Page 29 of Victorious Vice

“They’re not the ones in danger. You are, Raven. And they don’t want any harm to come to you any more than I do.”

I let out an exasperated huff. “So that’s it then. I can’t stay in my own home, which, by the way, has the best security system in the world.”

“No, Raven. You can’t.”

“What if I refuse to go?”

“Then I’ll pick you up, toss you over my shoulder, and take you there myself.”

“Oh, yeah, Falcon Bellamy.” I cross my arms. “Big man. Likes to push women around.”

I regret the words as soon as I say them. My brother’s not like that. He’s never been like that. But he does take his big-brother responsibilities a little far sometimes. Not so much with Robin and me, but definitely with Hawk and Eagle.

“Fine,” I relent. “But I just met with an awesome attorney. She really understands my vision.”

“Savannah and Robin understand your vision. They’ll take care of all of this, get the gala ready.”

“You arenotkeeping me from the gala,” I say.

“I don’t want to,” he says.

“You’re notgoingto.” I grab Falcon’s hands. “I will go to your safe house. I will lie low. I will do what I can from there, and let Savannah and Robin do the legwork. But Iwillbe at that gala, Falcon. I will be there. And you will be there. Our parents will be there. Robin and the rest of our family will be there. I want everyone there. I don’t care how much security we have to have. But Iwill be at that gala.”

10

VINNIE

“You’re kidding,” I say.

Though I already know he’s not. Austin Bellamy may be the Cooper Steel heir and a successful rancher, but there’s something crooked about him.

Something crooked about how his oldest son went to prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

And something very crooked about whoever is buried on his property.

Plus, I already know he had Brick Latham killed because he thought he was a threat to Raven.

But it makes me wonder…

Was Lathamtrulya threat to Raven? Or was he a threat to Bellamy himself?

“Does he know anything else?” I ask.

“No,” Elmo says. “I’ve got all the information we need to take back to Agudelo.”

I raise an eyebrow. “But we won’t be takingallof it back to Agudelo, right?”

“Right.”

Elmo speaks again to the informants in Spanish. Then we all shake hands. The informants slink away.

“Now what?” I ask.

“We get the hell out of here,” Elmo says.

Sounds good to me. This place makes my skin crawl. I’m on high alert the entire time, hyper aware of anything and everything that is a threat. I don’t trust these men as far as I can throw them. Especially since I can’t understand what they’re saying. I suppose I should take some Spanish lessons.

But who the hell has time for that? I took Spanish back in high school, and of course spent some time traveling through Spain when I was in the EU, but not enough apparently. Most of my time in Spain was spent in Barcelona, and they speak Catalan there. Similar to Spanish, but just different enough for my ears to have a hard time understanding.

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