Page 46 of Fierce Secrets

Out in the backyard, I fed our bloody clothes to the fire pit piece by piece. The flames consumed the evidence of our crime, but I could feel eyes on me. Looking up, I caught Meredith watching from her window, her face illuminated by the firelight.

That was the first time she'd looked at me like a monster.

But at least she'd been safe. Even if it meant she'd never look at me the same way again.

Gray had been beside her, and the steeled look in his eyes had made me realize he was going to be my partner one day. How I'd known, I couldn't say, but he was a man I wanted around, one with the right morals, and a person who could help me remain human in a world of monsters.

My phone's sharp ring yanked me from the memory. Gray's name flashed on the screen, as if he knew he'd been on my mind.

"Sofia reached out," he said without preamble. "They sent her the photos too." His voice cracked slightly. "I've gotten more documents as well. Evidence that proves he was dead before the car went off that bridge."

My blood ran cold. "Coroner's original report?"

"Yes."

"Perfect," I muttered, pacing the living area. "They're getting bolder. They're targeting Sofia because of her connection to Meredith," I thought aloud. "They know our families have money." I paused. "Hell, even Meredith has money, between her investments and those rental properties."

"Thank god I talked her out of buying with Logan," Gray muttered. "At least renting first proved what kind of man he really was." He sighed heavily. "I'm afraid they'll bring Meredith into it."

"Is it really so bad?" I said, wondering aloud. "Her father was a monster, Gray."

"She doesn't need to remember that stuff." His voice was sharp. "We protected her from those memories for a reason. Her forgetting or blocking it out was a godsend. She was a mess for months after he died."

He was right, I'd visited, and she'd hid away in her room whenever I did. Gray had told me she'd had nightmares, screaming constantly. Then, just randomly one day, she'dstarted talking to me again. Gray had said the nightmares had died off, and she no longer spoke of it. He didn't press, but when she started therapy, it became clear she had blocked it out completely.

"Not all secrets stay buried forever." I moved to the window, watching Roman's replacement guard the building entrance. Jackson was a good member of my security detail, and I didn't mind him stepping in while Roman focused on Meredith. "Besides, we should be more concerned about this going public. One leak to the media or online…"

The threat hung between us. My family had worked hard to stay off the radar, to keep our true nature hidden despite our activities. We were used to threats, to blackmail attempts, but this was different.

"I'll make more calls. We need this sorted, Leo. And we need to keep Meredith in the dark. She doesn't need this," Gray said before ending the call.

I wondered what it was Meredith truly needed. With all the panic attacks she still had, maybe she needed to know the truth to move past it. Rather than Gray's idea of whisking her off to Lake Forest. I sure as hell didn't want her leaving, not now that I was determined to keep her.

I glared down at the files spread before me, shifting a few to find the most incriminating one.

Files had rocked up on my office desk of all places, sent in anonymously. I was just grateful no one had opened my mail before it had reached me. A clear image of me standing over Anthony's body in the garage had greeted me as soon as I'd opened it. Another snap from inside the house as we'd beaten him while Meredith lay on the floor. It was obvious why we'd done it, but whoever had sent that in hadn't cared.

My father's team had wiped all the footage and disabled the cameras that night. But not before we'd collected the back-upsin the house. Gray had asked to see the feeds once, namely when his father was gone. By then, our own team had gone over all the footage. Frustratingly, Anthony had beaten Meredith outside of the camera frame, but it was clear what was going on many times when Gray was gone. Too bad it wouldn't hold in a court.

I'd checked for leaks in our own circle, but it was solid. Which meant, to our frustration, that all that time ago, those security feeds were being backed-up to an external server somewhere. And whoever that was, was the one behind this blackmailing. Too bad our team was struggling to find it, not having been up to speed back then, and now no longer having the right access needed.

Whoever this was had sat on those files for some time. Why? I had no idea, maybe it was because my father had enlisted me to start our operations in this city several years ago, and my companies were now making big waves.

When Meredith had graduated college and Gray had moved them to Ironstone, I'd requested to follow, and my father had been more than happy for me to expand our operations here. It had worked out incredibly well for me, and Grayson and I had started up several successful companies, many legit as well.

That was the only reason I could think of that someone would be doing this now.

Part of me wanted to just pay them off, make it disappear. But I could already imagine my father's reaction. His heir, the future head of the Donati family, giving in to blackmail? I'd lose everything – my position, my authority, the respect of our people. Not to mention we couldn't even know for sure if it would be wiped, or if they'd only come back asking for more.

Maybe Gray was right. Maybe Meredith needed to not remember. Maybe it would break her completely if she did. And I didn't want to be the cause of that.

If she remembered exactly what kind of monsters her brother and I really were…

She'd also remember why she'd once looked at me with such fear in her eyes.

I didn't want her to look at me like that again.

I needed to get to the bottom of this.

---