“Are you serious?” he asks.
My father nods. “It would ruin several lives if I’m wrong.”
“Several lives have already been ruined,” I state, getting to my feet. Why is he here if he’s not going to help us? Who knows if he was even where he says he was for the last nine years. Who knows what he’s been doing? We may never know the truth.
“Elli?” Sin sighs my name.
“Forget it, Sin.” I wave him off. “He’s not going to help us. So whatever you did to get him out wasn’t worth it.”
My father jumps to his feet too. “Ellington,” he growls my name. “You don’t know what’s going on.”
“I know enough!” I shout at him. “I’m so fucking tired of the lies, the secrets. The Lords do nothing but fuck up everything. And all you guys do is make excuses and cover for them.” Turning my back on them, I head to the master suite. I slam the door shut and lock it. Not like it’s going to keep Sin out. If he wanted to, he’d kick it down.
Placing my forehead on the cool wood, I take in a deep breath and realize he didn’t follow me.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
SIN
I STAY WHERE I am, not done with my conversation with Nicholas, standing in the middle of the living room.
“Why did you trick her into marrying you?” he asks, not sounding mad like any caring father would.
I glare at him but don’t respond. See how he likes the silent treatment.
“Easton, things aren’t always what they seem. Especially with the Lords,” he says defensively as to why he wouldn’t answer my questions.
“You think I don’t know that?” I give a rough laugh. We’re not supposed to question them. Ever. We get assignments, we follow out the orders, and then we move on.
“They’ll test her,” he goes on. “A Lady has to be initiated.”
“They already have,” I inform him. “She passed.”
He bows his head, shaking it as if he can’t believe what’s going on right now. But he doesn’t bother asking what they required her to do in order to be my wife.
My phone starts to ring, and I pull it out of my back pocket. Seeing it’s Chance, I hit answer and walk over to the floor-to-ceiling windows. “Yeah?”
“It’s canceled. But just giving you a heads-up, Linc and Laura aren’t happy.”
“Of course not. They think you were their only option for her.”
“Yeah, well, just wanted to let you know.”
I can tell he’s still pissed at me. I hope he can tell that I don’t give a fuck how he feels about his situation involving my wife. “Thanks,” I say dryly and hang up. Turning around, I see Nicholas standing by the couch, holding a picture in his hand.
Sliding my cell into my back pocket, I stuff my hand into it as well and realize that he’s holding the picture I had of Elli that I found in the box in my father’s office. I rush over and yank it from his hand. It must have slipped out when I removed my phone. I’ve always got it on me, not wanting Elli to find it.
Nicholas looks at me. “Why the fuck do you have that?” His eyes narrow in suspicion.
“I found it.” I dodge the question. If he’s not going to give me all the information I need, why would I give it to him? I’m still not one hundred percent sure how he ended up at Carnage. For all I know, it was some assignment with the Lords, and he was ‘forgotten.’ It’s happened before. I’m sure it will with others in the future. And of course, there’s the other option—the Spade brothers set him free only to keep an eye on me and Elli. I sure as fuck don’t trust anything about them.
He runs his hand down his face and then looks at me. “I need to go somewhere. Will you take me?”
I pause, the thought of taking him somewhere makes my suspicions grow. Where the fuck would he need to go? He’s been dead for nine years. But curiosity gets the best of me. I need answers. Maybe this will get me some. “Sure.”
“Give me ten minutes. Get Elli, she needs to come with us as well.”
My shoulders straighten at that. I open my mouth to tell him no. That he’s not going to tell me what she needs to do. He doesn’t know her. But maybe he’s right. She does need to come with us. Be with me. Chance called off the wedding. I wouldn’t be surprised if Linc were to show here within the next hour demanding to know what the fuck she’s done for Chance to not want her anymore. After all, they had an agreement that he got her on their wedding night.