The phone rang out to answerphone. I debated whether to leave a message, but then it beeped. “Jay, please be careful. I think my family have taken the key you gave me. They could be on their way to your place or might even be there now. I’m coming over.”
I ended the call.
What was the quickest way across London? It wasn’t rush hour, but traffic was always bad in the city. I didn’t think I could handle getting the Tube, though. I hurried outside and spotted a delivery driver on a motorbike. I ran out onto the road in front of him.
“I’ll pay you a hundred quid to take me across the city.”
His eyes widened behind his visor. “Seriously?”
“Yes. I promise.” I fished into my pocket and took out the cash. I’d been taking money out of my account every day, storing up a supply for when Jay and I left.
He shrugged. “Fine, but I don’t have a helmet for you.”
“I don’t care. I just need to get there, fast as you can. It’s an emergency.”
I climbed onto the bike behind him, and then we were off, weaving through the traffic. I clung tight to a complete stranger, adrenaline pouring through my veins. I didn’t care about my own safety—all I cared about was making sure I got to Jay before my brothers and father did.
In less than fifteen minutes, we pulled up outside the hotel, and I threw myself off the back of the bike and ran for the door. I spotted the concierge, Fredrick, and shouted his name. I didn’t care if people were staring. I looked around for any sign of my family, but there was none.
“I need to go up to Jay’s apartment. I think he might be in trouble.”
Fredrick knew exactly what kind of man he was working for and didn’t even question me. Together, we hurried to the bank of lifts.
My heart raced. I was filled with the horrific certainty I was too late. How would I ever forgive them if they’d hurt Jay? I blinked back tears, but now wasn’t the time to cry. If I was too late, there would be plenty of time for that after.
My mouth ran dry as the lift rose through the building. I bounced from foot to foot, anxious of get out of there and put a stop to whatever my family had planned.
Finally, we drew to a halt, and the doors slid open, revealing Jayden’s open-plan penthouse.
The first thing I saw was Jayden, sitting on the edge of his sofa, a broken beer bottle dangling from his fingers. The second thing was the blood coating his hand, arms, and chest. The third was the body lying on the floor near his feet.
“What—?”
My brain went into shock, unable to process what I saw. The blood...? Was Jay hurt?
I took a couple of shaky steps closer. “Jay?”
He didn’t look up at me.
My gaze was drawn to the body on the floor. I had no doubt the person was dead. The pool of blood surrounding the body was too big for them to have survived. But as I took in the back of the man’s head, the wavy, light-brown hair, and the suit jacket, a fresh flicker of alarm sparked inside me. I blinked hard, wanting to somehow wipe away what I was seeing, but when my gaze alighted on the back of the man’s arm and the rose-gold Bremont watch on his wrist that Bruno never took off, the certainty of the man’s identity finally sank in.
“Bruno?”
The air left my lungs in a rush, and though I barely remembered crossing the floor, I found myself on my knees beside my dead brother.
“Bruno?” I grabbed the back of his jacket and shook him, as though I somehow expected to be able to wake him up. My panic and grief built, a tsunami of emotions that released from me in a scream of utter pain and horror. “No, God, no. Please, not this!”
I folded myself over my brother’s back, somehow trying to protect him, even though I was far too late. I sobbed uncontrollably, balling Bruno’s jacket into my fists. I was scarcely aware of the other two men in the room—Fredrick and Jay.
What had happened? I’d come here to save Jay’s life but instead found my brother dead. How was this possible?
Jayden’s voice broke through to me. “Ivy, I’m so sorry. He left me with no choice.”
Jay had killed Bruno.
I lifted my head and launched at him, wild in my grief and fury and heartache, slapping at his chest and shoulders.
“No, no, no! How could you? How could you?”