TWENTY-FOUR
Anthea
It was Holly,really, who gave me the idea. So I’d thank her wretched soul for that, wherever it was now hanging out in Hell.
We got back to the Rosano brownstone a little after ten, arriving in our separate cars. At that hour, there was still some activity around the house, but it had a quieter quality—a hushed conversation in a corner of a room here, a hasty snack run into the kitchen there. There were maybe half a dozen lackeys still up and either watching over the house or sorting out other work on the first floor.
The second floor was even quieter. Lucan checked and confirmed that Marcel had headed up to his own third-floor retreat opposite the brothers’ apartment. Then Darius let us into the old man’s office.
We stood in the darkened space where Holly had once claimed she’d found me snooping, and he turned toward me.
“You don’t need to be here for this. We can handle it ourselves.”
I shook my head. “It’s my plan. It’s to settle things between me and Ezra too.” I’d have a lot harder time getting out from under my brother’s thumb if I couldn’t hand him a solid victory. My lips formed a crooked smile. “Anyway, you might need me. Look at how handy I’ve already been.”
“In more ways than one,” Felix teased, leaning in to kiss the side of my neck and making my pulse jump.
Darius shot him a baleful look. “Think with your head instead of your dick for five minutes, Don Juan. We’ve got to play this right, or we’ll have a ton more problems instead of none.”
I glanced around the room. “What’s in here that your dad would really hate having messed with? What’s the private stuff everyone should know not to touch?”
Lucan followed my gaze with the sharper analytical precision of familiarity. He pointed to a glossy black cabinet near the desk that had glass doors on the upper half and three drawers with locks lower down. “Those drawers. Only Dad and Darius have the key. Dad’s got financial documents in there—deeds and licenses—notes about the business operations. I don’t even know what else. But he always made it clear to us that it was a big deal if he showed us something out of there.”
“Idon’t even know what all he’s got stashed away,” Darius said. He fished his keyring out of his pocket and slid a small, simple key off the ring. “But we don’t need to. We only need to know there’s no way that prick should be going in there. I’ll tell Dad that I noticed the key missing after I took a shower and came right to see what was up.”
“You should get your hair wet, then,” I pointed out. “You wouldn’t have stopped to blow-dry it. Gotta sell the story all the way.”
Felix chuckled and held his hand out for the key. “Go take care of that, big bro. We can get everything else set up.”
Darius grumbled a bit but ducked out of the office to hurry to the nearby bathroom.
Felix walked over to the cabinet and fit the key into the lock of the upper drawer. He looked over his shoulder at me. “Should I open it?”
I considered the staging. “It’d be better if we can gethimto open it up, so he’ll be in just the right position. If he comes in and notices it’s open right off the bat, it might put him more on guard, don’t you think?”
Lucan nodded. “He’s going to think it’s odd as soon as he gets here and it’s just us, not Marcel, though.”
“You want to keep him in an urgent emotional state,” I said. “Act like there’s a big rush, like his job could depend on him following through ASAP. When people are worried, they don’t think about the details as much.”
“Of course. We can manage that.” He considered me. “He’ll also think it’s strange that you’re here with us.”
“I can add to the story,” I said, and sat down in a chair near the window. “Felix, you can be guarding me. Make it look like whatever’s going on, it’s something big to do with the Nobles—that Marcel is finally going to use the leverage he thinks he’s got in me. That’ll have Griffin even more eager.”
As Felix walked over to join me, pulling out his gun, Darius barreled back into the room. He’d done a good job, dampening his hair and then giving it a hasty rub with a towel so it didn’t look like he’d just splashed himself or something. When he caught my eye, I gave him a thumbs up.
Lucan lifted his phone. “Are we ready? I can text him over here now.”
Darius took out his own pistol, holding it close by his hip. I motioned for him to stay close to the door. “You’ll need the angle to look like you burst in and caught him in the act. Make sure you stay between him and the door.”
“Got it.” He motioned to Lucan. “Bring him in.”
Lucan tapped out a text and then took a post next to the desk, standing tensed as if braced for action. Darius stayed to the side of the door, keeping the gun out of view. Felix teased the muzzle of his gun in a slow, delicate circle along the back of my neck.
“Don’t worry,” he said when I shivered. “The safety’s on.”
I let out a light chuckle. “That wasn’t abadshiver.”
“Hmm. Now I’m having all sorts of fun ideas.”