Page 154 of Hard Heart

JEZEBEL

They held the meeting at the Nebula, the hotel Cole and Brax owned in Las Vegas. Eight out of the nine surviving residents of Blackstone House had been invited for brunch, although Zach and Nolan sent their apologies. Ari and Echo were coming, though. Justin’s presence wasn’t necessary, but he didn’t want to be left in the dark, and Jez felt it was only fair that he be kept updated so he could adjust his security arrangements if necessary. Plus they needed every snippet of information they could find to help with the next stage of the op.

A month had passed since Levi’s release, and Jez’s bones were healing “acceptably,” according to Doc Martinsson. She was swimming every day and working on her upper body strength with weights and target practice. The server setting out coffee was taking her time, so Jez filled a few minutes reading over the article Echo had just sent her. The driver of an electric vehicle that mysteriously caught fire near Blacksburg had been identified through dental records as twenty-nine-year-old Christopher Stark, a resident of Manassas. Jez was never, ever going to drive an internet-enabled car without bringing a hammer along for the ride. Witnesses reported the doors refused to unlock, and by the time they managed to break the windows, poor Christopher had been chargrilled. Jez was sorry she hadn’t been able to take care of the problem personally, but Echo had done a great job on behalf of the team.

They still had Sheriff Mullen left to deal with, but his time would come. There was no burning hurry.

Justin was busy texting, presumably checking Jessalyn was surviving alone in their suite with only seven hundred cable channels and a room service menu for company. She’d ordered an ice cream sundae with pickles on the side, so Jez figured Justin would have to trade his BMW for a minivan in roughly seven months. Poor fucker.

“Thank you, Kirsten,” Brax said as the server set a plate of macarons in front of Echo. “We’ll call you if we need anything else.”

Echo had her laptop connected to the screen, and she flashed up a photo everyone except Ari recognised—Ruby and Tina sitting under the pergola at Blackstone House, taken during what was to be Ruby’s final summer.

“We have a problem,” Jez announced as there was a knock at the door. Didn’t Kirsten understand how the staff radio worked?

“Uh, the last people from your party just arrived.”

Jez did a double take as Levi walked in, hand-in-hand with Serafina. Not much surprised her these days, but his presence sure did. The ring on Serafina’s finger didn’t escape her notice either.

“What are you doing here?”

“You invited us.”

“Yes, but I didn’t think you’d actually come.”

Like with Zach and Nolan, she hadn’t wanted him to feel as if he’d been cut out of the process. It was Grey whose presence wasn’t welcome.

“So you want us to leave?”

“I’m just surprised to see you, that’s all.” She waved to the end of the table. “Pull up a chair.”

For a man who’d been in prison for a decade, Levi looked good. He’d bulked out, he seemed more confident than Jez had ever seen him—his mere presence was evidence of that—and if Serafina was right about him being off the meds, he was healthier too.

“I’ve already been blindsided once, and I don’t want it to happen again. I’ll be honest and say I’m struggling with forgiveness because you all made some big damn assumptions about my character a decade ago, but I understand why it happened, and I appreciate the lengths you went to in order to help Sera.” He focused on Echo. “Alexa, you can’t use money to clear your conscience.”

“It’s cute that you think she has a conscience,” Jez said. Echo threw a macaron, but her aim was off.

“You cut me a break on the rent in Blackstone House,” she said. “I’m returning the favour.”

And she’d also stolen most of that money from Levi’s father, so really, he was just getting his inheritance early.

“It’s too much.”

“Give it to charity if you want. I’m not taking it back.”

Brax began laughing. “You can argue with her all day, but you won’t win. Keep the money. Buy some fancy fish for your new pond.”

“Can we just discuss whatever we need to discuss?” Justin asked. “Jessie’s on her own upstairs.”

The image of Ruby disappeared, replaced by two separate pictures of middle-aged men. Franklin Trainor III, who’d been the junior senator for Rhode Island before his suicide eight years previously, and Robert Allen, a sitting congressman from South Dakota.

“Our genetic genealogist believes the samples Serafina found in Ruby’s room came from these two men, or someone closely related to them. From what we’ve been able to piece together, we believe Ruby and Tina were associated with a group called Compass, and they participated—knowingly or unknowingly—in making videos that could be used to blackmail men in positions of power. At some point, they decided they wanted to stop, and they began collecting evidence that they could use as leverage of their own. The DNA samples on the clothing were an element of that, and they also stole an unknown number of files. We can’t be sure what was in those files, but it’s likely they contained kompromat.”

“Compromising material,” Ari filled in for Levi and Serafina’s benefit. “The term originated in the Russian espionage community, and Compass took collecting it to a whole new level.”

“Ruby and Tina believed the files would protect them, but they didn’t. Given that nobody’s tried to burn down Blackstone House, there’s a high likelihood Fisk retrieved any data Ruby had, but it’s possible Tina’s still out there with a copy.”

“How do you know that?” Levi asked.