Read Online Secrets and Lies 6 (The Ferro Family) by H.M. Ward - Free Book Online

assistance. Maybe he won’t report me. At this point, I expect Chelsey to set me on fire and take everything I own. I’m screwed either way.
    I sigh at him. “I am pulled over. Come up here. I need your help.”
    Kevin blinks, surprise washing across his face. I rush down the aisle, which makes Pita rush back to his hiding spot at the back of the bus. I untie Chelsey, bracing for her to claw my face off when I pull her up, but instead she falls apart in my arms. Sobs shake her body and she hugs me tightly.
    When Kevin walks up the stairs, he sees her and freezes. The guy is one hundred percent dork with shortly cropped hair and ill-fitting uniform. He’s the kind of guy that would never approach Chelsey, but today he does. He carefully asks, “Are you all right?”
    Chelsey looks up at him and bawls louder.
    I pry her off of me and loop her arms around Kevin’s neck. “Please take her home. Wash the marker off her face and give her something to eat.”
    He swears, muttering, pulling back her long blonde locks to see what’s written on her skin. “Is that permanent?”
    “I think so. There’s acetone in our room.” He stares at me like I’m speaking Greek. “It’s nail polish remover. It’ll strip off anything.”
    He nods. “Who did this to her? Did you get any names?”
    I’m about to say I did it, but Chelsey lifts her face from his shoulder. Bottom lip quivering, she glances at me. “I didn’t see them and I don’t want to file a report. Just please take me home.”
    We lock eyes for a moment and it’s like she understands how her jeers had repercussions, that it wasn’t simply an unkind word from her lips on those days she spewed her venom my way. It was the on-lookers who jumped in and made it worse.
    “Thank you.” Her words are shocking, soft, but firm.
    Kevin takes her down the stairs, cooing kind words to her as they go. Chelsey lets him help and doesn’t say another word.
    I sit there stunned for a moment and catch a chill. “Oh my God. Hell froze over.”

CHAPTER 10
    I pull up in front of the lawyer’s office where I met Ferro the first time. It’s early and the parking lot is empty. I head inside and wander down the hallway until I’m standing in front of the door to the office. I swallow hard and shove my way inside.
    I’ve thought about what kind of favor he might ask me for and all sorts of things crossed my mind from something illegal to sexual favors. I hope I’m not his type. My boobs aren’t plastic and I’m a brunette. As far as I can tell, Ferro likes busty blondes.
    I feel weary. When I push through the doors, I put on my poker face. I have to bullshit my way through this. When I enter, I scan the room. Ferro is standing in front of the floor to ceiling wall of windows with a cigar in his hand.
    He turns and those steely gray eyes meet mine, sending a chill down my spine. “Miss Hill.”
    “Mr. Ferro.” I walk over to the leather chairs we sat in last time, but I don’t sit down. I stand there in my rumpled suit with my messy bun and hot face. I worked up a sweat carrying Chelsey. I couldn’t have carried her at all if she actually ate anything. I’m hot and sweaty, and it shows.
    His gaze sweeps over me. “Do you always work out in your suit?”
    “Yes.” I spit out the word without emotion, adding, “I sleep in it too, hence the wrinkles.”
    “It’s shocking that you don’t have a criminal record. You’re young, desperate, and financially unstable.”
    I don’t react to his insult. Instead, I add, “You forgot emotionally deprived.”
    “Yes, thank you for reminding me.” Ferro sucks on his cigar and then slowly lets out a long slit of smoke from between his lips. It’s disgusting. Everything from the smell to the lingering smoke nauseates me.
    “What do you want?” Asking the question gives him the upper hand, but he already has it. There’s no point in lingering today.
    “It’s simple, Miss Hill. You have a connection that I need in order to