“I think it’s a student,” one of them said.
I didn’t think much about it. I just made a decision.
“You spent almost four months in juvenile detention,” Axel probes. “Why?”
I only intended to take a spin around the adjacent neighborhood and return the car. Just enough time for Eden to get back to the party. But in my anger, I drove past the house, taunting Mr. Stewart, which led to him calling the police. I told the girls to jump out when I knew we’d been caught. They had records, and I didn’t. Squealing would’ve made it all for nothing. The teacher would have paid, but Eden would have too. Her whole identity was tied to being the golden child.
None of it mattered in the end. He broke things off with her. We became known as the family with the bad seed. The scandal of me being arrested far upstaged her graduation. And Eden blamed me.
But I don’t say any of that or tell them the whole story. “I weighed my options and did what made sense … to me. I was fifteen. Wisdom was a long way off.”
“Explain,” Axel demands, calm and chilling. “There were others involved. You could have walked away free.”
I can’t keep the exhaled irritation from puffing out of me. “Why are we rehashing this? I’ve lived a life as long as that one since then. If you’re looking for questionable behavior, I’m sure there are plenty of examples from the last decade.”
“Indulge us,” Ryker coaxes, leisurely lifting his drink. “You blew your entire life up because …”
Despite his relaxed demeanor, it’s clear this isn’t a request. Somehow, it always comes back to this—someone with an upper hand.
“That asshole teacher was twenty-four. My sister was turning nineteen in July. It was inappropriate, but a month later, when she graduated, it wouldn’t have been. Except to my parents, which meant everything to Eden. And when it came down to the crime I was charged with, Iwasguilty. He was a jerk to turn me in after what he did, but I’d made the decision to steal that car. As I told the DA countless times, the other kids wouldn’t have stolen the car without me. I wasn’t going to blow up someone else’s life to free myself.”
“Noble. And reckless.” Axel takes his glasses off, setting them on the table and shutting the file. It seems reading time is over. “That was intriguing. But it was your answer to why you wanted the job that really clinched it. Most people blow smoke up my ass. You told me you belonged here. And I believed you.” He scratches his neatly trimmed stubble, surveying me. “So, do you?”
I buy some time, sipping my Kraken and ginger ale, before reiterating his query. “Do I … belong here?”
“Yes.”
Am I being dismissed? Wouldn’t that be something? I fall for a man who makes this place feel more like home than ever, and they kick me out.
“At La Lune Noire?” I ask for clarity.
Axel spins his watch, eyeing it before his attention rises to me. “Is that how you interpreted the question? You think my concern is whether you belong at La Lune Nore?”
That’s a bit condescending.
Understanding dawns on me. “Do I belong in the penthouse? Uh … probably not. You said it. I’m from the country, and I’ve made some questionable decisions. Reckless ones. I’m aphenomenal Noire employee. I would challenge anyone who said otherwise. But I won’t dispute that I’m not quite right for this elevation.” All true, and yet I’m enraged. “The thing is, I didn’t ask for it.”
“We know that,” Ryker assures me. “From what we’ve pieced together, you ended up here for the same reason we’d hired you. Without hesitation, you did what needed to be done when someone was in trouble, regardless of what crossing those lines meant for you.”
I don’t flinch at the fact that Maddox must’ve told them I killed Niko Makarov, but it disappoints me. Only because he swore he wouldn’t tell anyone. Otherwise, informing his brothers makes sense. And I wasn’t expecting an accolade from them, so that’s something.
Axel reads me anyway. “He didn’t tell us. In fact, his story about recent events is solid, but based on those involved, we deduced our own version.”
Relief floods me. “I see.”
He swills his whiskey, and even that move is regal and commanding. The whole room stills until the king finally speaks. “Which makes you perfect to be Maddox’s queen.”
My brows knit together. I’m rarely shocked by people, but this family has a way of throwing me off.
“That being said,” he goes on, “my doubts would be minimal about this, except you also fought hard to leave and were brought back due to unfortunate circumstances. So, I need to know where your head is at. You’re in this penthouse, attached to a man who is deeply in love—”
“No. Not love.” I raise a palm because things with Maddox were already zooming forward at warped speed. “We’re just … he hasn’t said that.”
Ryker tosses his dice onto the table, watching them roll. “Men like us don’t say that to a woman who is a flight risk. Thatdoesn’t make it untrue. But you’re right. Axel and I can’t speak for Maddox.” He peers at me. “Let’s say, hypothetically, Maddox is in love with you. Would you call your parents and tell them that you’re with him? That he’s your future?”
“Hypothetically?” I parrot.
“Yes.”
