All their eyes flew my way. Dion’s narrowed, Alteo’s widened, but Aleks’s were the ones I held. I saw the hunger in them, the need to shut me up, and the coldness there too. He’d do anything to get out of this.
“Sweetheart, you know not what you found.” He chuckled. He was a snake circling his prey, ready to kill with a venomous bite. He sought out my weakness.
“I know what I saw.”
He glanced at Cade. “I haven’t properly met her. I was on my way. I’m sorry for this whole mix-up, but we had to be sure she wasn’t going to spread such an accusation. You understand?”
Cade didn’t respond. I only saw his muscles tense.
“Alteo informed me she’s been in cybersecurity a while. A little paranoid bird, huh?” He waved me off, smiling at Cade as though they could be friends. “I’ve looked into her history, and we saw indications that she indulges in drugs, has a record—”
“‘A record’?” I whispered. “‘Sorry for the mix-up’? I was drugged and beaten when I got here. I—”
The man didn’t let me finish. He acted surprised and appalled with a gasp. “Alteo, is this true?”
“Father, but you said—”
“No.” Aleks looked at another large man and shook his head in disappointment. “Take him away.”
“Sir, please. Wait—” Alteo struggled against the other man, yelling as they dragged him out. Aleks and Dion remained.
Aleks’s sharp gaze shifted to me. “I’m sorry for the poor arrangements. Please accept my apologies.”
I chewed on my cheek. This wasn’t my place. Cade would have to side with me or this man. He knew the truth. He had to. We all stood there in silence so tense a knife wouldn’t have been able to cut it.
Was I supposed to forgive him? Is that what they wanted?
“Izzy, the man would like you to accept his apologies,” Cade said softly but firmly as he slid his phone out.
My heart stuttered, and then I was sure it crumbled right there in that room at his words. He expected me to do the one thing I thought he was always pushing me not to do. Bury my damn emotions, bury my anger, just take it.
I cleared my throat as I felt the tears pricking my eyes. “You’re forgiven.”
“Oh, good. Good. I thought—” Aleks never finished.
The lights went out, and with no sunlight in the room or the hall, we drowned in darkness.
And screams. Painful, wretched, torturous screams. I fell to the ground as gun shots went off and I heard men running in.
It was only a matter of fifteen seconds, then the lights were back.
In front of me stood a man who strongly resembled Cade. He looked calmer, though, at ease. My brother-in-law stood with him.
Dante Armanelli nodded at me with those green eyes full of concern. “You okay?”
I nodded back.
Yet, Cade was the one who held all my attention, his knife at Aleks’s throat.
Aleks had his hands in the air. “Please. Let’s calm down. I didn’t know she was your Untouchable. If that’s what this is about...” He chuckled nervously.
“I’ll nuke your whole goddamn country if any of you come near her again. How about that for her being an Untouchable?” Cade growled, and I saw the way his whole body shook in rage, veins popping on his forearms, like a pressure cooker about to blow.
Aleks didn’t move a muscle, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. “Bastian, your brother.” He gave Bastian a look like Cade was insane. “Let’s be reasonable now, huh? We didn’t know her and—”
Cade didn’t give him time to finish. He stepped close and shoved the knife harder into his throat to break skin. “You’re talking to my brother as if I’m not here, Aleks. You think he can stop me? You think if I really want to, I won’t just slit your throat? That I don’t rule whatever the fuck I want?”
“Mr. Armanelli, please—”