Chapter 12 Shep #2
“Why is this the first we’ve heard about it?
” I finished. If my tone sounded accusatory, it was because it was.
It was one thing for King to withhold this from all of us.
But six years ago also put the incident square in the we-were-together timeframe, which felt like another gut punch altogether.
He hadn’t confided in me about this. Not even in the privacy of our bed. What else had he been hiding? Jesus.
“It was a long time ago,” was all King said, but that wasn’t going to cut it.
“Someone was after us and you didn’t think it was important to clue us in?” Lucien said.
“We had a lot going on at the time. We were under a lot of stress. I handled it.”
“But you didn’t have to handle it alone,” I said. King’s eyes met mine, and I could see the tiniest flicker of regret before it passed completely. “We’re a team. We deal with whatever comes our way together.”
Lachlan scoffed. “Like the way you kept this shit with Theo to yourself until he almost got blown up? That sound like teamwork to you?”
I narrowed my eyes. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Getting to the truth of the matter was more important than putting him on blast.”
“Again, something you kept to yourself.”
“That’s enough of the blame game,” Lucien said, holding out his hands as he stepped in between us. “Let’s get back to what’s happening here. Clearly this video has something to do with the threats we’re receiving now, but why? Is it revenge?”
“Uh, yeah,” Theo said. “No shit it’s revenge. Probably whoever was on the other end of that call, since they were working together.”
“He said ‘eldest child privileges,’” Alessio mused, drumming his fingers over the mousepad. “King killed his younger brother.”
All eyes again landed on King, who suddenly didn’t have a hell of a lot to say.
“You thought you took care of the problem,” I said slowly, trying to work it all out in my head. “But you didn’t know there was a second party involved.”
“Another hacker,” Alessio added. “Which makes sense with Theo’s videos.”
“Great. So this whole thing could’ve been avoided had King thought to do some due diligence.
” Sarcasm dripped from Theo’s words, and I couldn’t blame him.
All these years had gone by with King thinking he’d left this in the past, only for whoever this was to come back with a vengeance.
Someone who’d infiltrated our club and had been slowly gathering information for the perfect time.
“We need to check the records,” I said. “We’re looking for anyone who’s joined Libertine in the last six years.”
“But what does this have to do with targeting Theo now?” Lucien said.
I shook my head and went over to the wall of photos branching off from King. “Not just Theo. He’s just the first on the list, judging by these numbers. My guess is, it’s because he’s the best known of the group, and that would be one way to blow the lid off our organization.”
“Which is why you’re labeled second. The world knows who you are too,” Alessio said, nodding. “That makes sense. King’s the final target after he’s gotten rid of us all.”
“Exactly. Destroy King by destroying everything he’s worked for and every one of us involved.”
“Seven eyes for an eye seems a little extreme, but I can’t say I wouldn’t do it.” Lachlan shrugged.
I couldn’t disagree with him there. I’d been ready to burn the world and everyone in it down to get to Theo. Offing seven people who, even inadvertently, had a hand in his brother’s death? I could understand the rage.
But no one was touching Theo or my brothers as long as I was still breathing.
“There’s got to be something here that gives us a clue as to his identity,” Lucien murmured almost to himself as he started going through the files Theo had opened.
“Alessio?” King asked.
“I’m copying everything on his computer to take back with me and creating a hidden gate, which will leave it open for me to access at the office.”
King nodded his approval. “And the ‘untraceable’ company front for the storage unit?”
“I’ll work on it.”
“And while you’ve got the rest of us busy with your orders, maybe you could work on looking up what ‘honesty and transparency’ means.
” Theo hadn’t taken his eyes off King the entire time, and with his eyes practically slits and his arms crossed, I wondered if I should position myself in front of him.
We didn’t need to watch another murder go down in this room.
“Perhaps even remove the knife in my back while you’re at it. ”
King slowly turned his head in Theo’s direction. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
King took in a deep breath and released it before answering. “You may not understand it, but I did what I had to do. What I’ll always do. You don’t have to agree with my methods, but I protect what’s mine—”
“Bullshit,” Theo said, pushing past me before I could stop him. He moved in close to King, glaring daggers at him. “You dared to call me disloyal when you kept this from us for years? What else are you hiding, huh?”
When King didn’t say anything right away, only crossed his arms, Theo started forward. Lachlan stepped in and pushed him back.
When Theo brushed his hand aside, Lachlan looked at me. “Shep? You gonna say something?”
“No, I think Theo’s about covered it.”
A smug smile curled Theo’s lips while Lachlan’s brows shot up.
Guess he didn’t expect me to take Theo’s side in all this, but fuck that. He was right, and King needed to own up to what he’d done.
But when Benoit’s voice crackled through our earpieces, I knew that wouldn’t be happening tonight. “You almost done up there, or do I need to dose this guy with more sleep juice?”
“We’re wrapping it up,” King boomed before any of us could answer.
“Now you speak.” Theo shook his head, glaring at King. Then he headed back to where I stood, knocking into Lachlan’s shoulder hard as he passed.
Alessio unplugged the hard drive he’d been copying the computer files from while Theo, Lucien, and I grabbed the remaining files.
Step one, complete. We’d actually found our first clues into this fucker, and it’d been more than a crumb this time.
As we filed out, I turned back around to look inside, my eyes catching again on the rope and chair, and felt bile rise in my throat.
How differently this could’ve turned out. I didn’t feel confident we ever would’ve found Theo if they’d managed to take him this far.
Lucien slammed the door to the unit shut, and I hoped like hell I could banish the visual of what I’d just seen from my mind.
But for now, I just wanted to get as far away from it as I could.