Something cracked. I saw the moment her control shattered into a thousand pieces, like mine threatened to do every day. The girl I grew up with rarely raised her voice or let anger get the better of her, even when I’d called bullshit on her story.
But now, the dam holding all that rage back vanished.
Releasing a feral scream, Lexi grabbed a decorative vase from the nearby table and threw it at me. I jerked to the sidejust in time, the vase smashing into the wall and raining sharp fragments onto the floor.
“I. Am. Not.Lying.” She marched toward me, nostrils flaring and a wild look in her eyes. “That asshole attacked me, and you didn’t believe me. My person, who I trusted more than anyone. Do you have any idea how much that hurt?”
I towered over her, breathing heavily as childhood memories pummeled my skull. “My father was an abusive prick, but not Stan. He was the total opposite. I won’t let anyone or anything screw up my mother’s happiness.”
Lexi slapped me with enough force to shove my head sideways. “You left me!”
A sharp sting ricocheted across my face as I slowly turned back around, shocked at the violence exploding from her.
“My mother was marrying him,” I murmured. “We were moving. I didn’t have a choice.”
“You were my best friend.” A broken sob slipped out as her bottom lip wobbled. “And you left when I needed you the most.”
Her face crumpled and she spun, marching onto the balcony and slamming the door shut behind her.
An invisible hand gripped my heart as realization struck me, and I stumbled forward, dropping onto the bed. Could Lexi have been attacked bysomeonethat day? She couldn’t be this good of an actress.
Maybe she’d thought accusing Stan would keep me in San Carlo with her.
I cursed and jammed my fingers through my hair. When we were kids, Lexi was the strong, courageous one while I was just the pathetic friend. She held her father together after her mom died and still managed to comfort me when I was at my lowest.
But if Lexi was desperate enough to lie about her attacker, maybe she’d needed me more than I thought.
And I’d let her down.
A click echoed as I picked the lock on the door to Gregory Banks’ office in his swanky mansion while the posh party continued downstairs. I checked both sides of the long hallway, Spanish tiles and extravagant gold décor stretching out in either direction, and then opened the heavy door, slipping inside.
Hopefully, this wouldn’t take long since I had the code to the safe. I didn’t like leaving Lexi alone.
She’d barely spoken to me after our blowout, but I finally convinced her to come when I offered to pay for another room so she could have one to herself. Of course, I had no real intention of doing that—but that was an argument for later.
I strolled around the office stuffed with expensive antiques, overpriced leather, wood furniture, and paintings that probably cost more than my childhood home.
My chest tightened as I remembered my last days in San Carlo with Lexi. The more I thought about her story, the more my stomach roiled.
There could be some truth to it. I knew back then that something had been off, but she kept brushing off my concern. It couldn’t have been Stan, butsomeonehad hurt her.
And that someone would pay.
A crimson haze bled around the edges of my vision as I walked across the burnished hardwoods, searching for Banks’ safe. I rolled my shoulders and cursed, trying to focus.
Gregory Banks had recently come into a ton of money after his tech company exploded onto the scene. Apparently, he’d always had a little help, though. This wasn’t his first blackmail scheme, but it would be his last.
If I were a young, newly rich douchebag who liked throwing money around, where would I keep my safe? From our brief interaction downstairs, I could tell he was a flashy idiot who thought money made him invincible.
After exploring the office for a few minutes, I found the safe behind one of those costly paintings I’d noted upon entering. The code worked, and I pulled out the manila envelope with a discreet yet familiar spider insignia inked in the corner, the mark of the company he used to obtain this information.
Arcane was an organization that had its hands in plenty of illegal dealings, blackmail being one. Sometimes they were our enemy. And sometimes they were our allies.
Today, it was enemy.
I closed the safe and swung the painting back into place. Now all I had to do was get Lexi and get the fuck out of here.
A creak echoed and my head snapped to the door, just as the knob turned. My heart jumped into my throat.
