Phoebe
A fter making sure Lena got home safely, they arrived through the front door to find Nick and August waiting for them on the stairs. glanced at Axel. Having spent the drive from Lena’s in contemplative silence, they hadn’t decided on how they were going to tell them.
August didn’t give them a moment to breathe. “What’s happened?”
Bart circled them as though sensing something was wrong. Unsure she could explain, rubbed Bart’s ears, in desperate need of some fluffy snuggles to calm her nervous system.
“Someone set the gallery for ’s next exhibition on fire. They destroyed her paintings,” Axel revealed.
It was a gut-wrenching sentence. Lena was irreplaceable, but with her hand still healing, so were her paintings. Whoever did this got what they wanted: my career is stalled indefinitely, she thought as Bart checked on Axel before settling on the stairs where he could keep an eye on all his herd.
August’s shoulders sagged, and Nick punched the wall by the door. winced; they couldn’t afford any more injured hands.
“What the fuck is wrong with people?” Nick said, shaking his hand. “How bad is it? Was it intentional?”
“There’s nothing left,” Axel confirmed. “The gallery is just char, but luckily no one was injured.”
“Not exactly unscathed though. Lena got some burns on her fingers and the gallerist had to go to the hospital for some burns to her arm.” filled in the blanks.
“Fuck.” August said it best.
nodded. “My point exactly.”
August sat beside her on the stairs and rested his hand on her shoulder. He said nothing, but so much at the same time.
Someone buzzed the intercom.
“Are you serious? What does he want?”
Nick answered the phone. There was a moment’s hesitation as they stared at him.
“No, let him in.” Nick hung up, staring at them blankly. “Gunther Sheen is here. Olivier held him at the gate, but he said there is something we’ll want to hear.”
“He’s either truly insane or narcissistic to walk into a lion’s den,” said, too blindsided to be pissed.
She didn’t have time to gather her thoughts before August opened the door and Sheen stood in the doorway, looking small.
“Thank you for letting me in.”
“Say what you came to say before we don’t let you leave,” Axel said coldly.
could barely see Sheen past the wall of men in front of her.
“I want to start by saying that I’m here to help. What happened earlier was crazy, and I never wanted to get wrapped up in arson or potential murder. I think whoever sent me that text wanted you to find me there, so that they could frame me.” With his pasty complexion, Sheen looked like he was about to pass out, but given the death stares from those who loved her, he had every right to be afraid.
“But you’re doing such an excellent job of framing me,” said.
“That was LouderTech covering their asses; they saw my car and I was backed into a corner. I was trying to save my job, and they were trying to save themselves a lawsuit,” he said. “Seeing how devastated you were at the scene, how you attacked me, I knew it wasn’t you orchestrating this. When you asked about the envelope earlier, I lied about burning it. With all the police and cameras around, I didn’t want whoever’s doing this to come after me for snitching. I kept it just in case.”
didn’t need to verify his conclusions—of course she wasn’t deliberately destroying her own career.
“Smart enough to cover your own arse in front of the police though.” Axel took the plastic-bagged envelope from Sheen and handed it to .
The envelope was blank. She wanted to cry in frustration; they’d hit another dead end.
“This is useless. There were no delivery details—whoever gave this to you had access to the building,” said. They knew the sender had access to LouderTech, but they were none the wiser as to whether the envelope had been placed on Sheen’s desk before the accident.
“I’ll confess my part, so you can trust me,” he started. “I came to the hospital in Munich because I thought if I was there for all of you then I could convince my boss to give me your account. I’ve long been a fan, and I was pissed when I was kicked out of the hospital and your agent treated me like I was the scum of the earth. When I got home, I was angry and I got involved in something that I didn’t fully understand because I needed money,” he explained. “But I’m sorry.”
“You’re only saying this because you’re scared.”
“I can be sorry and scared,” Sheen admitted. “I was blackmailed into going to the gallery tonight.”
