Chapter 14 You Know The Rules #3
Callum rose from his desk, already calculating how much damage control this situation would require. “What happened?”
Greyson stalked to the center of the room, his movements like a caged predator—controlled, but barely. His hands opened and closed repeatedly, as if seeking something to destroy.
Lira took three rapid steps away from him toward Callum, removing herself from the reach of his fury. Callum reached for her, his hand finding the dip in her waist and pulling her one step closer.
“What’s wrong?” Lira asked, concern etching her voice.
“She’s in my home.” The words came out like they’d been ripped from Greyson’s throat. “That fucking Daggermouth is in my home.”
Callum’s spine fully straightened at the revelation.
“I nearly killed her this morning. Had my hand around her throat, could feel her pulse racing under my fingers. If she’d stayed a second longer, just one more second, I would’ve snapped her neck. Would’ve crushed her windpipe and watched her die on my bedroom floor.”
Finally Greyson stopped pacing, turning toward them as he dragged a hand over his mask.
“He would have killed me for it.” Callum knew who he meant, even without the name.
“He wants her alive, needs her alive for whatever plans he has for New Found Haven. Like she’s not the same filth that killed Brooker. ”
Callum moved from behind his desk.
“You need to breathe, Grey.” He kept his voice deliberately calm, a counterpoint to Greyson’s fury.
Greyson’s hand went to his abdomen reflexively. “I have to marry her. A fucking farce of a Vow ceremony. My punishment for making him look weak.”
Lira’s sharp intake of breath drew both men’s attention. Something passed over her posture—a subtle shift that Callum recognized as guilt. Callum’s eyes narrowed behind his mask, assessing her.
“How long have you known?” Greyson asked, his voice dropping dangerously as he turned to fully face his sister.
“Known what?” Lira’s attempt at innocence fell flat.
“Don’t.” Greyson took a step toward her. “You’re many things, Li, but you’re not a liar.”
Silence stretched between them, taut as wire. Callum watched the siblings, sensing the explosion building. He’d seen this before—Greyson’s rage, Lira’s stubbornness, the Serel temper that lived in both their blood.
“What do you know?” Greyson demanded.
She straightened, squaring her shoulders. Preparing for impact. “Mother and I suggested the Vow to Maximus. The arrangement to her.”
The words fell like stones into still water, ripples of shock expanding outward. Greyson went perfectly still, the kind of stillness that preceded violence.
“You did what?” The question came out soft, which was worse than shouting.
“We suggested the marriage as a way to save your life,” Lira continued, words rushing out now.
“The Daunts wanted you executed for removing your mask. The law is absolute—you know that. But Mother knew there was a loophole for when masks fall in accidents. We convinced him that a Vow to her would serve his purposes better.”
“Death wouldn’t have been the worst outcome.”
“Don’t say that,” Lira whispered, her voice cracking. “I can’t lose you too.”
Callum watched his friend’s posture shift, the rage momentarily giving way to something more vulnerable before hardening again.
“So you decided that forcing me to live with my would-be killer was the better option?” Greyson’s laugh was hollow. “Brilliant plan, Li. Truly inspired.”
“It bought us time,” Lira insisted. “Time to find another solution.”
“What solution would that be? For her to finish the job? For Father to parade us around like some perverse symbol of the Heart’s power?
You trapped me with her.” Greyson’s voice was still soft, still controlled, but Callum could see the muscle jumping in his jaw, the way his hands curled into fists.
“You put that murderer in my home, in my bed—”
“She sleeps in the guest room,” Lira corrected.
“That’s not the fucking point!”
The shout exploded from Greyson without warning, loud enough that Callum instinctively stepped between the siblings. He knew Greyson would die before he ever lay a hand on his sister, but he knew Lira, and she would absolutely pummel the shit out of him for speaking to her like this.
“Enough,” Callum said firmly, one hand on Greyson’s chest, the other held up toward Lira. “Both of you. This isn’t helping.”
“She betrayed me,” Greyson snarled.
“She saved your life, dumbass,” Callum countered. “Even if the method was shit, the intention was good.”
“I don’t care about intentions—”
“Yes, you do.” Callum pushed harder against Greyson’s chest, forcing him back a step. “You care because she’s your sister and she loves you, and she was terrified of losing you. Just like we all are.”
