Heartless Legacy (Heartless Heirs of Canyon Falls #4)

79. Holden

Chapter 79

Holden

“ I feel like I’ve asked this question several times over the last week, but the answer’s just not computing.” Looking over at me, Finn asks, “Why would Deacon Wolfe let himself into Pax’s cabin and steal Thea away from us?”

Pax answers, “What we need to be asking is how Deacon found us and how he knew the code to get in.”

“That’s easy.” I say, “His grandfather augments security for The League. He must’ve learned about it from him.”

Pax shakes his head. “Deacon doesn’t work security. He shouldn’t know anything about security protocols, no matter who his family is.”

Finn snorts, “Right. How does that work out for us? We know tons of shit we shouldn’t know because of who our fathers are.”

“Fair point. I guess I assumed he didn’t have anything to do with league business before becoming Thea’s mentor.”

His appointment as Thea’s mentor came out of left field, and I figured her selection was because of their romantic relationship. “Maybe he didn’t.”

“Maybe.” Pax concedes. “But he was still out of line, breaking into the cabin.”

“Was he?,” I ask.

“Of course he was. It’s the vacation home of a mid-level council member. A Trium member. It’s off limits to anyone without an invite.”

“Finn and I weren’t invited, and we showed up. Are you mad at us about that, too?”

He glares at me and says, “He’s either taking his mentor duties to the extreme, or he’s obsessed with her like the two of you, and didn’t like the idea of Thea being alone with me.” He mutters, “Jealous prick.”

Finn turns to him and says, “Obsession doesn’t really explain why he thinks she’s not safe with us. Maybe it’s time you explain what’s really going on with you. What did you mean when you said you’d make up for what your father did?”

Pax frowns. I guess he didn’t think we heard that. Finn warns, “Now is not the time to make up some bullshit, Pax. We deserve to know what’s going on.”

“Did I say that?” He looks over at me and shrugs. “I was in the middle of trying to convince Thea to let me fuck her. I don’t remember everything I said.”

I shove my phone into my pocket. Thanks to my sleep addled brain, it took me a long moment to decipher the text Finn sent me. I was coming off a twenty-four-hour crash, and the words weren’t making any sense. He caught Pax creeping around outside of Thea’s parent’s place, and he’s justifiably upset. We’ve agreed to work together on these mystery challenges, but after what he said in the cabin, I’ve grown more suspicious of him. We both have.

The fractures in our relationship are becoming a point of concern for my father. He called and asked if we ran into issues with our last league challenge. I didn’t want to come right out and say Pax is the equivalent of dead weight in our group, because he’s not, but he is distracted. Or maybe a better adjective would be uninspired.

I’ve been trying to talk to him all week, but he’s been very careful about what he says, as if he’s afraid of giving too many words away. According to Finn, he’s been watching Thea’s house for the last few hours. It’s not the first time he’s done it, but today, he caught a cab and had it drop him off a few blocks away.

That’s why I’m hiding behind a hedge in a neighborhood I don’t live in. Another text comes in. Pax and Thea just had words. She’s pulled off in her car and Pax is heading my way. Footsteps approach a few minutes later. I step onto the path in front of him, his shoulders slump as soon as he sees me. He knows what’s about to happen. He can choose to fight it, or come along willingly. He jerks his chin before lifting his hands. Just that one decision, conveys more than any words ever could.

It’s been a long time since Pax and I have fought. I don’t mean sparring in the ring as a workout or to release steam. I’m talking about a full on brawl that leaves bruises and broken bones. There will be no warm up. No friendly hits. He’s no longer my friend standing in front of me. He’s not my brother. My Trium. He’s just some selfish sonofabitch who has continually hurt the girl I care about.

I show no mercy as we trade blows. Each of us intent on coming out on top. I unleash the rage that I usually fight to hold back, infusing each blow with the memories of all the taunts I received as a kid for being too quiet for the people I was forced to spend time around. I strike out at the memories of the various threats I’ve had on my life. And when those memories aren’t enough, I hear what Finn told me he overhead Thea say. What Pax didn’t deny. He was only using Thea for her connection to Joshua Laurent. For his bid for power, just like he was using us.

Following the rage comes anguish. That was the memory she sat with while she was in jail and in that place. Pax never wanted her, which made her believe that we never wanted her.

Then finally, I feel self-loathing. I’m certain the court records of her arrest didn’t exist before. But what if they did? What if I missed something? Thea was missing for months because my searches were ineffectual. I’m good at what I do, and yet, I couldn’t find her.

My emotions cycle back to rage. Thea’s home, but she’s different. Her eyes are cold. Dead. She’s lost her spark, which means there’s no one shining the way for me. Pax played with her feelings, then hooked up with Eloise.

