Chapter 48
JAY
I’d lied to a lot of people in my life, but I didn’t like lying to Maggie. I’d lied about not caring about her, but only to make myself feel better. To cover the fact that I wasn’t the man I wanted to be. It was no wonder she didn’t like me.
I hated weakness—addicts, marks who begged, people who couldn’t get their lives together or always blamed someone else when things went wrong. But it turned out I was just as bad. I thought I was strong, but I was still under Simon’s thumb. I always obeyed, never stood up to him, never said no.
But I was done. Setting up a meeting for me with Andrew Arthur had been the last straw. I had no desire to play nice with that guy, or worse, grovel. So I didn’t go.
When he found out, Simon summoned me to his sprawling mansion outside the c
