Chapter 3
Adelaide scowled at the bookcase before taking a delicate sip of her juice through a straw. A ceramic vase teetered, then fell to the side with a clunk.
“Should I be worried? I know what you’re like when you don’t get that absurd brand of organic orange juice you’re obsessed with,” Ray stumbled. “Oops.”
I rubbed my forehead, where a dull ache was spreading. Not off to the best start.
She shot me a look. One that said, you’re supposed to be the responsible one. Adelaide might have gotten off a plane from Italy, but she smelled like fresh soap, and her hair bounced in glossy blonde waves. Jesse snorted as he followed her, lugging a bag.
“I made sure they had Orchard Hearth stocked in the car before it picked us up. Considering she’s walking into a shitstorm.”
I nodded my greeting to Briar and Logan, careful not to touch the former.
He kept a healthy distance from me as I followed.
He didn’t like to be touched by anyone but her, Briar or Jesse.
Her shoulders were hiked around her ears, and the furrow between her brow didn’t soften.
Adelaide didn’t wait for a guide, pausing in Ray’s open-plan living area.
Her gaze drifted over the modern furnishings, the trembling bookcase, and snagged on the discarded bottles and glasses.
“Did you take a bath in whiskey? You both stink.”
Ray tripped on his way to the kitchen stool, not doing himself any favors.
I looked at him through my periphery, my insides still on fire from our kiss earlier.
What happened? I’d been sinking into a pit of despair.
Fire at my feet, ash in my heart. I couldn’t stop the loop of Lara admitting she’d lied, contrasted with the terror that turned black as we pulled the cover over the grave.
I’d wanted to escape the feeling.
That didn’t happen to me. I was calm, collected, and stoic.
My emotions never got the better of me. Or they hadn’t until I met Lara.
She’d unraveled me in ways I couldn’t explain, and now I was paying the price for letting her in.
What had I done to deal with it? Only gone and let Ray slip under my skin with her.
Now they were both there, unforgettable echoes I couldn’t shake off.
Adelaide paced the room like a panther, but her guys made themselves at home, slumping on the chairs. Briar opened the pantry and rummaged.
“Anything unhealthy in here?” He poked his head out.
“My body is a temple.” Ray shook his head.
Even pickled in liquor, he was too handsome. A self-assured smile tipped his lips up when he caught me looking.
“Unless it comes to liquids, I suppose.” Adelaide turned her spotlight glare on me.
Ray wilted, relieved of the blistering force, while I grimaced. Adelaide and I had spent so many years together, with me protecting her back. So why did she have such a look of disappointment on her face? Like I’d failed her.
“Where’s Lara?” Adelaide’s hands dug into the back of the leather couch as she paced behind it.
Heat flooded my cheeks. Because of Lara, or because I’d been kissing the soul out of Ray only moments ago on that very couch?
Logan reached up and stroked her fist, but the queen of Greenich Bay stood undeterred. She flicked a sharp look at the continuous noise Beck was making.
“Does it have something to do with that?”
“It’s bad news. You might want to sit down.” I shot Ray a look, wondering if he would jump in and add anything useful.
He slipped off his stool and scurried into the pantry instead. Figures. I gritted my teeth so hard the molars cracked.
“Explain,” Adelaide barked, ignoring my suggestion. “Don’t slink away.”
Her heels clacked on the honey-warm wood floors as she glared at Ray’s disappearing form.
A shallow laugh sat in my throat. I might have let it out if I were Ray, or if I had a death wish.
I knew Adelaide when she was in a fury. She didn’t rage or raise her voice.
Her attention narrowed like a sniper with perfect aim.
There was only cold precision before she snapped.
Ray emerged chastised, his arms filled with bags of snacks and coffee pods. He stalled, popping a hazelnut-flavored one in his machine. Briar lit up, snatching a bag of pretzels and ferrying it back to the couch. My stomach turned. All the alcohol, rage, and regret churned.
“Sit down, boss,” I pleaded in a whisper.
Adelaide made a noise of protest, but Jesse tugged her into his lap.
She softened into him immediately, and I shot him a grateful look.
Ray brewed coffee for all of us, and the scent cleared my nostrils.
The throbbing in my skull intensified, and my tongue felt furry, but my fuzzy thoughts sharpened.
“I just spent days getting fucked into the perfect state of relaxation, and you’re about to ruin it, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” A rattling sigh escaped me as I sank onto the only free couch.
Ray settled next to me, not missing how I stiffened and moved away from his spread thighs.
He pursed his lips at me, but I ignored him.
Logic might be coming back to me in fragments, and with it was confusion.
Adelaide arched an eyebrow. Sweat peppered my lower lip as I tried to think how to break the news to her.
“Lara is a spy. A shadow organization sent her to infiltrate Greenich Bay.”
Adelaide wrapped her lips around her straw and sipped.
The noise drowned out as Briar, Jesse, and Logan let out noises of disbelief.
Jesse wrapped his arms around Adelaide, expecting her to fall apart, like we all did.
My lungs ached from holding them, and I searched for cracks in her famous composure.
There were none.