The fight went out of Greyson as quickly as it had come, his shoulders sagging.
“I don’t know if I can pull this off,” he muttered. “I don’t know how long I’ll last in that apartment without killing her.”
“Then we fix it,” Callum said simply.
Both siblings looked at him.
“How?” Lira asked, her posture softening.
“Sit,” Callum ordered, gesturing to the leather chairs arranged around a low table. “Screaming at each other won’t solve anything.”
To his mild surprise, they obeyed. The siblings settled into chairs across from each other, the tension between them still palpable but slightly diminished.
Callum crossed to the bar, pouring three glasses of whiskey. He handed one to Greyson, who took it mechanically, and offered another to Lira. This one she accepted with a nod of thanks as Callum leaned against the ledge of his desk across from them.
“We get her on our side. Your father isn’t wrong that she should be used as an asset, just not his asset.” He took a sip of his whiskey. “Let’s be methodical about this. What do we know about her habits? Vulnerabilities? Weaknesses?”
Greyson’s laugh was bitter. “We’ve been living together for less than twenty-four hours. All I know is she drinks more vodka than any person I’ve ever met, has no respect for privacy, and can take a fucking beating. She’s strong, it would be stupid to underestimate her.”
Callum nodded. “So, the baseline is this—you want to kill her because she’s a Daggermouth, and Daggermouths killed Brooker, and she wants to kill you because you’re . . . well, you’re you. Is that right? Am I missing anything?”
Greyson sucked his teeth at the small hint of sarcasm in Callum’s voice. “No,” he gritted out.
“I’m going to state this plainly, and I know there are underlying factors to your role and why you do it, so don’t rip my head off.
She has every reason to hate you, to hate the Serel family.
But specifically you, for what you do on that platform.
” Callum paused, gauging how his words landed, testing the waters before he spoke more truths.
When Greyson didn’t respond, he continued.
“I understand why she wants you dead. If I was from the Boundary, if I didn’t know you and only saw the man on the platform pulling the trigger, I would probably feel the same as her.
You have every reason to hate her as well, for what Daggermouths did to your brother.
But you don’t know that it was her, and this may be your opportunity to finally get the name of his killer. ”
Greyson’s head slowly rose, his chin tilting up to meet Callum’s eyes. “What are you saying?” The question had the same sharp edge of a threat.
Callum leaned forward, setting his whiskey glass down on the table between them with a soft clink.
He met Greyson's eyes, holding his gaze steady. “I’m saying you need to learn to live with her, at least for now. Get close to her. Get her comfortable enough to share what she knows about Brooker, about Jaeger. Then we publicly out her for turning on the Daggermouths and being part of the scheme to bring down the Serels, to bring down the Heart.”
Greyson considered Callum’s words.
“Maximus will have no choice but to execute her when that information is made known, and both your problems will be solved. You’ll know who killed Brooker and you’ll be released from your Vow to her.”
Lira leaned forward, her elbows resting on her knees as she turned to Greyson. “It could work. If we play this right, it’ll make her a liability, back Father into a corner.”
“Outside of the Daunts and the Veyra, does anyone in the Heart know who she is? That she’s a Daggermouth or that she tried to kill him?” Callum asked Lira.
Lira paused for a moment, as if she was sifting through thoughts. “No, I don’t think so. As far as I’m aware, no one outside the inner circle, and the highest ranking Veyra knows there was even an assassination attempt.”
“What about the prisoners she was locked up with?” Greyson asked, an edge creeping into his voice.
“Dead,” Lira answered quietly. “Either killed in the prison yesterday or . . .” She trailed off, but they all knew what went unsaid.
Or Greyson would be putting a bullet in their skull on that platform before they could tell anyone.
Callum nodded slowly, pushing the thought from his mind as the pieces began clicking into place. “Good. We need to keep it that way, this secret gives us power too.”
Greyson drained the rest of his whiskey, then set the glass down. “And what happens when the Daggermouths see her with me? When they refuse to believe she would willingly take the Vow or turn on them, and start an uprising?”
A valid concern, Callum had to admit. Callum had worked with many of them over the years, when procuring items off the black market for his clients.
