Goddammit.
Of course it had to bethatLucian. The very same Lucian that had been tied up in room nine and who’d caused Adrian all of his present problems. If it weren’t for Lucian, and Lucian’s willingness to skirt club rules, Sterling wouldn’t have spared Adrian a second glance. And if Sterling hadn’t noticed him that night—if Adrian hadn’t had a reason to be on his phone—then he wouldn’t have wound uppregnant.
“I know where Lucian is,” Adrian said with some finality. It was either they headed back to the Lowe estate and risk harm, or Adrian swallowed his pride and made amends with the enemy. When it came down to it, there was no choice. “Why don’t we talk to him? Would youlikethat?”
Gabriel’s eyes widened. “Are youserious?”
“I am.” Adrian put on a smile. “All I need to do is find his number, but I don’t think that will be hard. He used to work for Sterling, so Sterling must have his contact information somewherearoundhere.”
“And you’re not too jealous to talk to him? He worked for Sterling, so… I don’t know, you’re not jealous of that? If you’re not...” The beginnings of a grin exposed the tips of Gabriel’s teeth. “You’d really call him for me so wecanmeet?”
“I have nothing to be jealous over. Lucian is leading his life, and I’m leading mine.” Adrian wouldn’t get more involved in it than that. Until Gabriel had a better grip on reality, Adrian didn’t want to tell him about The Shepherd, or the things he’d done over the last two years. With a mindset like Gabriel’s, he wouldn’t understand the nuances. “I’ll call him. But in exchange, I’m putting you ondishduty.”
Gabriel sprang up from the bed and grabbed his bowl. Eyes wide with delight, he gestured to Adrian’s untouched breakfast. “Are you going to eat? I can save it for later. It’ll reheat really well, Ipromise.”
“Later sounds good. I’ve got a little too much going on right now to worry about eating.” Adrian passed Gabriel his bowl. “But I will eat it later. Thank you forcooking.”
Gabriel beamed. “Thank you for getting in touch with someone I know. Do you think Lucian will know whereGarrisonis?”
“I don’t know,” Adrian said truthfully. “The faster you go do dishes, the faster I can call him and we can findout,okay?”
“Yeah!” Full of energy, Gabriel rushed from the room. When the door closed behind him, Adrian let his head slump so his chin touched hischest.
If Lucian did know where Garrison was, Gabriel would never find out. That was information Adrian would take to thegrave.
And if it turned out he was close, Adrian didn’t care what it meant for his future—he would find that despicable excuse of a man, and he would kill him with his bare hands if heneededto.
Gabriel wouldneversee a man like thatagain.
24
Adrian
There wasa locked door down the hall, just shy of all the penthouse bedrooms. Adrian had passed by it a few times before, but he’d never let it bother him. It didn’t take much to figure out what was on the other side. Either Sterling had childproofed his sex dungeon in advance, or he kept his business there under lock and key. Adrian could think of no other explanation for why he’d need a door with an outward-facing lock in a penthouse he lived in as a bachelor. And if there were secret business-related documents so precious that they needed to be locked up tight on the other side of that door, that meant that Adrian would be able to find contactinformation,too.
Adrian wasn’t proud about breaking into Sterling’s office. No matter what he felt about Sterling, he knew it wasn’t right to intrude—but he also wasn’t interested in depending on Sterling any longer. Gabriel was his brother, and Gabriel’s problems were Lowe problems. To wait for Sterling to come home so he could ask permission to get Lucian’s number would be admitting that Adrian couldn’t take care of those closesttohim.
It wasn’t going tohappen.
With a fillet knife Adrian had found in the kitchen in one hand, and a flattened-out paper clip he’d bent at the very tip in another, Adrian went to work onthelock.
Once upon a time, in what felt like a distant reality, Adrian had learned lock picking out of necessity. After his first heat, his father—a staunchly ‘traditional’ man—had done what he’d felt was required to keep the sanctity of his household intact while he processed having sired an omega son: he’d locked Adrian in his room, and only allowed him out at designated times to make sure no one on the outside world learned who he really was. Three days into his imprisonment, bored out of his mind and affronted by his new reality, Adrian had taken it upon himself to break free. But even after his father had come to his senses and begrudgingly accepted his son’s lot in life, the ins and outs of picking a simple lock stuck withAdrian.
It wasn’t a skill he used often, but it had saved him more than once from sleeping outside after misplacing his keys following particularly wild nights at The Shepherd. And now, it was going to help him get to the bottom of what had happened to hisbrother.
Adrian slid the fillet knife into the bottom of the lock and tested its direction by turning it back and forth. When he found the correct way, he tilted the lock in that direction and slotted the paper clip in from the top. It took a little finesse and some luck, but as he slid the paper clip and did his best to manipulate the pins inside, eventually they fell into place, and the lock gave. With a satisfied grin, Adrian openedthedoor.
What he found inside wasn’t what he’dexpected.
For a moment, Adrian stood stunned in front of the doorway. He took in the room and did his best to compartmentalize what he was seeing, but his emotions were too scattered to dream of sorting them out so quickly. Cautiously, he stepped into the room and took acloserlook.
While the rest of the penthouse was darkly sophisticated and handsomely modern, the room Adrian found himself in was light and airy. White painted walls and broad, cheerful windows were immediately visible from the doorway, plain enough that they allowed the art on display to steal the show. Adrian’s eyes traced from one piece to the next, not sure what to makeofthem.
Children’s artwork hung in uniform intervals on the walls. Some of it was very juvenile—the stuff Adrian imagined a toddler would be capable of. Some of it demonstrated more skill. There was no rhyme or reason to how it was arranged, but there was a cohesion to the pieces that gave Adrian the sense that all of it was from the samechild.
Did Sterling havechildren?
If he was almost forty, it was very possible that he had a son or daughter who was alreadygrown.