The story poured out of me about The Unseen and Lara’s involvement. About Ellington, the man she and Beck had been sent to find.
“Where is Lara?”
Ray and I fidgeted. I thought she’d be frigid with icy rage, but her face was carefully blank. The words to explain wouldn’t come. As if he knew my dilemma, the thudding on the wall intensified.
“She’s a traitor,” I said again, in case she didn’t understand.
How could she be so calm? Adelaide didn’t have friends, not like Lara. From the moment they met, it had been like two souls finding their other half. Adelaide had killed people for less, but there was no murderous intent in her manner. She flicked an impatient wrist at me.
“She lied to you.” I swallowed my espresso and put the mug to the side.
Why wasn’t she reacting like we had? Her face was eerily like stone. Adelaide crossed her arms and stared daggers at us both. Ray and I shared a look, his eyes bugging with confusion. Deep in my stomach, a knot formed and tightened.
“Where?” she repeated.
I knew Adelaide could control her emotions, but this was impressive.
This was a level I’d never seen before. Did she not care that her best friend had betrayed her?
She flattened her lips. There was no sound in the room apart from the dull thud as Beck threw himself against the door. Wasn’t he tired yet?
“W-we took her to your family plot,” Ray blurted out. “She wasn’t being entirely honest. We thought contemplating death might get her talking.”
Ray’s sneer faltered as Adelaide threw her hands up.
A reaction. Finally. Only, it wasn’t right.
She was angry with us, not Lara. A flare of frustration bubbled in my stomach as I sifted through everything we’d told her.
Did she not get the gravity of the situation?
Was she too jet-lagged to understand? Lara betrayed her. She’d lied to each of us.
“She’s claustrophobic, you idiots. Where is Beck? Where is the slimy fuck?”
My jaw fell slack. Ray looked away, his jaw clenched like he didn’t want to claim his part in what we’d done. It had been a joint decision, goddamn. I stood, my spine like a live wire down my back.
“Adelaide, you can’t trust her. Lara isn’t even her real name.” My voice shook.
“I’m going to get her right now.”
Adelaide snatched the keys from the table, her face white.
Her guys rose, ready to defend as I stumbled over and covered her hands in mine.
I clenched her fist. Hard knuckles and metal dug into me.
A flash of rage blinded me for a moment.
I still didn’t understand why she was so unflustered by the betrayal, but so angry about what we’d done.
“Let go.” Her whisper was a smoky warning.
I waded through the waves of conflicting thoughts.
Adelaide’s upper lip curled, and I knew if I didn’t let her go, she wouldn’t stop until I was on the floor.
But how could I? This wasn’t just business.
This was personal. Lara had wormed her way into every part of our lives.
I squeezed Adelaide’s hands, maybe too tight.
“Why? How is this so easy for you?” I sounded like a brat.
“Listen, Adelaide, you weren’t there when she admitted it. She—” Ray interjected.
“Was I asking for your opinion?” Adelaide slammed her boot into my foot, and I sprang back with a cry.
My blood raged under my skin, and my ears roared. Something in her expression broke me, reached into my stomach, and knotted my intestines. She should have wanted revenge. But instead, she wanted to rescue Lara.
Did we make a mistake?
“Where is your garage?” Adelaide flipped her hair and snapped her fingers at Ray.
“Lara isn’t your friend. She’s a goddamn liar, Adelaide.” Ray slid in front of her, arms outstretched.
Again, we shared a look, and confusion jangled between us. It tore into me until I struggled to breathe. Adelaide tipped her head up to meet his gaze. Ray was a head taller than her, but under her fierce expression, he stepped aside.
Adelaide’s nose lifted, and she sniffed. “Greenich Bay is my damn city, and I decide who I do or don’t trust. Never think you can tell me what to do, understand?”
Her words blasted a hole through my chest. I nodded before I even processed what she said. This was Adelaide Orazio. She didn’t cower to anyone, and she never took a step forward without weighing the cost.
“We did this for you, Adelaide,” I lied.
I’d been thinking of my mangled heart.
“Keep telling yourself that when you have to beg for her forgiveness.”
The thumping from the safe room intensified until Adelaide cursed under her breath. Ray hurried over and pressed the button on the safe room. The bookcase swung open as the door slid to the side. Beck stumbled out, wild-eyed, disheveled, and with bloody fists.
“Take me to her,” Beck demanded, stumbling to his knees. “Now.”
What was his problem? It was his idea to put her there. My stomach squirmed with unease.
“Lara will say anything to keep us from knowing the truth.” I wouldn’t stop trying to convince her.
“You don’t get to make demands.” Adelaide sneered at Beck before she whirled on Ray and me. “Do you really think she didn’t have you in her heart? Can’t you use your pea-sized brain for a moment and think there is more to this story?”
My stomach ached as if a shard of glass sliced through it. There had been some truth within the lies.
“Lara still has secrets.” Beck’s chest heaved.
“Don’t you mean Lyra?” Adelaide let out a dismissive click of her tongue.
I jerked as if her words were a belt slashed across my back. With one word, the formidable ruler of the Greenich Bay underworld gutted me.
“Lyra?” I croaked.