It’s so fucking weird how one day can be so different from the next. We’ve attended classes the last two days like normal people who hadn’t left a couple assholes in a swamp or fucked their parents out of a lot of money over the weekend. There’s a stirring inside me that makes me think something is coming. My nerves jangle with the anticipation of it—like the calm before the storm. Like shit’s about to hit the fan.
Sooner or later, it will. I have no doubt about it.
Our peace—or at least mine—is shattered by a knock on the door mid Tuesday afternoon. I do a quick mental accounting of where everyone is before I open the door. Duke and Bear had been finishing up a late lunch in the kitchen when I left them. Lennon had gone upstairs to work on a Psych 101 assignment that’s due soon. She wanted a jump start on it since she doesn’t trust that things won’t go haywire around here again, and I can’t blame her.
I suck in a breath, hoping it’s not my— Shoot, what do I call him? My former father, I guess. My lips quirk, glad to not have to call him my dad anymore. I disarm the alarm, then glance out the window next to the door. Fuck me. Nope, not Murdock.
With a disgruntled groan, I throw open the door. Hunter stands on our front steps once again, smiling like a deranged lunatic, and rather than waiting for me to invite him in, he brushes past me, his big body easily moving me out of the way.
“What the fuck, man?” I raise my voice on purpose, which brings Bear and Duke from the kitchen in no time flat.
Hunter eyes them, then me. He’s strangely silent, like a viper choosing exactly the right moment to strike.
“What can we do for you, Hunter?” Duke’s blue eyes flash, and his teeth grind. He’s never liked Hunter, and he makes no move to disguise that fact now.
“Young Valentine. I hear congrats are in order.” His brows go up a fraction as if he thinks Duke will somehow be accepting of the fake-as-fuck praise he’s doling out. God, I’m glad I’m only related to him with half my genes. Must be the half that he gets from his dad that makes him such an ass.
Duke stares stonily at him. “Yeah, whatever. What are you doing here?”
“I was hoping we could discuss the grunts. I want to talk about how they’re faring now that a couple of weeks have passed. Could you get them down here to speak with me?”
My eyes connect with Duke’s, then Bear’s in an attempt to communicate that I’ve got this one. Thankfully, they hear me loud and clear, letting me take the lead. “’Fraid not.” I shrug, eyeing him shrewdly. I’m one hundred percent sure he doesn’t know where the fuck their little spies have gotten off to, and because he’s been in charge of their devious actions, I bet he’s freaking the fuck out. “They’re tied up at the moment.” I almost laugh at my unintended pun, but catch myself, scraping my teeth over my lip instead as I study him. “I tell you what, half brother. You can wait for them. Should be back soon from the errand we sent them on. You want a beer? We have plenty we should probably discuss anyway, right?”
He throws his head back, chuckling in a way I find disturbing. “Yeah. Sure.” While he’s busy laughing, I turn and mouth one word to Bear, hoping like fuck he understands what I want.
“I’ll get the beer,” Bear grunts. “Duke, hang with them. I’ll be right there.”
Hunter hesitates, rubbing a hand over his jaw. A flicker of cautious indecision passes over his face. Come on, you douche. Let this happen. Be the cocky bastard you’ve always been.
“You’re smart enough to know what I want to talk about.” I see it in his eyes. He does know. “Or maybe not.” I shrug. “Maybe you’ve got your dad’s brains instead of Mom’s. It’d serve you right. Got Dad’s bulky build, too. And his fucking evil heart.”
“Listen, you little shit—”
I shake my head, walking toward the patio and waving over my shoulder that he should follow. Fuck, fuck, fuck. But against all odds, he does fucking follow. I let him precede me out the door.
Duke grabs my arm, tugging me to a stop. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” he whispers through gritted teeth.
I press my lips together. “I got this. This fucker is going to dig his own grave. Watch.”
Once out by the pool, I gesture to a glass-topped table with four chairs around it. Hunter’s looking around, taking everything in. “I hope you appreciate what you’ve been given here. Especially since you really don’t deserve it.”
My head bobs, and I give him a half-amused grimace. “Yeah. You would think that. Let’s sit. Nice day, isn’t it?”
