Oh shit.
“Yeah, he did,” Theo said. “No thanks to y?—”
“I’m just glad I heard the gunshot that alerted me to where he was,” I interjected, giving Theo’s hand a squeeze. “If I’d gotten there a few seconds later then he wouldn’t be standing here right now.”
King’s eyes met mine. “You were right to stay.”
I heard the rest of that sentence, what he didn’t say.And I was wrong.
Would it come eventually? King wasn’t the apologizing type, but there definitely needed to be a conversation about the shit that went down—just not right now, in front of everyone.
“Will you tell us what happened?” The question came from the man standing apart from the rest of us, his arms crossed over his t-shirt and his long, dark hair hanging down to shade his face. The look of him took me by surprise, because this wasn’t the sarcastic, animated Alessio I was used to. His face was more drawn, dark circles beneath eyes that looked…defeated. I’d never seen him as anything less than confident to the extreme, but it was obvious he’d been through it the last few weeks.
King stepped back and gestured for us all to take a seat at the table. I took my spot to the left of him, only this time instead of sitting on King’s right as he usually did, Theo moved to the chair on the other side of me.
I watched as Lucien raised his brows before he took Theo’s empty spot, shifting the dynamics of our group with a simple move. Simple, yet significant, and my chest grew warm as Theo lounged back and shot me a wink.
When everyone was settled, I looked over at King. “Where should we start?”
“At the beginning.”
“Oh boy,” Theo muttered, taking out a kretek and lighting up.
Hell, I didn’t smoke, but it would’ve probably been smart to, considering the direction the conversation was about to head. Before we’d arrived, Theo told me he wanted me to take the lead on recounting the last few weeks, and remembering how hard it’d been to get information out of him in the first place, I figured it was the best way to go.Otherwise we’d be here all night.
I started at the beginning, from the very first threat we’d received, and laid it all out there. From the fake videos of Theo supposedly causing an explosion in Istanbul, to the intimate photos taken of us in Osaka, and what happened with Theo’s attempted assassination in Cardiff, I told and showed them everything. We didn’t have anything to hide, not anymore, and it was past time we all got on the same page.
“The explosion was fake?” Benoit asked, confusion marring his brow as he glanced at Alessio for confirmation. I answered instead.
“The explosion in Istanbul happened. It just wasn’t because of Theo. Someone doctored the video.”
“But—”
“I said it wasn’t fake,” Alessio said, staring down at the table. “I was wrong.”
The entire group went silent, and Lachlan looked like his jaw had just become unhinged. Those three words had never come out of Alessio’s mouth before, and the fact that he was so obviously down on himself rattled me in a way I hadn’t expected.
“The photos of you in Osaka are real, though?” Lucien asked carefully.
I nodded.
“And the man who set the car explosion, the one you took out in Cardiff,” Lucien said to Theo. “He and the man who kidnapped you, you think both are working for the same person?”
Theo blew out a stream of smoke and tapped his kretek against the crystal ashtray. “Looks like it.”
“Looks like it? You didn’t question them?”
“It was a little life-or-death, so no, I didn’t tie them up and interrogate them. My bad.”
Lachlan shrugged. “I wouldn’t have either.”
“No one blames you,mon ami,” Benoit said. “But it’s not exactly helpful in discovering who is accountable for the attacks on you.”
“We believe it’s in-house,” King said. “A Libertine member who’s been flying under the radar. Perhaps playing a long game.”
“So we interrogate them all, one by one.” Lachlan sat up and cracked his knuckles. “I’ve got a few methods that’ll have them coming clean in no time.”
“We’re not torturing our members.”
