Page 88 of Peaceful Chaos

Phoenix

Raven

I marchacross the ballroom and stop in front of Javier and Lucien. "What the hell just happened?"

Carina is glaring at her brother, and I'm afraid this takes their newly reconciled relationship back several steps.

Javier shakes his head. "I don't know, but you bet your ass I'm going to find out."

He starts making calls, and I pace back and forth feeling restless. More agents enter the room, this time with Brett Marks leading the way.

"What the fuck just happened?" I spit at him.

His eyes widen, and he scans the crowd. "Where's Damien?"

I snort. "So that's the priority is it? Take Sin in first, then come after Damien?"

He freezes and turns to give me his full attention. "What did you say?"

"Sin was just arrested, and during the commotion Damien managed to get away. Stellar job, by the way. We'll all be safe now that the FBI is going after victims and letting criminals escape. I feel so much more secure. How about you Lucien?"

Brett shakes his head over and over. "I didn't send anyone after Sin. Why would I do that?"

"Because he's a murderer," my uncle says from the doorway.

Natalie gasps and puts her hand up to her mouth. "You?" she mumbles through her fingers.

Javier lets Lucien go. I don't think anyone cares if he goes after Grant. I don't want him to get in trouble, but I've got it on good authority that money can solve just about any problem if your last name is Blackthorne, and I know where to access hundreds of millions.

Lucien gets in front of Grant's face. "What did you do?" His voice is low and threatening.

Grant doesn't recognize the danger and stands toe to toe with Lucien. Grant is a tall man, fairly well built, but he doesn't match my brother. Lucien is a couple inches taller, and his muscular frame rivals Sin's. Right now he's radiating the intent to utilize every muscle for the purposes he honed them in the first place, to deliver pain.

"I did what I had to do!" he shouts. "Sin is dangerous. I won't let him bring down my family and my career. His deal hinged on charges being filed against Damien Blackthorne. He's brought me nothing that has panned out, so he'll have to face the consequences," Grant says tipping up his chin.

"Our deal," Lucien says in the same dangerously soft tone as before.

Grant's eyes narrow. "You're my nephew, and you admitted yourself that you were never the one who executed the targets."

"Don't do this," Natalie begs.

Grant's eyes soften when he looks at his sister. "I did this for the family. To get your daughter away from a psychopath."

Javier cuts through our little group and stands next to Brett. "You're making some powerful enemies here. This is your last chance to undo this."

A look of stubborn determination crosses Grant's face. It occurs to me that where Damien is wholly evil, Grant believes he's completely on the right side. His fanaticism is dangerous in a different way, but it's still harmful. Everyone gathered around me now understands that life is never black and white, and most of it is lived inside shades of gray.

"Like I've told them many times, I will follow the letter of the law," Grant insists.

Brett shakes his head. "This isn't right. I don't think I know who you are anymore." Disgusted with his former friend, he turns to walk away.

Before he goes he looks over his shoulder at Lucien and me. "I didn't help him do this, but you can be damn sure I'm going to do what I can to help you undo it."

I give him a nod, and he strolls away, hopefully to see what he can do.

"What is he being charged with?" Arthur asks, slipping into his past as a prosecutor.

Grant looks away. Perhaps he's not following the law as closely as he believes he is. "I've got seventy-two hours to file charges, and you know it."

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