Jaeger’s assassins were fiercely loyal to their own.
The idea of one of their best operatives not only failing to kill her target, but marrying him instead, would be met with skepticism at best and violent retribution at worst.
He drummed his fingers against his thigh, mind racing through contingencies and potential pitfalls. “We’ll cross that bridge if it comes to it,” he said finally. “But if we do this correctly, she’ll be dead before they can mobilize.”
Greyson’s jaw worked and Callum watched as he turned the plan over in his mind.
“So what now?” he asked, not bothering to hide the bitterness in his tone. “I just play another role, pretend I actually want to get to know her? That I’m some doting fiancée and not imagining all the ways I could end her life every time I look at her?”
Callum’s head tilted, studying Greyson’s face through the slits in his mask. “What does she look like, anyway? Objectively. Is she attractive, at least?”
Greyson didn’t respond, just stared at him with that flat, unreadable expression he’d perfected over the years. The one that could make even the most hardened Veyra officer’s blood run cold.
“I haven’t noticed,” he finally answered.
Callum’s smile turned knowing. “Sure you haven’t. Well, try to notice. Might make playing the role a bit easier if you can find something appealing to focus on. Just be careful, Grey. Don’t go falling for your fake wife.”
Lira scoffed at the statement as Greyson grimaced, disgust twisting his features. “I’d never touch a Daggermouth.”
“Good. Then this should be simple. Make her trust you. Make her think you’re on her side, that you’re falling for her and understand her hatred for the Heart.
Get her to confide in you about the Daggermouths, about their operations, their contracts.
If you can get her talking, she might let slip information about Brooker’s killer.
” He kept his voice casual, as if they were discussing the weather and not a plot to manipulate and destroy a woman.
“Fine,” Greyson finally sighed after a long pause. “I’ll do it. But if we’re going to sell this, I need you to come back to the apartment with me. Help me clear out my father’s surveillance, we need the place clean if I’m going to make this convincing.”
Callum nodded, pushing off the ledge of his desk and stretching his neck to ease the tension that had settled there. “Let’s do this. The sooner we get this done, the sooner you can start working on your little Daggermouth wife.”
He needed Greyson focused, not constantly looking over his shoulder wondering what his father might overhear.
The siblings stood in tandem, Lira’s eyes darting between them. “What can I do to help?”
“Get her a mask,” Greyson answered, his tone now resigned. “Something a Daggermouth would like. Something she would like.”
Lira’s brow furrowed behind her mask. “Won’t she get one before the ceremony? When they introduce her into Heart society?”
“It’ll be my first gift to her,” Greyson responded. “Before the family dinner tomorrow.”
Greyson released a heavy sigh, then swung his arm over her shoulders and pulled her toward him. “Thank you, Li. And I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have taken my anger out on you.”
Callum smiled as he watched Lira’s fingers wrap around Greyson’s forearm as he pressed his lips to the top of her head.
He had no siblings, no family that cared for him as they cared for each other.
Greyson was the closest thing to a brother he would ever have, and he would do anything for him—for them.
This plan, as neat as it sounded in theory, felt fragile. Too many variables, too many ways it could shatter.
Greyson was already moving toward the door, purpose in his stride. Callum followed, casting one last glance at Lira. Her posture had gone rigid again, the mask of Heart perfection sliding back into place as she dipped her chin.
The thump of the club’s music and pulsing neon lights washed over them as they stepped out of his office and made their way down the stairs.
Greyson moved through the crowds like a shark through water, parting bodies with his mere presence.
Callum kept pace, his mind still turning over the details of their scheme.
Get the Daggermouth to trust Greyson. To confide in him.
To let her guard down just enough to reveal her secrets.
It sounded simple, but Callum knew better.
This woman had tried to kill Greyson, had come closer than anyone ever had.
She was dangerous, unpredictable. And now she was living in Greyson’s home, sleeping under his roof.
The unease in Callum’s stomach twisted tighter.
He knew Greyson, knew the darkness that lived behind his friend’s eyes.
The violence that simmered just beneath the surface, always one trigger pull away from erupting.
Putting him in close quarters with a Daggermouth was like trapping a wolf and a lion in the same cage.
Blood would be spilled. The only question was whose.