Page 21 of Queen of Spades

“Don’t even think about it,” Anders snarled, and Levy looked up at him nervously, flickering out of view. My sweet Angel, who was wearing one of Anders’ shirts from the looks of things, frowned and zoomed in on the text underneath the photo.

“I don’t understand, who is this? Dr. Howell… is he someone you know?” she asked, looking at Anders.

“In a manner of speaking,” Anders spat, still glaring at me. His eyes narrowed, daring me to pull the pin of this grenade. This was edging close to breaking my promise to him, and I was treading in dangerous waters.

“I would never ask this, but we need to know why Doug is suddenly buddy-buddy with these assholes. Why he… why they…” I glanced at Grace, who’s eyes widened slowly, anxiously. Jesse wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pressing his forehead against her temple.

“Why they what? Are they…” Anders looked between us, his brow furrowing as he put it together. “Those are the men? You found them?!” he bit out and spun around, his good hand running through his hair. “Of course, of fucking course!” He turned and kicked the wall, startling Grace, who leaned into Jesse as she watched nervously.

“Anders, I’m sorry,” I told him, holding my hands out in supplication as he raged, moving closer.

“And this is your only option? We can’t follow them and gut them in an alley?!” he shouted, whirling around to face me. I shook my head, and he picked up a bottle of vodka, hurling it at the wall. Grace was on her feet as it shattered, her eyes wide with fear as we all watched vodka drip down the wall.

“Someone please explain what’s going on?” she murmured as Anders swayed, his skin going a sickly gray. I stepped forward as she moved toward him, holding my breath as her hands reached out, catching him by the arm. He turned abruptly, his face twisted with rage and grief, and I knew his skin itched with the need to escape. The walls were closing in on all of us. Whether we liked it or not, we’d been painted into an unexpected corner.

“Erik wants to make a deal with the devil,” Anders muttered hoarsely, frozen stiff as Grace drew closer. I watched in fascination as she curled around him, her face pressing into his chest as her arms wrapped around his waist. Everyone was holding their breath, waiting for Anders to combust under this display of affection. But something was clearly malfunctioning in my robotic friend, and we watched instead as he crumpled, dissolving from the aloof man I knew into the broken child I’d met in school. Levy flickered into view as he caught them both, slowing Anders descent to the floor as Grace knelt with him, shifting her hold around his neck instead.

“I’m sorry, Anders. I swear, this was my last and only option. You know I would never, ever, agree to speak to him unless it was the last resort. We want to find these men, and to do this…” I sighed, feeling a knife in my gut as he curled up on the floor, Grace half in his lap as she stroked his hair softly.

“When?” Anders rasped, refusing to meet my eyes. He knew I wasn’t asking permission, I was just telling them the plan.

“Two days,” I replied, and he slammed his head back against the wall, Grace yelping as she reached up to cradle his head, preventing him from doing it again.

“Please, explain what’s going on?” she asked loudly, turning to look at me. “Who is that man?”

“Dr. Gregori Howell,” Levy answered for me, fading into view, his blue eyes dark and focused on me, hurt evident on his face. “Chief Surgeon and Professor of Surgery at the hospital.”

“And what’s he got to do with this?” Grace asked, glancing down at Anders.

“He’s my father,” Anders spat out, and I winced as everyone turned to glare at me.

Margot bustled in abruptly, skirting around the puddle of glass and vodka on the floor and clicking her tongue in annoyance. She had a cup of tea in her hands and set it down on the coffee table in front of Anders, who ignored her, even when she remained hovering beside him, her arms folded over her chest.

“If you expect me to clean up after your temper tantrum, you have another thing coming,” Margot announced, drawing his eyes as Grace shifted her hold on him.

“I don’t need tea,” Anders bit back, and she clicked her tongue.

“Chamomile is calming, and you could certainly use some of that right now. You should be ashamed of yourself, young man, acting like him after all you’ve been through. Think about how your actions might affect the people around you.Don’t you think we’ve all had quite enough of the anger of emotionally stunted men?”

My mouth dropped open as I translated for Jesse, who let out a strangled noise. Anders lifted Grace effortlessly as he stood, looming over Margot as Grace yelped and let go of him, shifting over to Levy’s side. Anders and Margot stared at each other for a long, tense moment, Margot’s arms dropping to her sides, her hands loose as Anders fists clenched, a war of emotions traveling across his face.

“I’ll clean up the mess,” he finally muttered, and she nodded cooly, still facing him down.

“Of course you will, because I didn’t raise a caveman,” she replied shortly, turning on her heel and walking out. The tension in the room eased somewhat as Anders stared at the steaming mug of tea on the table.

“Anders, I really am sorry,” I told him quietly. He ignored me, brushing past me as he headed for the kitchen, probably to find some paper towels or the mop.

“I’ll go check on him,” Levy murmured, and a lock of Grace’s hair brushed over her shoulder as Levy’s footsteps retreated after Anders.

I swore under my breath and walked out, heading to my office to think. I should’ve tried something else, found another way to get intel on this company. Gregori Howell was the worst kind of asshole—brilliant, successful, charismatic, and an absolute sociopath. We should have killed him years ago, but he was so famous, so powerful, killing him would be a guaranteed spotlight on all of us. I’d sworn to Anders that we would deal with him someday, and now I’d gone ahead and agreed to a chat with one of the worst men we knew.

I just had to remind myself that it was for a good reason. If we could find the men that hurt Grace and figure out how to take care of Doug, then this would be worth it. I just hoped Anders could see it that way too.

True to his word, he cleaned up his mess in the living room, but then he disappeared back into his room and didn’t come back out, not even for dinner. He was avoiding me, I was certain of it. I sat next to Grace, with Jesse and Levy on either end of the table, sipping my wine as I stared at Anders’ empty chair. I’d really fucked things up this time.

I was lost in thought as we finished our meal, only vaguely noticing when Levy left the table, mentioning something about taking dinner up to Anders.

“Erik?” I glanced over at Grace, who was watching me expectantly. I hadn’t been listening to their conversation, and I felt bad for ignoring her.

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