Page 32 of Midnight Revelations

My passport was in the townhouse and I didn’t need to pack as I would be there and back in a day. The door to my home locked all the demons chasing me out and I sank into my leather chair in the living room where I opened my phone for about the millionth time to look at the images Lucrezia sent me. I traced my finger over them, imagining her clothed only in jewels and gold, bound before me.

Yeah, that definitely got my dick’s attention.

There was an image of a woman with her head flung back so you couldn’t see her face. Her wrists and ankles were bound as she lay vulnerable on the bed. That one definitely had nothing to do with jewellery. She’d sent that for me alone.

An alert sounded at my apartment where Poppy was staying. I swiped the app open and watched my brother Aaron arrive. Fuck, I didn’t need any more complications, but I observed Poppy practically drag him inside. She was desperate, and as she said earlier, she enjoyed a long, hard fuck.

I turned the screen off because there was no way I wanted to watch my brother having sex in my bed. His eyes had followed her ass everywhere it sashayed the other night.

What the fuck was I supposed to do about Lucrezia? I stood out on the back patio and sipped a glass of scotch. She had infected the pots of herbs with little garden ornaments when she’d been staying with me and I stared at the happy little gnome with a red hat.

At least one of us was happy.

The moon taunted me because I used to stand and phone her while I stared at it. I had no idea if someone was monitoring my phone, so I didn’t even attempt to try and contact her. Jordan had all our phones set up that they shouldn’t be able to be hacked, but we were dealing with an enemy more cunning and cruel than ever before, someone who knew the tactics we used. I couldn’t risk her safety for a moment of weakness.

The man who existed before her no longer remained, but I still needed to become that man to do what needed to be done. So I reverted to the habits that helped me cope before Lucrezia. I drank myself into a stupor, and then collapsed on my bed and prayed that the demons I locked outside my door didn’t find me in the darkness.

The trip to Switzerland allowed me to catch up on all the crap waiting for me on my phone at the airport. I was sipping a black coffee with three sugars in it when my phone rang.

“Yeah?”

“What the fuck do you think you playing at?” Xavier demanded.

“I think I’m sitting in the airport waiting for my flight. What the fuck?”

He sighed. “Have you seen the pictures of you from last night? I know you’re trying to keep her safe, but are you trying to fucking kill her?”

“What pictures, Zee? I was passed out drunk in my townhouse last night before coming to the airport this morning.”

What the hell had happened while I was passed out?

“Check your phone,” Xavier grated out.

I took it away from my ear and opened my messages. Xavier had screenshot a picture from some tacky gossip site. Aaron had obviously decided to fuck Poppy against my feature window last night without turning the lights off. Her ass was pressed to the window, and all you could see was his blond hair since his head was in her shoulder.

“I’ll speak to Aaron when I get home,” I said wearily.

“Aaron?”

“Long story, ask Jay to fill you in. He took quite the shine to Poppy the other night.” I still hadn’t had that lunch with him, but since Jordan had him staying in one of our safe houses, I had put it on my to-do list. It looked like I’d have to remind him what a safe house was for.

“What the fuck is going on, Ash?” Xavier suddenly sounded tired.

“You know what’s happening. I have a meeting in Switzerland this morning.”

“What about—”

I cut him off before he said her name. “Did you watch the rugby last night?” Rugby was our safe word because none of us watched it. If it was said in conversation it meant that we didn’t know if the lines were secure or if we had a security breach.

“No, I didn’t,” Xavier replied. “I must go and catch up on it now.”

“Yeah. I’ll chat to you when I get back.” I hung up, feeling soul weary.

The entire flight my mind was whirling. I wanted Dad’s focus off Lucrezia, but it never occurred to me that she would ever see what I was doing. It was another problem to add to my ever-increasing list.

Dad would give his eyeteeth to be admitted to the Plutus Guild that existed in the building I was currently walking through. What he didn’t know was that, as one of the founding members, I had blocked his application countless times. Finances evolved with the advent of the internet. Those who guarded financial institutions had to adapt along the way. In the process, this organisation emerged. Our members worked in every financial organisation across the world. One message would be all it took to crash the world’s economy.

“Ash, good to see you!” Caleb had been at university with me when we first came up with the idea of this place. It was far from the prying eyes of the world and hidden behind the façade of a bank.

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