4. Lex
LEX
J uliet looks so fucking good dressed in my clothes. She would look even better out of them again.
Not now , I tell myself. I’m already walking a precarious edge. She wasn’t happy when she found my office, but she’s not running anymore, and that means something.
The two of us walk out into the hall and then farther into the living room.
Gio has showered and changed since I last saw him.
His bloodstained uniform is gone and replaced by jeans and a t-shirt.
Nolan looks freshly showered, too, though his clothes are a replica of what he wore when he showed up at Trail’s End.
I glare at my oldest friend as Gio dives past me for Juliet. Dimly, I listen to him ask her if she’s okay and her expected response. Nolan stares back at me, unflinching.
He wants me to accept what he’s done, but I don’t know if I can. More family in my life doesn’t mean good things. Thanks to his mother, he’s not quite as broken as I am. She tried to get him out and we all suspect Eliza knows what happened to Xavier Pierce. Still, she’s never said a damn word.
My mother, by comparison, was a weak woman—broken, desperate, and sad.
She never even tried to protect me from my father the way Eliza had.
Maybe if she’d been different… But no, thinking about the past changes nothing.
The future is here. The present is what I need to concern myself with.
That, and the very real possibility that Nolan is about to fuck up all of the plans we’ve had in place for years .
“When is he getting here?” I ask.
Nolan’s answer is immediate, as if he doesn’t want to prevaricate or extend this conversation. “He’ll be here in a few hours.”
I swallow. “And what did you tell him?”
I glance back meaningfully at Juliet as she huffs and shoves Gio off her as he tries to cuddle her and look her over for injuries before returning my gaze to the man in front of me.
It’d been no real surprise to me that Gio had lost his cool at Trail’s End.
The bloodthirsty behavior from him isn’t common, but it’s always been there.
This is the first time since that he’s felt safe enough to give her his undivided attention.
I don’t begrudge him the need to check her over.
“All he knows is we need his help,” Nolan replies. “I thought we could discuss what to tell him before he arrives.”
Resentment bubbles up in my chest. Another long moment passes and the anger finally pops, though it fades only slightly. Trust is something built over time. It takes effort and work and pain and sacrifice. Something that takes so long to create shouldn’t be so easy to break.
“I know you’re not happy with me right now,” Nolan says. “But I hope you’ll understand that I’m doing this for all of us, not just you.”
I know he believes that, truly. To the bottom of his soul, if any of us still have one left after all that we’ve done, Nolan is the one I would always trust to put the group’s needs before his own.
He was born to be a leader, to shield and protect.
Just as I was born to burn the world for one woman, if that’s what she chooses.
“What’s happening? Who’s coming?” The questions come from Juliet as she finally extracts herself from Gio’s clinging hands and steps up between Nolan and me.
Nolan casts her a look, his own eyes roving over her form. She notices and scowls his way. “I’m fine,” she snaps. “Answer the question.”
He smirks, the slightest twitching of his lips and the light curling of one side of his mouth brightening his otherwise severe features. Almost as soon as it’s there, though, the light smile is gone again, and he flicks his gaze back to me.
“The man who approached you in The Dionysus Lounge the night you hosted claims to be Lex’s uncle,” he says. “Apparently, he’s a big shot up in Eastpoint, and I spoke with him while we were there. He offered his assistance if we ever needed it. I called him when you were kidnapped.”
Juliet’s brow puckers as she listens to his explanation. “You called him?” she repeats. “Why?”
Nolan sighs and rakes a hand through his hair.
“Because I think it’s time we actually start taking action in getting rid of the one responsible for all the things that have been happening—Gio’s attack, your kidnapping, the fire, your father…
” He drifts into a pause as his hand falls back to his side.
“Gio and I worked the final kidnapper over before we got rid of any evidence, and he gave us a name.”
Juliet sucks in a sharp breath. “Who?”
Nolan doesn’t even bother to pretend as if he doesn’t know what she’s asking. He gives her the answer without preamble. “Morpheus Calloway.”
