Chapter 17
Seventeen
T heo
At around three a.m., I’d barely stepped out of a meeting with a shipping supplier when Xander screeched to a halt outside the building in his Spyder and ordered, “Get in the car.”
“Well, hello to you, too, shithead. Do you realize how exhausted I am? I hate these late-night meetings.”
“Get in the fucking car. We have a situation.” The glare he shot me made it seem like life and death.
What could have happened in the last hour?
I pulled out my phone and saw thirty or so texts and six missed calls. I shook my head.
What the hell could have happened between the start of the meeting and three in the morning?
“They took our phones. You know how shit works with them. I got it back as I stepped out the door.”
“Are you going to stand there, or are we heading to the house?”
Sliding into the passenger seat, I said, “Give me the details and cut the dramatics.”
“Andraius is missing, and no one knows where the fuck he went. Is that dramatic enough for you?”
“Who was on him?” My pulse hammered into my chest.
“Mason and Josh. They said he never left his suite, but when they went inside to check on him, he wasn’t there.”
“Where’s Nerine? Do we have anyone on her?”
“According to our team, she said she had a headache and wanted to go to bed after a shower. They heard her shower go on about an hour ago and then silence. As far as they know, she hasn’t left.”
“That means nothing.”
“She knows better than to use the passages with everything going on.”
“Does she? The is Nerine we’re discussing.” A thought crossed my mind that had my stomach churning. “He found the passageways. That’s the only escape route out of that room.”
Xander gunned the engine and dialed a number on his console. “Check every nook and cranny of the house.”
“What about Mrs. Angelos? Do we wake her?”
Xander glanced at me. “No. We’re almost there.”
About ten minutes later, Stefano, Clay, and a group of our men met us as we pulled into the driveway of the Angelos mansion.
The expressions on each of their faces told me I wouldn’t like whatever they had to say.
Clay approached. “You have to come with us.”
“Nerine?”
“No. It’s Andraius,” Stefano answered.
I cocked my head to the side. “Explain.”
Clay and Stefano exchanged glances. “He’s dead. Murdered.”
“You’re fucking kidding me.” Xander rushed into the house, not knowing where to go.
I followed after him as Clay called, “In the library.”
A group of men stood at the room’s archway, no one entering, as if afraid to step inside.
Xander pushed past them and surveyed the entire space. I approached Andraius’s body. He was sprawled on his stomach, face to the side, eyes wide open, blood pooling like a river around his body.
“Who found him?” I turned to look at the group congregating by the door.
“I did. About five minutes before you arrived,” Bran answered. “I followed protocol and kept everyone out until you arrived. No one has touched the body or stepped inside the room.”
Xander walked the periphery of the room. “I want the feed for the property checked—every inch of it from this morning to now. I want the names of every last person who arrived and left, from staff to deliveries to business associates. Don’t leave a single person out. I want times in and out.”
“As of now, no one leaves this property. Lock it down.” I pulled out my secure phone and typed in a code, restricting all cell communication from anyone on the compound.
Rising from my crouch near Andraius’s body, my attention shifted to the object he held.
The blade.
Not just any blade but one I’d seen before in Nerine’s possession.
God, Nerine.
What the fuck happened here tonight?
“Xander. We need to get to Nerine.”
Maybe it was my tone, but Xander rushed from the room. I followed behind him, not knowing what to expect when we saw her.
Xander banged on the door with all his force.
“Nerine, wake up.”
No sound came. No cursing. No orders to fuck off. The blood in my head pounded.
“Nerine, open up, now! Or we’re breaking it down if you don’t,” I warned, and then not giving a shit, pushed Xander out of the way as I slammed the hinge with my shoulder, busting the lock open.
Nerine jumped to sitting in her bed, fear in her eyes. It was as if she knew what I was about to tell her.
Fucking Angel, what have you done?
Xander moved in her direction and then scooped her into his arms, whispering into her hair, “Thank God, you’re safe. I don’t know what I would have done if anything had happened to you.”
Hallway lights illuminated the room, and Nerine’s blue gaze connected with mine.
Something definitely wasn’t right. This wasn’t a woman woken from sleep. Fear lingered in her eyes and her whole demeanor seemed dazed.