He opened his phone, and got up to stand between her brother and Axel. A video of Sheen breaking into ’s studio stared back at them, filmed from across the street and at a much better angle than her own nanny cam footage.
“There are also photos of me getting kicked out of the hospital in Munich. I think they’re trying to pin this on me. If I didn’t turn up at the Reid Gallery tonight, it was going to be leaked. I didn’t want to call the police, but when I saw the two women inside and the place going up in flames so fast, I couldn’t just watch. I never signed up to hurt anyone.”
“How can we trust this isn’t some scheme you’ve cooked up?” asked.
“You can’t, but I had to tell someone about the blackmail in case something happens to me. I’m sorry for the part I played in this, but this is getting too dangerous, and no money is worth the risk. If you need me to go to the police, I’ll do whatever you want. I don’t know what this person is capable of.”
An awkward silence settled over the group. It was a risk even hearing him out, but it seemed like whoever was behind this was tying up loose ends: first trying to frame her and now going after him. With the studio gone and her work destroyed, what else was there to take from her? Her life? Those she loved? Lena and the gallerist could’ve been killed if Sheen hadn’t intervened…
“We have a detective you can talk to.” decided to take the gamble.
“If you’re serious about helping, come back tomorrow, but if this is some ploy to get close to us, then we’re the ones you should be afraid of,” Axel said, making sure he stayed between them. hadn’t even considered that might be Sheen’s motive.
“I can come by first thing in the morning,” Sheen said a little too eagerly.
worried that they were playing into his hands. She didn’t trust him, and from the others’ hard expressions, they didn’t either. However, he was the only one who could prove she wasn’t behind this.
“No, you can meet with Isaiah and me at Isaiah’s office,” Nick interjected, keeping him out of the house. Seeing him fill Cillian’s role as the leader was a comfort.
“I can do that,” Sheen said with a nod.
With the plan arranged, Nick walked him out, and they were all happy to see the back of Sheen as Olivier made sure he left the property.
“I’m going to bed,” announced, unable to handle any more discussion for one night. They were trying to help, but their anger and upset wouldn’t bring back her work.
“Are you okay?” Nick asked. “I know you’re not, but are you sure you want to be alone? We can all sleep in the sitting room if you want company.”
“I love you for being willing to sleep on the couches for me, but I’ll be fine.” glanced at Axel. Being alone was the last thing she wanted, but now wasn’t the time to tell them about their relationship. “Besides, they got what they wanted, destroyed my work and reputation—all that’s left is murdering me in my sleep.”
The others stared wide-eyed at her, not appreciating the joke.
“If I don’t laugh, I’ll cry,” she sighed, hating their sympathetic smiles.
“Get some sleep. We can talk about all this when you’ve had some time to process,” Nick said solemnly, and she wanted to say something reassuring, but she couldn’t muster any false positivity. She flexed her hand, and the pain reminded her how long it was going to be to get her career back to what it was. Probably long enough to sink back into the void she’d spent years trying to climb out of.
“Goodnight,” she said.
She wished she could’ve climbed straight into Axel’s bed, but she trudged back to her own room.
After hours of tossing and turning, she gave up. Anger, disgust, upset and fear coiled like a snake around her body. Her stalker had taken her safe space, her work, and she wanted to scream but no sound would come out. She tiptoed downstairs and saw the light still on in August’s game room. She made sure to avoid any creaking floorboards as she made it to the kitchen. Carefully, she opened the basement door and locked it behind her.
“Bee?” Axel whispered, turning on a light as she padded down the stairs.
As soon as she saw him, her world crumbled, but he was the world she needed. She knew then that she loved him, even if she wasn’t ready to say it.
Afraid she’d burst into tears if she said a single word, she climbed into his extended arms. She thought about all that had been taken from her, and terror forced her to hold him tight. He was the last thing she loved they could take.
“I’m here, you’re safe,” he whispered, cradling her against his chest. It wasn’t her safety she was worried about.
“I can’t lose you,” she sobbed quietly as he held her and stroked her hair.
“You won’t.”