She Was Never Just a Pretty Face novel Chapter 280

He finally had to stop.

He picked it up and saw it was Lori calling.

He answered, his voice rough and deeply annoyed. "It's late. What is it?"

Lori probably realized exactly what she had just interrupted.

She hesitated for a split second before reporting the facts. "Damien is in trouble! He was at a business negotiation today, and things went south. The client's wife used to be a former client of his. The guy saw that Damien had completely cleaned up his act and got jealous. Not knowing that Damien is basically your family now, the guy got drunk and beat him up. He broke four of his ribs and threatened to do it again every time he sees him. Our guy on-site called the cops. The guy is at the precinct right now, but I'm sure he'll make bail any minute."

Luther's brow furrowed.

This was going to be a massive headache.

Everyone in their circle knew Damien used to be an escort.

He had slept with a lot of very wealthy, married women.

If he was going to be running around in those circles, running into former clients was inevitable. He was going to get himself killed. No, Luther had to make it explicitly clear to the entire city that Damien was under his protection. Love her, love her family. But he couldn't let Joyce find out about any of this. How could he possibly tell her that her beloved brother used to be a high-end gigolo?

He spoke into the phone.

"Make a call to the captain down there."

"Tell them not to process his bail just yet."

"Tell them it's an order from me."

"I'll be there in a bit."

He hung up.

He had fully intended to keep it a secret from Joyce.

But the phone's speaker had bled sound into the quiet bathroom.

She had caught enough keywords.

It sounded like it had something to do with her brother's unsavory past.

She opened her mouth to ask him, but he looked down at her, his expression unreadable.

He reached out and ruffled her hair, his tone softening entirely. "I need to go handle something. Do you want me to drop you off at home, or do you want to sleep here tonight?"

His chest ached for her.

Because he knew damn well that every single cent Damien had made selling his body had gone straight toward keeping Joyce alive and well.

—Which meant keeping Hilda alive.

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