Hunter shrugs, stretching out his legs, then grunts out, “Fucking hell, I’m not here to talk about the weather.”
“Nah. You wouldn’t be one for basic niceties, would you?” Duke cocks his head to the side, sitting forward to rest his elbows on the table. He steeples his fingers, drumming them against each other as he watches Hunter’s every move. The tension among the three of us grows with each second that ticks by.
Thank fuck a moment later, Bear eases open the patio door with four beers in his hands. He must have moved fucking fast if he understood me. Carefully setting down all four bottles, he picks one up and offers it to my asshole half brother.
Hunter accepts. And thank goodness for the hot weather he didn’t want to discuss, because he downs three quarters of the bottle in one go.
Bear doesn’t even sit, but mumbles, “Be right back.”
And then we’re right back to this odd waiting game, which suits me just fine. It’s like a game of chicken—which of us will crack first and risk pushing the other. Hunter narrows his eyes, looking over both of us in a way that is meant to intimidate. My half brother could make the most confident man want to piss his pants. I have no idea what’s rolling around in his head. But we generally know what to expect from him. And I’m not letting this opportunity slip through my fingers.
I eye my own beer, then carefully pick it up and take a few swallows before setting it down. I speak slowly on purpose, needing time to pass. “Hunt, you always had it in for me. Did Dad suspect I wasn’t his? All these years? Because you both treated me like the shit on your shoe.”
He grunts with a nod and finishes the beer. “Just never knew for certain. But he figured. He didn’t tell me until recently. Wanted me to upend the house looking for the damn journal Mom was always writing in.”
“I guess he should’ve gotten some DNA testing done before his sorry ass went to prison, huh? Would have saved him a lot of damn trouble.” I shoot him a devilish smile.
Hunter’s brow arches as he considers. “Yeah. It would’ve saved me having to take care of your sorry ass all those years.”
My chin juts forward. Interesting. “Oh, so the part of me that is related to you means nothing, huh?”
“Nah. Our mother was kinda like the little lady living here.” He glances back toward the house, his eyes speculating, as if he knows she’s inside somewhere. When his gaze lands on the far balcony and window, a slow smile creeps over his face. “J-just a sl-slut. We aren’t brothers.” He leans forward, pinning his eyes on me. “We’re nothing. W-wasn’t ’til I found that f-fucking journal in some of Mom’s stuff that I knew for sure. But then there it was.” He rubs his hand over his face, frowning.
Duke’s jaw twitches, but I give I jerk my head ever so slightly. Hunter’s already letting loose info that he doesn’t have to and beginning to stutter and slur. I have him right where I fucking want him.
“D-Dad suspected that our mother was cheating on him.” Hunter’s eyelids droop.
“But then, the journal,” Duke prods as Bear joins us again and hands Hunter a second beer before sitting down.
“Thanks, man.” Hunter gestures to Bear with his beer bottle. “And bingo. That j-journal brought a lot of shit into full focus!” He rubs his hand over his face again, a look of bewilderment crossing his features. He gives himself a shake and continues, “No fucking wonder his buddy Isaac didn’t want you testifying. He was protecting his secret f-fucking k-kid. The little pisser has been in hiding ever since. Scared little shit. He blew it on purpose. Put my dad in prison.”
Yeah. Yeah, he did. And if I ever meet him, I’ll thank him for it.
Duke eyes Bear and me, his brow arching at my half brother’s downhill slide, then focuses solely on him. “But I don’t get it, Hunter,” he deadpans. “What’d Elliot Ashford have to do with it? One second you said she was the key, and the next you dropped her like a hot potato.”
“Wasn’t the easiest way to get what we wanted. Not with Mason right here.” Hunter sways in the seat before our eyes. Passes the fuck out.
“I have the rest of the answer to that.” Lennon’s quiet voice catches us by surprise as her eyes move over the scene before her. She’s gone deathly pale and holds out her phone to me.
“What’s wrong?” I’m out of my seat, knocking the patio chair over in a flash. “Kin?” I take the phone from her hands and read the text.
Elliot Ashford is related to
Mr. Mikaelson’s lawyer, Isaac Hauser.
She’s his niece.
Isaac’s sister is Rose Hauser Ashford,
Elliot’s mother.
