Chapter 43 Genevieve
Genevieve
The manor itself is old-money architecture softened by overgrown ivy. The gate is already open, so I drive through, park, and walk to the front door before I can talk myself out of it.
I don’t know what I’m going to say. I haven’t rehearsed this. I haven’t planned it. I just know that Juliette loves her brother with the kind of ferocity that doesn’t ask questions before it acts, and right now, that’s exactly what I need.
The massive front door opens before I can ring the bell, Juliette standing on the other side with her hands on her hips. She’s in an oversized T-shirt, her dark hair piled on her head, and she looks like she just woke up, but her eyes are already sharp.
She takes one look at me, the wild hair, the days-old clothes, the mascara probably smeared down my face, and her expression shifts.
“Ginny.”
“Hi,” I choke out.
She opens the door wider. “Get inside. Now.”
I follow her into a sitting room that smells like books, and she doesn’t offer me a place to sit, she just spins around and crosses her arms.
“Where’s my brother?”
“I don’t know. Not exactly.”
“Well, the Rag has been posting stories for the past two days straight with tips that were sent in by strangers pretending to know more about my brother and you than I do, so you better start talking.”
And then I tell her.
I tell her about Cassandra Troy, the woman they called Beverly, and who she really is.
I tell her about the Lye, and the fights, and the cage, and what Lance has been doing for six years to protect them.
I tell her about Art and how deep he’s in it.
I tell her about my father and the FBI and the footage that could end all of it.
At some point, Roman walks in. He sits on the edge of a chair and pulls Juliette back against him like he’s there to be her anchor. He shows surprise at some of the things I say, but others, it’s as if he already knew.
When I’m done, Juliette is very still.
“That fucking idiot,” she breathes.
“So you really didn’t know?” I ask. “About what he was doing? About everything?”
“I knew something was wrong.” She shakes her head. “But he wouldn’t let me in. Every time I got close, he’d shut me out. I told you I tried, but…”
“He shut me out, too.” My voice splinters. “He made me believe we were in this together, and then he walked out of my father’s kitchen, and I just stood there and watched him go because there were guns pointed at the only parent I have left.”
“I’m going to kill him,” she says.
“Get in line.”
“Paxton’s been building a case against Brutus Myrddin and Badon Hill for months,” Roman cuts in. “Federal contracts, evidence from Calloway Enterprises that his dad was sloppy with covering.”
My heart stutters. “How do you know that?”
“We’re going into business together. When he forced his dad out, he wanted to clean house. Craig was in bed with Brutus, using Badon Hill to force land seizures from my father as a way to usurp the WayMont family compact they founded the town with.”
“So… Paxton’s working with the Feds, and so is my dad. What does that mean for us right now?”
He lifts a shoulder. “That means Lance is family, and if he loves you, then so are you. And we’ll get him out. This is our town, not our parents’, and we take it back and end this once and for all.”
Juliette spins to Roman and narrows her eyes. “You didn’t tell me all this.”
“No offense, Little Rose, but your brother’s fucking terrifying. He swore me to secrecy.”
She scoffs. “I’m scarier than Pax.”
“Guess you’d better prove it by punishing me later.”
I clear my throat. “Not to interrupt, but can we focus?”
Juliette shoves Roman and then turns to me. “Paxton’s probably at the office. Let’s go.”
Roman drives fast, weaving through the quiet morning streets of Rosebrook Falls like he’s done it a thousand times.
“I knew about the two of you,” Roman says, his eyes finding mine through the rearview mirror. “I’d catch him staring at you like you were the center of gravity and he was trying to resist the force. It’s the same way I used to look at her.”
His tattooed arm reaches over, sliding onto Juliette’s thigh.
A pang hits me, remembering Lance doing the same thing just two days ago.
Juliette adds, “I knew there was someone, and I thought it was you. I just wasn’t sure.”
“It’s complicated. Art—”
“Art’s a piece of shit,” she says.
“Yeah. He kind of is.”
“Lance deserves better, and so do you.”
My throat tightens. “He deserves to make his own choices. Not sacrifice himself because he thinks that’s all he’s good for.”
“Then let’s go get him back so we can remind him.”
