“And me,” Jasmine speaks. “Alexa just gave me one yesterday.”
“I know you didn’t do this.” She waves her off.
“You think your brother did?” Jasmine goes on.
“No.” She shakes her head. “Maybe he lost his key.”
“Or maybe he gave it to someone,” I offer.
Everyone’s head snaps up in my direction.
“He’s framing you.” Bones is the one who speaks to me, mimicking my thoughts.
“Who?” Alexa demands. “And why would they frame you by catching my bar on fire?”
“Because this is what I do,” I answer, flipping my Zippo open and closed.
Her eyes widen at my honesty. “I don’t understand,” she mumbles.
That’s because you don’t know me.Not the real me. I walk over to the side of the couch and pick up my duffel bag. Dropping it onto the coffee table, I look at Jeffrey. “It’s all there.”
He nods. “As always, it’s nice doing business with you Kings.” He picks up the bag, and Titan helps him out the door.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
ALEXA
MY BAR WASburned down. Well, thankfully, it didn’t ruin everything. It’s salvageable. Thank God. The structure is still there from what I saw. The police wouldn’t allow me to walk through it. Said it wasn’t safe. I’ll go back tomorrow and see what kind of damage was really done.
Titan closes the door and comes back to the living room with us. Leaning forward, I place my face in my hands. “I’m confused.” I look up, and my eyes land on Cross. “Tell me what is going on,” I demand, getting irritated.
“Do you remember the burning of St. Mary’s Cathedral last year?” Jasmine asks me.
I whip my head around to stare at her sitting beside me. “Yeah?”
I stand behind the bar, cleaning it up after closing with the TV on. I normally never watch it but was tired of silence while being here alone.
A reporter stands in front of the once St. Mary’s Cathedral. Smoke fills the night while firefighters try to put it out behind her. At this point, it’s a total loss. “At this time, some are throwing speculation out regarding arson, but nothing has been confirmed yet.” It goes to a commercial, and I turn it off and throw my towel onto the bar, ready to go home.
It was hard to miss. It was heartbreaking because it was so pretty. “What about it?” I ask Jasmine. What does that have to do with my bar?
She looks over my shoulder for a quick second and then back to me. “That was Cross. He set that fire.”
I slowly stand and turn to where I can face him. He leans against the bar in the kitchen, looking at me unphased. “You set the cathedral on fire?” I ask slowly, expecting him to laugh at me. That’s absurd, right?
He doesn’t answer. Just fucking silence.
“Why would you do that?” I demand, still thinking it’s impossible.
“Because a friend needed him.” Titan is the one who answers.
“What kind of friend has you do that?” I snap.
“One who loves his wife,” Bones answers.
“What—?”
“We had some friends who were to be married there,” Jasmine interrupts me. “Someone wanted them dead, and we had been told that it was going to happen while at their wedding. The Kings were going to attend. It would have been mass casualties,” Jasmine says softly, staring down at her hands in her lap. “Cross set it on fire and saved all of us that would have been there in attendance.” She swallows. “He paid off the fire marshal then too so the report would show no foul play.”