“Andraius is dead, Angel. We’ve got to get you out of here, now.”
She stared at me as if not comprehending what I’d said. “Go where?”
“Nerine, did you hear me?” I asked, raising my voice to snap her out of her haze. “Someone killed Andraius.”
She flinched, blinking a few times as if clearing the fog from her mind, and then hunched her shoulders, curling her arms and body around Xander.
“A-are you sure he’s dead?” She sounded worried yet hopeful at the same time.
Her body shook as if chills overtook her.
Xander held her close and whispered into her hair as he adjusted his hold on her. “There is no doubt.”
She winced when his hand grazed her calf, and I moved in her direction without a second thought.
“What’s wrong with your leg?” I tried to inspect the area around her calf, but she swiped my hand away.
“I’m fine. It’s nothing.” She squirmed against Xander, telling him without words to set her down.
He hesitated for a second and then relented. “How did you hurt yourself?”
“I walked into the end of the bed without looking,” she answered with her back to us. “Give me a minute to get changed.”
Nerine calmly walked to her closet, pretending her steps weren’t laced with the edge of pain.
Her hitting the bed was bullshit. I knew it with every fiber of my being. Clumsy and Nerine weren’t words that went together.
Two things gave it away. First, Nerine couldn’t look us in the face when she lied. With everyone else, her squad taught her well, but with us, her eyes gave it away. And second, a woman who could navigate the hidden passageways of this house in the dark wouldn’t mistakenly walk into her bedframe. She knew this room like the back of her hand. Even in spaces she’d only entered a few times, she remembered the placement of everything. It was a talent she used to joke that would be useful if she decided to become a cat burglar.
Xander switched on the bedside light and shot me a lift of the brow, agreeing with my assessment.
Nerine had been front and center when things went down with Andraius. Was the Assassin Squad part of it?
Hell, no. If those women had any hand in it, they wouldn’t have left any trace of evidence for anyone to find. And from what I’d noticed within minutes of inspecting the room, someone had cleaned up, but they hadn’t quite mastered their craft.
Which meant all fingers pointed to the woman who currently searched her closet for clothes to wear.
We had to get her somewhere she felt safe to talk to us.
But would she talk to us? Would she trust us with her secret?
Everything from the last few days still sat raw among us. Walking away from her had nearly killed me. The taste of her lips and the feel of her fingers on me was a dream come true. However, we’d pushed the boundaries too many times, and it was better to stop everything than cause her more grief.
Now everything was different.
Or was it? I had no idea.
A few minutes later, Nerine stepped out of her closet wearing thick lounge pants and an oversized hoodie both designed more for the middle of winter than the warmth of late summer. The outfit clashed with everything she usually selected for this time of year. She hadn’t a clue that this made it even more apparent that she was hiding something.
I cocked my head to the side. “What the hell are you wearing? That whole get-up is too big for you.”
“This isn’t the time to question my clothing choices.” Her defiant glare prickled at my nerves, but I let it go.
Definitely not the time to pick a fight.
Xander blocked her view of me and gestured to the door. “Once you’re in a secure location, we need to talk.”
“What does that mean?” she asked, weariness in her question.
She understood what he meant. We’d spoken about this for months. It wasn’t how any of us had planned things. Then again, one never knew what monkey wrench fate would throw in our path.
“You have to make decisions,” I answered, softening my tone. “Set things in motion for the future.”
“You mean the family’s future.”
“Which includes your sisters and your mother,” I reminded her.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” she whispered, her head dropping briefly as she descended the stairs behind Xander.
“Of course you can.” I set a hand on her shoulder, making her stiffen for a moment before she relaxed and covered my fingers with hers, squeezing them.
Then, Xander added, “Anyone who survived the last few years with Andraius can handle anything.”
Nodding, she dropped her arm and pulled back her shoulders. “I am Peter Angelos’s Angel with a viper’s tongue. I can’t forget that again.”
I wanted to give her proper comfort, to hold her, but this wasn’t the time. Hell, I wanted to demand she tell us what happened. It wasn’t the time for that, either.
I gritted my teeth as I watched her mask the pain of each step she took down the stairs. It was as if she had trained in the type of body control to overcome the agony.
How often had she practiced this routine after an altercation with Andraius?
