CHAPTER TWENTY
Wyn
After Lucas is taken away,Christian whisks me off to my apartment—and thank God, he waits with me. He’s texting the entire time, but at least I’m not alone.
About an hour later, there’s a knock on my door. I jump up from my bed and open the door. It’s Lux.
“Oh, thank God,” I breathe, pulling her into a hug.
She steps into my apartment and immediately spots Christian. “What’s going on?” she asks, her eyes landing on the bruise that mars my cheek.
“He’s just here while we wait to hear about Lucas,” I say, avoiding the topic of Gabriel altogether. I’m not in the mood to answer all the questions I know she’ll have.
She nods. “I just heard Lucas was arrested. Roman is over at Rush House right now. I thought I should check up on you.”
Christian stands up. “Are you staying a while?” he asks Lux.
“Uh, yeah,” she says, looking confused. “I can.”
“Okay, good.” Christian heads for the door. “I’d better get over to Rush House and see if the guys have heard anything. They’re not answering my texts.”
“Thanks for waiting with me,” I say. Lucas told him to do it, but still, it was nice of him.
“I’ll text you if I hear anything,” he says, leaving.
Once the door is shut, I sink back onto the bed.
“So what happened?” Lux asks.
I tell her everything I know, which is next to nothing. “All I know is that he was arrested. No idea why, or what’s happening.”
Lux sits on the bed next to me and pulls me into a side hug. “I’m sorry, babe. The guys will figure out what’s going on. I mean, this is their thing, right?”
Seeing Lucas cuffed and hauled away was easily one of the worst moments of my life. Is he okay? Will I ever see him again? Everyone keeps reassuring me that everything will be sorted out, but I can see the fear on their faces. I can hear the uncertainty in their tone.
“Well, um, I actually came here to do more than check on you. But, I don’t know if I should say anything…” Lux says, hesitating.
Turning to face her, I grab her arm. “What?” I say quickly, maybe a little too emphatically. “Did you hear something?”
I should have known Lux would have the tea. Roman is incredibly well-connected. I mean, they all are. But if anyone can get information, it’d be the former leader of the Burning Crown, right?
Concern is etched on her face, like she’s afraid to tell me. “Well, um, I don’t know if this is even true,” she says, bracing me. “So don’t freak out…”
Oh, Jezus.My stomach twists, and my heart starts quivering in my chest.
“Just tell me, Lux. Please.”
She swallows. “Roman has contacts everywhere—you know that already. Well, um, he heard that Lucas has been charged with first-degree murder.”
It takes a second for that to sink in. “For murderingwho?”
I mean, I know the Sacred Sons have killed people. These secret societies are like the fucking mafia—death and betrayal is part of the business. But the Sacred Sons have inherited a legacy of killing people, so it doesn’t make sense that Lucas would get caught now. It just doesn’t.
“Gabriel,” she says.
I blink at her, confused. “But Gabriel is alive.”
She shrugs. “Well, the guy hethoughtwas Gabriel. According to Roman’s source, there are texts between Lucas and Gabriel, showing they’d planned on meeting by the tracks that night. But the guy who showed up wasn’t Gabriel—his name was Justin Welch. He did look like Gabriel, though. Like, almost exactly.”