I’ve always watched her, so I know the way her reactions usually tend to show even when she doesn’t want them to.
Just the mere mention of Morpheus’ name has her shoulders stiffening and the muscles of her arms tensing as she balls her hands into fists.
Her lips firm, pressing together as the edges of her eyes crinkle the smallest amount.
“Morpheus?” she repeats his name with the soft lilt of a question at the end, almost as if she’s making sure she heard it right, and Nolan nods.
“He said that was the name of the man who hired them.”
Juliet remains quiet for a moment longer before her lips turn down. She turns away from us, stalking across the room before flipping back around. There’s a nervous energy about her. Her limbs tremble the slightest bit and she crosses her arms before uncrossing them again immediately.
“Are you sure?” she presses, tone tight and body still pulled taut, as if she might snap at any second.
Nolan frowns, but Gio beats him to the answer. “I promise you, Prep Girl,” he says. “That man wouldn’t have had the guts to lie when his were spilling out in front of him.”
Juliet wrinkles her perfect little nose. “That’s disgusting,” she mutters before shaking her head. “No, I believe that’s what they told you, but…” She lifts her hand and bites down against her thumbnail as she plants her other hand on her hip, contemplation taking over her features.
“What is it?” I ask, pressing.
She huffs out a breath and drops her hand from her lips.
“They got a phone call,” she says. “When I woke up in Trail’s End, one of them was around the other side of the train car I was next to and I overheard him—someone had changed the requirements of their job.
It sounded like they were only meant to take me, maybe deliver me somewhere, but then their leader got that call and he said something about getting rid of me—of making me disappear. ”
Kill. They had intended to kill her.
Violent desire slams into me. If Morpheus Calloway thinks he can steal her from me, I’ll skin the fucker alive.
I know exactly how I’ll do it too—slow, starting from the top of one toe and carving a path across every inch of him, flaying back his flesh until he’s nothing but bone and muscle.
Then, once that’s done, I’ll carve out his own eyeballs and stuff them into his ass so he can watch as he shits himself to death while I start on the individual tendons and muscles.
“It doesn’t make any sense.” Juliet’s words drag me back to the present and out of what I’m planning on being a very near future. When no one immediately responds, Nolan takes the first step towards her.
“Why?” he asks.
Her head lifts and Juliet looks at him. Her lips twist into something that’s halfway between a frown and a grimace.
“It’s… Morpheus is…” She bites down on her lower lip and I tense at the familiar emotion that enters her eyes.
It’s only there for a brief moment, a flash of something sinister in her gaze, before she looks away, hiding it.
When she looks back it’s gone, but I know what I saw and I won’t let her hide from us anymore.
“What are you afraid of?” It’s my turn to make a demand.
Blue eyes snap to my face. “I’m not afraid of anything.” She says the words so quickly that I know she doesn’t mean them. Everyone has fears. Mine is losing her.
“You’re afraid of Morpheus,” I snap. “Why?”
She shakes her head. “He wouldn’t want me dead,” is all she says. “It doesn’t seem like something he would ask of them.”
Then what does he want? I narrow my gaze on her, but before I can push for more answers, Nolan speaks again. “Regardless, he does seem to be a problem. He’s also attached to a lot of the issues that have been circling you,” he says. “Lex has been looking into your father’s embezzlement.”
“I know.”
Nolan blinks and then looks at me. “She knows everything,” I tell him.
Gio gapes at her before swapping to just outright staring at me. “ Everything? ”
“I know he’s been stalking me for thirteen years,” Juliet answers.
From Nolan: “ Shit. ”
From Gio: “What the fuck did we miss?”
“It happened not long before you showed up,” I say.
Gio’s attention lands back on Juliet. “And you’re… cool with that?” He sounds surprised. If he only knew how close I think we came to me having to tie her to my bed to keep her from running.
Juliet shrugs. “I’m not cool with the porno I unintentionally starred in.”