I really had to dig.
Thank you.
“Who’s this from?” My eyes flick to hers.
“Your librarian friend. She finally came through.” Lennon gives an uneasy look over my shoulder at Hunter before returning her gaze to me. “Remember, I told you I had her looking into whether there was a family connection between Elliot and Isaac or anyone else involved in the case.” Her lip has started to tremble harder with every glance she makes in Hunter’s direction.
Bear and Duke join us, Lennon’s distress a palpable thing. We stand in a circle around her, but she can’t keep her eyes off our unwelcome guest.
I blink, confused. “It’s Hunter. My half brother.” Have they never met? I rack my brain, trying to remember. “You haven’t met him?”
“No, I did, I think.” Her answer confuses the shit out of me. With her lips twisting in disgust, she murmurs, “Wh-what’s wrong with him?”
Bear cups the back of her neck. “I drugged his beer with the fucking oxy the jackass delivered for me from my dad.”
Duke eyes the remainder of the bottle. “How much did you put in there?”
“Enough,” comes Bear’s grunted reply. “Lennon … exactly when did you meet Hunter?”
Lennon raises her hand, and it shakes as she presses her fingers to her lips. Her eyes flick to me. “I-I think he was the one who held me at knifepoint and drugged me at the auction.” She swallows hard. “Took me. Did fuck knows what to me.”
I blink, my heart clenching in my chest. “Are you fucking kidding me?” And even though I’m voicing surprise, I can’t say the thought hadn’t crossed my mind.
“I recognized the voice when I came out onto the patio. The size of him. Um …” She turns into Bear’s arms, shaking her head.
Fury courses through my veins to every damn cell of my body. I don’t take the time to think things through, have no idea what I intend to do, but I charge over to the passed-out man who no longer means shit to me and yank him out of his chair. His eyelids flicker, and he moans as I slam him to the pavement beside the pool. “Wake up, you motherfucker!” I grip his shirt, pick him partway up, and slam him down again. “Did you drug Lennon?” I slap him hard across the face to rouse him, then as his eyes are semi-focused on me, I get right up close. “What did you do to her?” I straddle him, but he’s too groggy to push me off. “What did you do?” I rage, incensed. He mumbles something that sounds a whole lot like “our little slut,” so I punch him right in his asshole mouth. “Tell me, you nasty fucker!”
“I—” He sputters and coughs. “The OG Bas—” He’s practically choking on his own blood. “Th-their orders,” he rasps.
“They fucking ordered what? Where did you take her? Where the fuck was she?” When he doesn’t answer any of my questions, I punch him again, nailing him in the eye, then slam the other fist into his cheekbone. There’s a sickening crack. But I don’t stop. Can’t. Dark anger floods through me. “You fucking lied to us! You knew! You knew where she was the whole fucking time!” He put his hands on her. He left her open to abuse by the OGs—I have no fucking doubt of that while I whale on him, my fists flying and flying.
In my peripheral vision, I see Bear holding onto Lennon, who is clearly traumatized by either Hunter’s presence, what I’m doing, or both. But I can’t stop myself. It’s all for her. He touched our girl. He never will again. My vision tunnels, and I can’t see anything but my asshole ex-brother and the way he used to laugh and laugh at me, beat on me, and tell me I killed our mother and that I was never going to be as big or as strong or even half the man he is.
Funny, but I am only half the man he is, according to our genes. But I’d rather not be any part of him.
From somewhere distant, I vaguely hear Bear. “I’m taking her inside.”
Duke lets me go another ten seconds, then grabs me under my arms and pulls me off Hunter. “If you end him now, you’ll never know the full truth.” Doesn’t stop me from wanting to bash his skull in. “Come on, Mase. He’s a bloody fucking mess. You did this for her. He’ll be thinking about it for a long time to come. So will she.”
That’s what I’m afraid of. Pain lances through me. I turn in his arms and whisper against his neck. “Make sure she doesn’t”—my chest jerks and my voice hitches—“h-hate me, Duke.”
He grips my head in his hands, connecting our gazes. The look of astonishment on his face nearly bowls me over. “Hate you? Fuck, Mase. You’re her avenging fucking hero.”