We’d left her with a monster, thinking we were making the safer choice. We knew nothing.
Silence descended when Nerine came into view on the main floor. In unison, the Angelos men tipped their heads to her.
The true Angelos now held the seat.
She remained quiet while walking through the soldiers but halted at the intersection leading to the security sector of the mansion.
“I want to see his body.” Her words were an order, with none of the uncertainty from before.
I blocked the way to the front of the house. “Why?”
“Am I not the head of this family, Theo?” Her blue eyes held mine, the mask she wore of the emotionless Mrs. Andraius Angelos firmly in place.
“You are.”
“Then I don’t need to explain myself to you or anyone. Take me to see my dead spouse.”
My lips twitched, ready to smirk at her command. But she caught the slight tug at the corner of my mouth, and her gaze narrowed a fraction.
I moved in beside her, with Xander flanking her other side. We strode down the long corridor to the front of the house.
“Where did you find him?” she asked, but her movements directed us straight to the library.
I leaned closer to her. “You know exactly where, Angel.”
She abruptly stopped and waited as if I hadn’t spoken.
After a few moments, Xander set a hand on her upper back to guide her forward, then dropped it when she glared at him, realizing what he’d done.
“Library.”
She slowed her pace and approached the men posted to bar anyone from entering the room. They rose from their seats, inclined their heads, and readied for instructions, keeping their attention on Nerine.
She wasn’t even aware of how the organization had immediately accepted her. With Andraius, everyone turned to Xander or me for instructions, and the “boss” hadn’t a clue.
“Open the doors.”
“Yes, Mrs. Angelos,” Luther, one of the men, answered, and followed her order.
Andraius’s body came into view. He lay in the same position as when we’d left the room. The only difference now was the pool of blood around him had started to dry and darken.
Nerine studied him, not making any motion to go near him. Everyone remained still watching her, waiting to see what she’d do.
After five minutes of complete silence, she clenched her jaw, tugged the diamond band from the ring finger of her left hand, and dropped it on the travertine floor.
The clang of stone hitting stone rang out all around us.
“I hate him—hated him. Everyone knew it. I’m not sorry he’s dead. I wished for it from the moment he put the gun to my head all those years ago.” A smile tugged at her lips as she turned. “Luther, it’s time to clean up the mess of the last few years.”
“What would you like me to do, Mrs—um—Nerine—um—” His face reddened. “I’m not sure how to address you.”
Nerine’s smile disappeared, and she became all business. “What did you call me before the bastard betrayed the family?”
“What your father called you. The Angel when referring to you and Nerine when we spoke.”
“Then you have your answer.” She glanced over her shoulder in the direction of Andraius’s body. “Since we can’t dispose of him like the garbage he is, put him in the refrigerated holding room. Then have my library cleaned up. I’d prefer to have no trace of him in a room I use as my retreat.”
“After we investigate his death, don’t you mean?” Xander brought her focus to him.
She stared at him. “Someone killed him. I’m fine with it. Let’s bury him and move on with our lives.”
“No matter how happy you are with the outcome, we must find out who circumvented our security and attacked him in your library.”
“No one bypasses your security without detection, am I correct?”
“Yes.” The irritation on Xander’s face made it very clear the calm version of him had left the building and the one he rarely showed Nerine was about to appear. “Only an insider can circumvent it. Especially for your library.”
Something flashed in her eyes as if saying without words, “Are you so sure about that?”
The passageways.
She’d used them to get into the library. But how the fuck had Andraius? There had to be more, ones that weren’t on the old schematics of the mansion.
Fucking hell. Why hadn’t I thought of checking the room we locked Andraius in for any openings?
Too late to wonder now.
I was a fucking idiot. We’d put her in danger again.
“You act like you had extra precautions placed on this room.”
“You like to slip your detail, so I had to find alternatives to alert me when you decided to venture out.”
“As in?”
“There are sensors on all the doors, walls, and windows, including noise vibration alerts.”
Surprise flashed across her face, and then she pursed her lips. “Well, it looks like the latter was defective since Andraius made it into the room.”
“No, he had insider assistance.” Xander’s gaze swept over the men around him, conveying his intent to question everyone.
We’d always trusted the originals, but now a grain of doubt swept in. We couldn’t risk missing anything, not when there were too many unknowns.
