“It’s Jameson,” I corrected him, but he shook his head.
“No, dear. It’s Deboise. Whether you like it or not, if you topple a king or queen their subjects still require leadership. When you achieve your goals, the weight of cleaning up Militant Delta will fall to you and the other successors. Make sure you’re ready for that.” His handshake was firm. Professional. “Good luck, and don’t get killed. I’ve waited a damn long time to see those bastards receive their karma, and I have a good feeling that you’re the one who can make it happen.”
I cleared my throat nervously. “No pressure, though.”
Jarred Wells barked a laugh as he walked with me to the elevators. The whole office floor was empty, silent except for his assistant who had earbuds in, listening to music while she worked way past close of business. “No pressure.” Jarred laughed, indicating for me to step into the elevator then giving me a warm smile as the doors slid closed.
Alone for a few moments, I released a huge breath and scrubbed my hands over my face. He hadn’t said anything I hadn’t expected. Dante’s filewasn’tenough to lock Catherine up and throw away the key, but just in case, I’d had to try. And this was also a test. If Delta came after me now, I’d know that Wells was on the take, secretly.
And if they didn’t, we had an ally. Someone who was willing to help, and hadn’t been corrupted by greed and power.
The foyer of the tower Mr. Wells had his firm located in was just as quiet as the office upstairs. To be expected, I guessed, at almost nine at night. Good thing I had moved out of the Deboise manor already, so no one would see me sneaking home in the early hours of the morning by the time my car got back to Jefferson.
Beck and I had a rip-roaring fight about me going alone, because he was an untrusting bastard, but in the end, he’d had no choice. He had to be at the Delta party as the Beckett proxy, and I wasn’t willing to wait any longer. But I’d conceded on allowing his driver to take me in a town car—which had been waiting outside for me for at least the last half hour.
“Have a good evening, miss,” the security guard called out as I walked across the marble foyer and past his desk.
I flashed him a quick smile then stepped out onto the street. My car—a dark silver Rolls Royce Phantom—waited exactly where he’d dropped me off, and I clicked open the back door and hopped in without waiting for the driver to open the door. It always made me uncomfortable when they did that, like I wasn’t capable of doing it myself?
“Sorry, that took longer than I thought,” I apologized to my driver, Carl. “I hope you didn’t get grief from anyone for waiting here?”
No response came. Not even a nod of acknowledgement, nor did he start the engine.
“Carl?” I prompted, peering at the back of his head. He hadn’t even looked back to greet me when I got in, which was odd. It’d been a long drive down to the city, and I’d gotten a pretty clear sense of what a good guy Carl was.
A chill ran through me, and I sat forward in my seat.
Carl’s head was lolling to the side, and at first, I thought he was asleep. I wouldn’t have blamed him; it had been over an hour since I went into my meeting. But then I saw the smudge on his collar. It was just a shadow in the dark street, but when I lifted my phone and shone the light on it, red blazed at me.
I choked back a cry, slamming into my seat, my heart racing and limbs shaking.
Dead.
Sorrow for the man I’d only had a short time to get to know rose up in me. Carl had been a nice guy, older, with a couple of grandchildren. Some asshole had ripped him out of their world without a second thought, and it was my fault.
Flashbacks of my parents’ crash hit me, and a keening cry rose up in my chest. I tried to stop it from emerging, but I was fighting a losing battle. Delta had brought darkness into my world, a darkness that was threatening to consume everything and everyone.
What if I lost Beck and the guys? Eddy? I wouldn’t survive it.
My door wrenched open, and I screamed until the familiar dark lines of Beck’s face flashed in the limited light.
“Butterfly,” he bit out, his eyes running over me.
“You—” I coughed. “You followed me?”
He shook his head like I was a fucking idiot. “Of course I did. You demanded your independence, and while I accepted it, there was still no way in hell I was going to leave you to travel into the city without one of us.”
“Carl’s dead,” I said softly, my voice husky with tears. “Someone got to him while I was in my meeting.”
Beck’s eyes briefly flicked toward the driver, but then they were back locked on me. “I missed it because I was keeping an eye on you. We need to get out of here, Butterfly, and we need Carl and the car moved to another location. If this law firm is actually going to assist in taking Delta down, then there can be no ties to us found close by.”
I grabbed his arm, some of the clawing pain and panic in my chest easing at the warmth of his body. “We should go inside and ask Wells for help,” I said softly. “He’ll know … legally, the best way to deal with this. You know, before we all get charged with murder.”
Beck laughed darkly. “Being charged with murder is the least of our worries if Delta finds out we’re trying to take them down.”
His eyes rose to the impressive building I’d just left. Somehow, there was no one on the street still, but it was New York, and even though this law firm was down a side street, someone was still going to come by soon. We needed to get out of the car.
I pushed against Beck. “Come on, let’s get inside.”
