“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.
5
JULIET
Bile sits on the back of my throat. Lex’s attention bores into the side of my face, stinging like a sunburn, but I don’t look back. I can’t.
The nightmare might be real to me now, but I don’t have to share it with the others. I might remember what really happened, but that doesn’t mean I have to tell him. I can keep the secret and no one ever has to know what I did… what I failed to do.
“Juliet?”
I blink and turn my head, realizing Nolan’s calling my name. “Huh?”
“Did you hear what I said?” He frowns after me. Just hours before, he’d stood before me like a god of death, holding out the tool of my own revenge. I glance over his form, but there’s no bulge on his lower back where he rests against the couch that would tell me he still has the gun on him. Does he not carry it all the time? No, he can’t. They don’t allow weapons in school, and the metal detectors would definitely pick up on a handgun.
“Sorry, spacing out,” I mutter with a shake of my head. “What’d you say?”
