Need Me by Cynthia Eden

Perhaps she was making another one right then. But lying to Devlin just didn’t seem right.
    When she’d been with him earlier, she’d felt a connection that had been real. True. He’d seemed to actually
see
her—the person she was, and not just the woman she spent so much time pretending to be.
    “My sister.” As soon as she said those words, Julianna knew there would be no going back now. “I’m protecting her.” That was her job, wasn’t it? As the older sister, she was supposed to protect Carly, no matter what. She’d screwed up before, but she’d been determined to help her sister this time around.
    But Devlin shook his head. “I didn’t turn up a report of any sister in your background check.”
    “She’s not my blood sister. My mother’s second husband…” Oh, but her mother had enjoyed her marriages—all of them. “He had a daughter. Carly. My mom only stayed married to him for a few months before she moved on.” She’d moved on to much greener pastures because Carly’s father had been too much of a dreamer, and not a “doer” for her. “But I kept in touch with Carly. She was family.”
    Ethan nodded. “You should understand that, Devlin. Didn’t you and your VJS buddies form your own family in foster care?”
    Devlin had been in foster care? Julianna’s eyes widened. She didn’t—
    “Carly murdered someone,” Devlin said, his words sharp.
    “Sh-she was protecting herself,” Julianna tried to explain. “She was…money was tight, okay? I wish she had told me sooner, but Carly was trying to support herself and her dad. She was only seventeen and she was—”
    Ethan stood up. “I found out she had gotten a job dancing at a club. One she had
no
business being in. Julianna and I found out at the same time.”
    Julianna glanced toward Ethan. He always tried so hard to keep his voice expressionless when he talked about Carly. He was good at wearing his mask, too.
    “The owner of that club became obsessed with Carly. I got her to quit,” Julianna said and she hated that painful memory of Carly. Her humiliation. Her tears. “But he kept coming after her. Saying that she belonged to him. He was following her everywhere.”
    Ethan strode from around his desk. “I told the bastard to back off, but those days, I was just some twenty-one year old punk to him. He didn’t fear me.”
    Not like today. Julianna knew too many people feared him today.
    “He came after me,” Ethan said flatly. “He and his goons had me pinned down and they were beating the hell out of me.” His hand lifted and he held the flash drive out to Devlin. “You can see the rest for yourself.”
    Ethan’s fingers finally released their hold on Julianna’s wrist.
    She said, “One of…one of Quincy’s men made the video.” Quincy Atkins. Would the name mean anything to him? The D.C. crime boss who’d vanished years before. “I didn’t even know it existed, I mean…why the hell didn’t the guy come forward sooner? I had no idea about it, not until I tried to leave Jeremy.” Her back teeth clenched together. “He had it. He knew.”
    Devlin headed toward Ethan’s computer. He inserted the flash drive and tapped on the keyboard. A few mouse clicks later, the video opened. Julianna crept forward so she could see the screen.
    A much younger Ethan was on the dirty floor, bleeding. His face was smashed to hell and back.
    Carly was there, her long, dark hair streaming down her shoulders. She was tied to a chair, screaming, begging for Quincy to stop hurting Ethan.
    Quincy waved his hand and his men rushed from the room.
    Then Quincy—a big, hulking jerk of a man—took the knife from the sheath at his hip. “I’m gonna cut Loverboy open,” Quincy boasted. “Then you’ll be mine. Body and soul. I’ll own every inch of you…and
no one
will ever be able to help you again.”
    Tears poured down Carly’s face. “Please,” she begged in that video. “Don’t hurt him anymore. Don’t. I’ll do