“That hatred will soon be focused on you,” Sir warned her. “You cannot take anything she says to heart.”
Now, she felt nervous about seeing Mary.
However, she was grateful for his reminder. Brie knew she was the only person Mary trusted—Mary had even risked her life for her. But now that Mary felt betrayed by her, Brie fully expected she would pay the price for every person who’d ever hurt Mary.
Those concerns were confirmed the moment she got out of the car and heard Mary screaming from inside the house. She blushed at the filthy words Mary was spewing at Captain and Candy. Mary was so loud, one of the neighbors watering his lawn asked them, “Do you think I should call the police?”
Sir shook his head, chuckling lightly. “That won’t be necessary, I assure you.”
Turning to Brie, he said in a low voice, “If you need me at any point during your conversation with Mary, you have only to call out. I will be standing on the other side of the door.”
Brie sighed nervously. “I’m sure it’ll be fine, but I appreciate that, Sir.”
When Sir rang the doorbell, Candy answered it with a sweet smile despite the profanity echoing from the hallway behind her.
“Please come in!”
Brie looked at Candy with sympathy. “I’m sorry Mary is taking this out on you when you’ve been nothing but kind to her.”
After Candy closed the door, she shrugged and told Brie, “I realize Mary’s anger is misplaced.” Glancing down the hallway, “I hope it helps Mary release the pain she has kept buried.”
Brie stared at Candy in awe, touched by her words. Instead of being offended by Mary’s unkind verbal assault, Candy had chosen to ignore the abuse because she understood Mary’s anger was not actually directed at her.
“I hope that once I have a chance to talk with Mary, things will calm down,” Brie told her.
Candy reached out and squeezed Brie’s hand. “She is lucky to have you as a friend, Brianna.”
Captain was standing outside the guestroom door and nodded to Brie when she approached. From behind the door, Mary screeched, “And another thing, you fucking geezer, you think you’re all high and mighty…but you’re far from being a saint. Hell, you’re worse than Greg!” She beat her fists against the door in anger. “At least he embraces who he is!”
When Captain failed to respond, Mary ramped it up a notch. “Yeah, you go around pretending to be a war hero like you deserve respect, but we all know the truth. While your men were fighting for their fucking lives, you deserted them to save your own skin. There’s no other explanation for the captain in charge of so many men to be the only one to survive a battle.”
Captain winced. Placing a hand over his eyepatch, he closed his other eye as grief washed over him. Brie was certain he was reliving the day his men were killed, and she resented Mary for causing him that kind of pain.
When he opened his eye, Captain met Brie’s gaze with a look of compassion. “If all you’ve ever known growing up is pain and betrayal, it’s hard to imagine there is any other reality, and it colors everything she sees.”
Brie nodded in understanding.
Captain knocked on the door and waited until Mary took a breath between her cursing. “Mrs. Davis is here, lief. She would like to talk to you.”
“That fucking whore?” Mary screeched like a banshee. “I don’t want anything to do with that cunt!”
“Let me rephrase that,” Captain replied calmly. “Unlock the door. Mrs. Davis has come to speak with you.”
“No! That lying piece of shit isn’t getting anywhere near me.” Mary pounded the door with her fists. “You hear me, motherfucker?”
“Lief, I will not ask again. Unlock the door now,” Captain commanded.
Brie was thankful Captain still had power over Mary.
A few moments later, she heard the door unlock.
“Come in, Brie…” Mary stated in an icy voice that chilled Brie to the bone.
Frightened by the ominous tone in her voice, Brie hesitated for a moment. When she finally went to turn the doorknob, Sir reached out and grabbed her wrist to stop her. “You don’t have to go in alone.”
She looked into his eyes when she explained, “Yes, I do. Under all that rage and fury is a little girl who is hurt. This is the only way she’ll listen to me.”
He nodded, reminding her, “I’ll be right outside.” Glancing at Captain, he added, “We both will.”
Brie faced the door and breathed in deep, letting it out slowly as she thought of Tono. “Just breathe…” she murmured to herself.
The instant she stepped through the door, she was hit with the power of Mary’s rage. It was like another person in the room. The intensity of her fury was both palpable and real.
“You have a lot of nerve coming here,” Mary growled in that same low, ominous tone. It didn’t even sound like her. “I can’t decide if you are an idiot or a fool.”
When Brie met her lethal gaze she froze for a moment, struggling to remain calm. “Aren’t they the same thing?”
“No,” Mary snarled. “A fool walks into a situation due to ignorance. An idiot does it out of arrogance.” She raised an eyebrow, a cruel sneer on her lips. “Which is it, bitch?”
“I came out of love.”
Her word surprised Mary, but instead of quenching the fires, it only seemed to fan them. Mary walked up to her, her malice growing heavier with each step.
Brie suddenly felt like an insect caught in a spider’s web.
“Love doesn’t exist in this world,” Mary stated, glaring at Brie. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Her expression grew even uglier. “And I’m no fool.”
Goosebumps rose on Brie’s skin.
Breathe…
Brie was deathly afraid that one false move on her part would end this encounter and she might never see Mary again. “I didn’t break my vow to you.”
Brie’s words acted like gas on a fire. Mary’s eyes flashed with indignation before they darkened to a frightening hue. Without warning, Mary slapped her cheek and screamed, “How dare you lie to my face!”
Brie rubbed her stinging cheek, stating earnestly, “I never lied to you.”
“The fuck you didn’t!”
“Mary, Marquis Gray, and Sir saw how Holloway was treating you last night. Hell, the entire room saw it.”
Mary balled her hands into fists, looking as if she was getting ready to pummel Brie.
Rather than defend herself, Brie took another deep breath and thought of the kinbaku Master while she braced for an attack. Suddenly, a sense of peace washed over her as if Tono were standing beside her.
Looking directly into her eyes, Brie smiled at Mary. “You did it. You said you would fucking do it, and you did.”
Mary’s eyes narrowed. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You beat Greg Holloway. You told me you would, and last night you took the fucker down.”
Instead of being pacified, Mary howled in rage. “You don’t get it, you moron! You have no idea what you have unleashed, and I have no way to stop him now.”
Brie threw her arms around Mary, suddenly understanding that her friend’s anger was coming from a place of fear for her safety. “This isn’t your fight anymore, Mary. You did what you needed to do.”