set his knife and fork down and looked me in the eye. “You were
not the only one. There was a girl four years ago. We were just messing around,
the three of us and then I left them alone in the loft—I don’t remember why. What
happened was my fault. I was always pushing the boundaries, going to extremes
sexually and physically and I always told Joel everything. My brother is a
literal guy. Maybe I wanted him to feel in control. We had got into a habit of
sharing a girl. On this night, after I left the room ... I was in my room when
I heard her screaming.”
    The dinner, my dress, the Victorian opulence
of the mansion and secrets about to be revealed were suddenly disgusting. I
tasted copper in my mouth. Two rich orphan brothers with a predilection for
three-ways with unsuspecting girls. I was in love with one and I was carrying
the child of the other. Whatever Daniel told me tonight, instinct informed me
it wasn’t in my best interest to hear. I would become an accessory after the
fact, colluding with the man I loved to protect the brother he loved.
    “When I reached Joel’s bedroom, the girl was
naked on the bed and my brother was on top of her. What he was doing was not consensual.
It was my fault that it happened. Joel was only doing what he thought I’d do
with a girl who said no. He doesn’t get nuance and subtlety. I pulled him off,
helped the girl to the bathroom and when she had calmed down ... I talked
money. I paid her to not press charges and to never tell anyone what happened.
She took the deal but she’s still out there and every day I’m aware it could
blow up in our faces. These things usually do.”
    “ That is your chief concern? Jesus. You really are an amoral shit.”
    “Ironic, isn’t it? You’re the only one I can
trust with that story and I can’t trust you at all. No cell phones, no
recording devices. No one said anything about diaries. I need the journal,
Charlotte. One girl is a mistake, two girls is a criminal investigation. Joel
can’t go to prison.”
    “So that’s what you’ve been worrying about
with me all this time. That’s why you asked me to stay here, to keep tabs on me.
You thought I would press charges or exhort money out of you by threatening to
go to the media. Stupid man. If I was going to do
that, I would have done it before I
lost my place with the conservatory! And if I was going to press criminal charges,
I would have done so immediately and nothing you offered would have changed my mind. But I didn’t do either of those things
because I knew something was wrong. I like Joel and I know he likes me. He
wouldn’t hurt me or anyone. That guy wasn’t Joel. Something changed him. You
don’t need my journal to realize I’m not going to charge your brother with rape.
I’m telling you I won’t.”
    “How can I be sure you won’t change your mind
a month from now?”
    I was about to tell him why and then stopped
myself. If something happed to Joel and the baby was the only link Daniel had
to his brother, would he let me keep it? Or would he line up his team of
lawyers to take custody. What chance would I have against Daniel and Anastasia and
their money?
    “I want to find your brother,” I said. “So I
can help him. If there’s a chance for us after this is all over ... if he still
wants to be with me ... I want that too.”
    He looked ... I don’t know ... unhappy? Or was
that just wishful thinking on my part. Did I really mean what I said or was I
trying to get a reaction out of him—a declaration. He hadn’t mentioned
Anastasia and how she felt about this skeleton in Razor’s closet.
    “Did Anastasia know what happened with Joel
and the girl?” I was curious how far the sweet, philanthropic Redman had to
stretch