The WayMont Corp building rises up ahead. Glass and steel, the kind of corporate headquarters designed to intimidate.
Roman parks in a reserved spot and kills the engine.
Paxton is waiting for us when the doors open, and for a moment, he throws me off-kilter. It’s the first time I’ve seen him up close, beyond his anniversary party, and I was so distracted then, I didn’t soak him in.
He looks like Lance.
The same dark hair, same sharp jaw, same intensity in his eyes.
But where Lance has rough edges and barely contained violence, Paxton is polished and controlled.
Three-piece suit, a watch that probably costs more than my car, and the kind of presence that makes the air in the room rearrange itself around him.
He’s intimidating. Almost frightening.
I imagine he’s the kind of man who runs boardrooms and ruins lives without ever raising his voice.
“Miss DeGrance.” He extends a hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“From Lance?”
He grins and it’s so effortlessly perfect it takes my breath away. “And others. My family loves a bit of gossip.”
“Have you heard from him?” I ask.
His eyes move from me to Juliette to Roman. “I thought he was with you.”
“Your old nanny showed up at my father’s place in Boston with armed men. She took him. She’s alive, Paxton, and she’s been behind all of it. Brutus Myrddin is her brother.”
“Can you believe that bitch?” Juliette says.
Paxton gestures toward his office. “Let’s talk.”
The office is massive. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the town. A desk the size of my old studio apartment. Paxton moves behind it but doesn’t sit. He braces his hands on the surface and looks at me.
“Start from where Lance left off. He told me about the Lye, the fights…” He hesitates, glancing at Juliette.
“What our father did to him. I’ve been building a case against Badon Hill from the corporate side.
But Beverly being right under our noses, being the one pulling the strings, that’s new. Tell me everything.”
So I do. I repeat the same thing I told Juliette and Roman.
“She raised us,” Juliette says. “She braided my hair. She made our lunches. She was there for everything. And the whole time she was playing us. And for what? What was the reason?”
“She poisoned you,” Roman says. “She’s lucky I didn’t find her first.”
“Get in line,” Paxton mutters. Then he straightens, and the grief hardens into something operational.
“The underground fighting, the coercion, all of it, I only know what Lance told me. But Dad left things sloppy when I forced him out of Calloway Enterprises, and Badon Hill’s fingerprints are all over the financial side. The FBI has most of that already.”
“My father’s working with them from Boston,” I say. “He says the case is strong but not airtight. There’s one piece missing.”
“The footage.”
“Every fight Lance has been forced into is allegedly on a hard drive. And I think it’s in Art’s office at the tavern. I’ve seen it. I’ve held it in my hands. I just didn’t know what it was.”
“Alleged is a big word to hinge everything on,” Paxton says. “But we’ll take it from here.”
“She’s an asset,” Roman says.
“Or she’s Art’s girl and setting us up,” Paxton counters.
“She’s standing right here.” I cross my arms. “And she’s coming whether you approve or not.”
Juliette laughs. “I think I love you as much as Felicity does.”
“That’s not the compliment you think it is,” Paxton says.
“Should we tell Alex?” Juliette asks. “Get everyone in?”
Paxton shakes his head. “Alex is the happiest of all of us. Still thinks our family’s the best and our town is squeaky clean. One of us should get to stay that way.”
The room is quiet for a beat. Then Paxton picks up a phone and dials, walking to the far side of the office where we can’t hear.
Five minutes later he comes back. “We’ve got six hours.
We need to get in, get the footage, and get it to the Feds to give them reason to raid the tavern.
Juliette, coordinate with Felicity on an alibi in case anyone comes asking, but don’t tell her a thing.
Genevieve, you’re with me. I want you to draw out every inch of that tavern and the underground you can remember. ”
“Who did you talk to? How did you…”
“Clearly, you’ve never been on the bad side of a Calloway,” Juliette says. “We always get our way.”
Paxton smirks, and Roman rolls his eyes.
Juliette moves toward me and wraps me in a hug, lifting me off my feet, and holding me tight. “Thank you for loving my brother. Let’s go get him back.”
For the first time since Lance walked out of my father’s kitchen, I feel something other than fury.
I feel hope.