“What?” Nolan swings his head around to me and then Gio. “What the fuck did you?—”
“I thought you looked rather hot.” Gio, the ever-fucking stupid pussy king grins as he offers his own review. “So did I. If you wanted, we could make another?—”
Nolan doesn’t let him finish the statement. Instead, he punches him, and Gio’s head shoots back as blood gushes from his nose. “The fuck, man!” Gio cups a hand over his face and glares watery eyes in Nolan’s direction. “I just cleaned up all the blood!”
Juliet laughs. “It’s no less than you deserve,” she says before walking past him.
My whole body goes rigid as she passes me, her scent drifting nearer.
Her hand grazes my arm and I want to reach out and yank her back into me.
As much as I love my brothers, they’d come back far too soon.
A few more minutes and I would have had her on her back, her legs tangled around my waist and no memory of that damn video left in her mind.
She takes a seat on the couch and pulls herself up to sit cross-legged. “So, the guy,” she prompts the rest of us. “He’s coming here to help us deal with Morpheus?”
Nolan gives Gio one last withering look before he stomps over and drops onto the couch opposite of Juliet. “Yes,” he says.
“And he’s Lex’s uncle?” she clarifies.
I scowl, but I’m not angry at her. Mitchell Vikson is nothing more than a reformed gangster who used to work for rich pricks up in Eastpoint.
I’d already looked him up after the meeting at The Dionysus Lounge.
He’d spent some time in prison, earned a degree in psychology, and when he got out, he went to work for a man known as one of the most powerful and richest men in America. Nicolas Carter.
From what I could find, he used to run various nightclubs for the man.
But about a decade ago, he’d gone into business for himself and practically dropped out of the public eye.
On paper, he’s not nearly as rich as the Carters, but he’s of the wealthier classes, thanks to investments and properties.
No doubt, he’s still got an in with the upper echelon and yes, damn it, I did trace him back to Silverwood and to my mother.
The relation is weak, half-siblings that were never raised to even know one another.
It means nothing, and the fact that he’s looking to connect with me can only mean he wants something.
“Do you think Morpheus framed my dad?” Juliet’s question hangs in the air like a disease. None of us want to look at it or acknowledge it, but not doing so would hurt her more than the truth.
I release a slow breath and make my way towards her. She tenses as I go to my knees in front of her and take her hands in mine.
“Yes,” I say. “It looks like he might be the one behind the actual embezzlement. Your father claims that he had access to everything—all of the evidence could have been planted and from how obvious the paperwork makes your father out to be the culprit, I’m betting on it.”
Her jaw clenches. “For money?” I tilt my head to the side and gaze up at her. The question almost makes me wonder if she’s hoping that to be the answer and not something else.
My voice dips. “Unless there’s something you’re not telling us?”
Juliet withdraws from my grip, tugging at her hands until I’m forced to release her or hold on tight enough to bruise. She pushes a loose strand of hair back behind her ear. “Everything’s always about money,” she sighs.
“That’s why we need Vikson,” Nolan says. “If we were to accuse Morpheus Calloway without any evidence, Silverwood would run us out of town.”
“Yeah.” Gio snorts as he finally turns and heads into the kitchen.
The sound of ripping paper towels echoes back to us a moment before he reappears, his voice muffled behind the bloodied towels as he speaks.
“He’s practically Silverwood’s resident savior and saint.
” G rolls his eyes. “No one with that amount of money is ever actually that good or kind.”
“He saved a lot of people’s homes at the beginning of the embezzlement scandal by hosting charity functions and donating large sums to help all those affected,” Nolan murmurs. “It does make you wonder… if this is about money, why would he try to give it all back?”
“Maybe it’s about the business,” Gio suggests. “He didn’t want to share it anymore?”
I’m still on my knees, staring at Juliet as she avoids my attention. There’s more. I know it, but she’s scared. Even if she won’t admit the truth, I see the secrets in her every move. I won’t stop until I uncover each and every one of them.