“Have you questioned the men guarding his room?”
“They are your old team, Nerine.” Xander cocked his head to the side, a crease forming between his brows. “They would never betray you.”
Heat flared in her blue eyes, making me want to shake my head. This wasn’t the time or place for this.
“Then how did he leave his room without you knowing?”
“I’ll find out once I conduct my investigation.”
She licked her lips. “Good luck with that. Let me know what you discover.”
She circled Xander, and just as she attempted to pass me, I lifted my hand, blocking her path and forcing her to collide with my arm.
“Where are you going?”
She kept her face forward. “To move my things out of the rooms the dead man over there forced me to share with him for the last five years.”
“Not a chance.” I leaned down. “Until we clear the house, you will stay in the security center with Theios Alex.”
“You don’t give the orders, Theo. I’m the Angelos now, or were all those conversations we had you blowing out hot air to fill the time?”
Energy crackled between us, as it always did when she challenged me.
“Have you considered that the intended target for the attack might have been you, not Andraius? Perhaps, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Why would anyone target me? My life, my body, my assets are what give others power.”
“You think someone eliminated Andraius to replace him?”
She tilted her chin up, her cobalt eyes connecting with mine and her mouth curving a fraction at the corners. “Perhaps. All that matters to me now is that I’m no longer married.”
“Are you saying that you’re free now, Angel?” I asked in a tone that only she could hear.
A slight flush tinged her cheeks, and she set her palm over my forearm, pushing it down. “My freedom is very subjective.”
“Meaning?”
“Aren’t you the one who told me to grow up? I’m accepting my fate.” She took a few steps toward the security wing, paused, and then said over her shoulder, “You have two hours. No one will ever keep me a prisoner in this house again.”
“Our intention isn’t to keep you prisoner. It’s to keep you safe.” Xander defended our actions, but he had to know they were falling on deaf ears.
“What is that saying?” She tapped her lip. “Yes. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
* * *
Five minutes after we received the notification that Theios Alex had Nerine settled in the security wing lounge, Xander and I shut the door to the library, sealing the two of us inside.
Our men knew that until we finished our inspection, nobody would get on or off the property, and no form of communication would work.
I circled Andraius’s body and shook my head. “I have no fucking idea how she managed it, but she gutted the asshole.”
“Don’t you think I know this? Traces of whatever happened between them are covering this room.” Xander gripped the back of his neck.
“Traces?” I asked.
“Jackass.” Xander jerked his chin, indicating the wall to the side of us. “There is a smudge of something near the opening to the panel for the passageway. It’s this fucker’s blood. I guarantee it.”
Fear filled me. Nerine would not go down for this.
“We need to get it cleaned up. Eliminate anything that ties this to her.” A list of tasks ran through my mind, along with the crew I’d bring in to carry it out.
“No shit, Sherlock.”
I scanned the room for other spots of evidence. “Someone deactivated the noise sensors for this room. That means he had help getting in here.”
Both Xander and I looked up at the same time, and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was.
He asked, “You think one of the originals is playing both sides?”
“At this moment, I only trust Theios Alex, you, and me.”
Xander shook his head as resignation washed over his face. “Once news gets out, people will assume one of us did it.”
“You and I are clear since we were both in public with allies. She was in the house with him.”
“Who will believe a woman with half of Andraius’s body mass could gut him?”
“Only one person needs to contemplate it for vultures to circle. We protect her at all costs.”
Xander’s eyes narrowed in irritation.
At least that was better than the look of defeat from moments earlier.
“That’s all I’ve done since I met her, asshole.”
Suddenly a thought crossed my mind, and I had to ask his perspective on this big question now running in my mind. “Are we going to tell Nerine we know or wait to see if she says anything to us?”
“This is her secret. Our job is to protect her, which is what we will do.”
I released a deep breath. “We jumped from the pan into the fire.”
“At least she is ours now, free and clear.”
I shot Xander a glare. He was so fucking determined for the three of us to turn back time and fall into the relationship we’d once had.
It was hard to release the hurt of the past. When everything went down, he still had his parents, his extended family. I, on the other hand, had no one. Xander had no clue what it was like to be alone in the world.
“Keep dreaming. We are no way near close to making that a reality.”