“You have no idea what Bella went through back then, Jace. Your bruised pride was more important thananythingoranyone,so you never looked back. Maybe if you had, you’d have seen the destruction and anguish happening behind your fat head.” I drew a breath, trying hard to clarify the eight and a half years of resentment and hate that I’d built toward Jace.
He stared at me in bewilderment. “Angel, you can’t just—”
“Blame you? Guess what, Jace, I do. If she hadn’t loved you so much, she never would have lied. She never would have come crying, begging for my help when she found out she was pregnant atsixteen, Jace. Sixteen. She was achildmaking decisions no adult should even have to suffer, yet she lovedyouso much she was willing to break all our hearts. And it worked. Look at you now.” I gestured out the window as our car passed under an enormous billboard promoting Bellerose’s recent tour, with Jace Adams front and center, glaring at the camera like the world owed him a debt.
“Your entire career was built off of pain, Jace. Hers and mine. And you have the utter audacity to play the victim? Pull your head out of your fucking ass and look around. You were spared, but us? We weren’t so lucky. She lostherbaby. Penelope, by the way, because I bet you never even thought to ask.”
He reared back like I’d slapped him, and I was glad. At leastthathad an impact, hearing that Billie had named her baby after his grandmother.
“I didn’t…” He frowned, shaking his head. Denial. What a shocker. “No, that doesn’t excuse you both lying to me all these years. I had a right to know, Angel.”
I scoffed. “No, Jace, you didn’t. And right now, you’re just acting like a spoiled little brat. It’s not cute, and it’s sure as fuck not doing you any favors in winning her back.”
His jaw dropped. “I’m nottryingto win her back. That’s the last thing I want.”
“Sure, bro.” More denial. “Well, that’s probably for the best. Compared to Rhett and Grayson, you’re just a whiny little bitch with nothing to offer. If I were her, I wouldn’t come back to you either.”
I saw the punch coming well before it landed but didn’t move out of the way. He needed to vent, and honestly… I needed to feel something. Even if that something was his fist in my face.
“Child,” I spat, batting away his second attempt before it could land. Otherwise, I’d get angry and then accidentally kill him. Bellerose had lost enough members for one month. “Nice work proving my point.”
Thankfully, we arrived at the Big Noise recording studio before our little chat could get any further out of hand. Jace pushed open the door before the car fully stopped, storming up the entry path to the glass monstrosity without looking back. Classic Jace.
“Thanks,” I said to the driver, who was—quietly—on my payroll. Lots of the Bellerose staff were and had been for years. No one else needed to know that, though. They weren’t Ricci employees, butmine. “We’ll try to keep this quick.”
The driver nodded silently, indicating that he’d wait right there until we were done. The second car pulled up behind as I stepped out, and I waited for the three of them to get out.
“Brenda is on her way,” Gray told me, his expression dark. “She’s having a disagreement with Humphrey.”
Again?Her husband was a twat. She should have left him two years ago when she discovered he was cheating. Instead, she went and got knocked up.
“Jace is inside,” I said, nodding to the front door of the building. This wasn’t Big Noise Records’s head office, which was a high rise over in the business district. This was theircreation space,which was a sprawling glass building on the side of the river, fully decked out with state-of-the-art recording studios and countless songwriting rooms. “He’s in a mood.”
Gray arched a brow, catching on immediately. I might have made a few pointed comments over the last week that gave him an idea what I thought of my former best friend.
Rhett just slouched his way up the path, his shoulders hunched and his hands stuffed in the pockets of his coat. Gray wrapped an arm around Billie, tucking her small body against his broad frame, and a pang of regret snapped inside my chest.
She’d always have a piece of my heart, but I’d accepted a long time ago that we didn’t work together. There was too muchhistory… and pain. For now, I’d be content to just see her happy with her new future, free of my messy family politics.
“Where is everyone?” Billie asked as we entered the main foyer. There were a few decorated Christmas trees scattered around, along with an enormous contemporary, bronze sculpture suspended over the space, seemingly hanging in thin air. Creepy. Her voice echoed, and it filled me with unease. “Is it usually this quiet in here?”
Rhett glanced around and shrugged. “Everyone is on vacation already. Even the wankers who release Christmas albums have had them out for weeks already, so this place is probably only open for our meeting with Fucker.”
It made sense, but I couldn’t convince my instincts to calm down.
Gray exchanged a knowing look with me, then smoothly transferred Billie into Rhett’s care without her even sensing anything was wrong. “You two go on; they’re probably in the conference room,” he told Rhett. “I’m going to hit the restroom.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Rhett drawled, and I briefly wondered if he’d been drinking in the car. His drug dependency was a concern, for sure. But he protectively wrapped an arm around Billie and continued past the vacant reception desk.
We waited until they’d rounded the corner, then without a word, Grayson and I both pulled our weapons.
“I’ll take the ground floor,” I murmured. “You check the upper level.”
He jerked a nod, already moving toward the stairs on silent feet. Impressive, considering his size, the dress shoes he wore, and the marble floors.
Systematically, I checked room by room through the entire ground floor, trusting Grayson was doing the same on the upper level. When I returned to the foyer—bypassing the conference room where Billie, Rhett, and Jace were making uncomfortable conversation with a handful of corporate lawyers—Grayson was on his way back down the stairs.
“Anything?” I asked, already knowing his answer.