Thea doesn’t want me anymore, because once again I’m lumped into the same category as Pax and his misdeeds. He’s the reason she’s rejecting me. With one final bellow, I launch myself at him, knocking him to the ground, pounding my fist into his face with all my might. His head knocks to the side and his body goes limp.

“Let’s get him to the bunker.” Finn says from behind me. I look over my shoulder and see him leaning against a light pole. He just stood there and watched us beating the shit out of each other. My hands sting and my face hurts, but I’m glad he didn’t jump in. I needed to do that on my own. Hopefully, the beating was enough to loosen Pax’s lips. If not, then it’ll be Finn’s job to convince him to talk. We knew how this evening would end. We will not be going easy on our former friend.

The two of us drag Pax’s limp body to the car, and shove him into the trunk. Finn chains his wrists and ankles together, then shoves it between the backseats and through the grab handle. He holds onto the loose end, acting as an added anchor. Pax is immobilized just in case he wakes during the drive and tries to put up a fight when we let him out of the trunk.

I exit the car first when we get to the bunker, and walk to the back of the car to open the trunk, while Finn keeps his grip on the chain. I give it a yank, to let him know he can release it on his end. After pulling it through the gap between the seats, I tighten my grip on the length closer to Pax’s hands. Finn joins me at the back of the car and helps me drag Pax’s dead weight out of the trunk and into the bunker.

If this were anyone else, they’d be in Finn’s warehouse, hanging from his hook. But Pax isn’t just anyone. He’s a Wren. The grandson of a high level council member, and until recently he was so much an extension of me, he could have been an extra limb. We’re completely secure here, away from prying eyes. No signal in or out, unless I allow it. This bunker protects us all.

Pax has secrets to spill. The question is, does he want to share whatever he’s hiding, or will we have to force it out of him? In either case, this is the only place in Canyon Falls where it’s safe for him to unburden himself.

Finn smacks his face. “We’re inside now. You can stop pretending to be unconscious, asshole.”

Pax cracks his eyes open. Him being unconscious for as long as he was might’ve been an act, but the ass whipping we gave each other wasn’t. The part where Finn gets persuasive won’t be an act either. “Eloise?” He asks.

Why the fuck is she the first person on his mind? I bite back what I want to say, as Finn answers, “She’s busy with a sorority issue.” He already has his knives out, and asks, “You wanna do a few test runs before we get to chatting?”

Pax works his jaw. “I have nothing to say.”

“Then how about I tell you what I know before I get to work?” Pax glares at Finn, but doesn’t say a word. We all know it’s not an idle threat. Finn will be carving into him. No matter what.

“The day after you were supposed to be meeting with the lawyer to draft a marriage contract, you disappeared. Then the council called a meeting and announced your arrangement with Eloise.”

“This again?” Pax snorts. “I thought you were looking for a way out. I gave you one. You should be thanking me instead of trying to torture me.”

“There is no try. Pax. I will be torturing you. In fact, I’ve already started.”

Pax hasn’t even flinched from the tiny cuts Finn’s made against his arms. They’re hard to see through the ink.

There’s an entire line of questioning that Finn could go through. He likes to warm his subjects up, but that would be a waste of time with Pax, who looks bored with this whole situation. He’s entirely too calm for someone who’s about to be cut into. The look on his face and the set of his jaw say he’s resigned to being tortured.

We’ve got one chance at getting answers. I just need to know where to start. What buttons to push to crack through the armor he’s wearing. My mind sifts through everything that’s happened. Everything he’s done since the moment Thea set foot in town. I tamp down the anger and disappointment I feel as I look at him. Really look at him, and force myself to remember who he’s been my entire life.

I say, “Thea wasn’t on the run, like we were led to believe last summer, and I don’t think she was in county lockup the whole time. Do you?”

Pax answers, “I heard the same thing you heard on campus, and it’s the same thing the council is reporting. Why would I doubt any of that?”

That doesn’t answer my question. I don’t get it. The first thing he did was ask about Eloise, but he’s been following Thea. Staking out her house. He was just licking her pussy at the cabin. What are he and Eloise up to this time?

I ease onto the floor with my back braced against the wall, watching him as Finn julienne’s his shirt. He’s not being careful, so every second or third slash draws blood. I’m watching them, but my mind is racing through so many thoughts, like I’m rewinding a movie at double speed. The imagery stalls, then I move forward in my timeline, then back again. The same words coming to me on repeat. Apart, they’re just throw away comments, but together…

I see Finn’s text, Malcolm is up to something , hear Eloise saying, Attempted murder is the reason people wind up in Rockridge, and Pax apologizing, “ I’m sorry for what my father did to you. ”

Tilting my head to the side, I study Pax. I now have my one question. “Do you have anything to say?”

He presses his lips together. It’s fine. I would never expect for him to make this easy. The harder he fights. The more he tries to hold his secrets, the grimmer the truth must be. Even within the hard lines of his face, the cold set of his eyes, I see the smallest, faintest hint of… hope.