Chapter 63

The girl he’d been so worried about was calmly holding someone’s head under a faucet. Standing nearby was a middle-aged couple, looking utterly defeated and helpless. He recognized them from his files as her adoptive parents or rather, the family that had taken her in on Lemuel’s behalf. They hadn’t treated her well.
Seeing that Juniper was perfectly fine, Shanley’s racing heart returned to normal. He dialed Flint. “Delete all the restaurant’s security footage.”
“Boss, you mean this restaurant? The one we’re in?” Flint asked, confused. He thought Shanley was looking for Ms. Payne. Why the sudden order about surveillance?
“Yes.” Shanley’s gaze sharpened, his voice laced with a dangerous edge. “Wipe it clean. Make it unrecoverable. And find everyone who passed by the restrooms in the last fifteen minutes. I don’t want a single piece of news about Juniper getting into a fight appearing online.”
Ms. Payne in a fight? Flint’s mind flashed back to the last time she’d laid someone out—fierce, efficient, and incredibly cool. A thrill of excitement shot through him. When did this happen? He wished he’d been there to watch and learn.
“Yes, Boss.”
Flint hung up and immediately headed for the security room. There was a camera pointed right at the restroom entrance, which had perfectly captured Juniper’s beatdown.
Wow! Watching the footage, Flint couldn’t help but be impressed. Ms. Payne might look young and slender, but she was a formidable fighter. If she and the boss ever got together…
Flint grinned. The boss might actually be on the losing end of an argument.
The thought was surprisingly delightful.
…
After giving his orders, Shanley stood back, his intense gaze fixed on the young woman, waiting to see how she would handle the situation.
Seeing Malcolm and Frigga’s terror and Yolanda’s limp, half-drowned form, Juniper let out a soft chuckle.
Pathetic. All bark and no bite.
“I told you, with Grandpa gone, you should learn to keep your heads down. Don’t provoke me.” Juniper lifted Yolanda’s face so their eyes met, her own gaze black and piercing. “Did you forget? Should I carve it on your tombstones for you?”
“Cough, cough The words terrified Yolanda. She tried to beg for mercy, but her lungs were filled with water, and only choked gasps came out.
“Don’t Her parents started to step forward but froze, afraid of angering Juniper further. She was acting like a madwoman, and there was no telling what she might do to Yolanda.
“My patience with you is limited,” Juniper said, patting Yolanda’s cheek, her voice flat. “Push me too far, and I’ll settle all our debts, new and old.”
New and old debts? Malcolm and Frigga exchanged a look.
“When I was six, while Grandpa was away, you locked me in the attic for a month, giving me only one piece of bread and half a cup of water every two days. Did you think I’d forgotten?”
She had nearly starved to death that month, wasting away to skin and bones. It was the reason she now ate more than the average person—she was terrified of going hungry.
Frigga opened her mouth to argue but couldn’t; it was the truth.
“And you!” Juniper’s gaze shifted to Malcolm, her face pale, her eyes bloodshot. “Whenever anyone in the Sherwin family did something wrong, it was all my fault. Drinking, gambling, whoring… what did any of that have to do with me?”
Malcolm scowled but said nothing. He had never considered Juniper his daughter. In his mind, providing her with food and shelter meant she should be willing to take the blame for the family. What was wrong with that?
“As for you Juniper looked down at Yolanda. “Do I need to remind you, piece by piece?”
Yolanda bit her lip, her entire body trembling.