Page 14 of Beautiful Liar

Tomás wasn’t technically a Brennan, but he was important to Maddox and by extension to Tristan. It’s how family worked. I only knew because I’d do the same for my Ark Boys.

“Tomás is a friend,” I interrupted. Giving Maddox a pass. “I’ll protect him.” Maddox turned to me. I saw the same desperation in his eyes that I’d seen in Tomás the day he killed Fortuna Bruno to save Henry. Now that I knew they were blood, I could pick apart their individual features and fit their similarities together. Like the shape of their eyes and the curve of their mouth.

“Please,” Maddox said with such pain in his voice it made me want to comfort him. I didn’t. But Alessandro did.

“You’re only getting in because you’re still a registered student. Casera knows you’ll be with Declan and his team,” Tristan said.

Myteam. After I found out Declan was going, I’d given Tristan my one begged favor—even adding salt to the wound by calling him father—to send Tor and Rumor. And he agreed. Rumor and Tor were Arcadia Alum and Ark Boys who treaded into the darker parts of the world collecting information we needed to complete our mission of destroying the families that ruined us. Taking over Brennan Holdings and killing Cillian had been part one of the plan.

After Maddox settled, I left with the group. Tor and I drove the lead vehicle, while Rumor drove Declan. We could’ve taken the one vehicle, but Declan was a dick on the best of days. He hated me for reasons unknown that I cared little to explore. And I needed the time with Tor.

I raked my hand down my face, my blood sugar out of fucking whack. Thank God for technology. I’d started consistently wearing my monitor and pump.

“How are you doing?” Tor asked.

“Let’s see. We are headed into Hell, literally, if this kid didn’t die via heart attack that ended with him in the lake. Wren is driving everyone up the wall since Alessandro married Maddox and we haven’t done anything to appease his soul. And … fuck!” I punched the console in front of me. I’d be lucky if the airbag didn’t explode in my face. “I have shit I’ve been hiding.” Fuck. I hated that Tor would never judge me and I still hid shit from him. I hated that we weren’t stopped and I couldn’t look at his expression when I told him I lied about shit. “I killed Cillian because he wanted me to kill Tomás and I couldn’t do it.”

“Because you love him or because he’s Maddox’s half-brother?”

The dry tone of his words made my blood drop to my ass. “How the fuck did you know about him being brothers with Maddox?” I ignored the dig on love, but Tor wouldn’t let me.

“So I take it that’s a yes on the love bit.”

“I don’t love him.” Even as I said the words I knew they were partly untrue. At that he did give me a sideways glance. Traffic needed his focus, thank fuck. “Yeah, I’m gay. We have, had, something because I fucked it all up.”

“And now you’re rushing over there to save him.”

“To keep him safe. There’s a difference.”

Tor gave me a look and then he did something unexpected. He started to laugh. An all out, open the window for some fresh air, laugh. “I knew it. Fox owes me fifty bucks.”

“You made a bet about me?”

“Yeah, stupid. He thought you’d tell him first.”

I opened and closed my mouth. “Fuck, he’s going to be pissed.”

“Yup,” Tor said, nodding with a satisfied grin. It was times like this that reminded me how young we all still were. We should’ve been in a real fraternity where the only problems we had were who to invite to a fucking party, what type of beer to bring in, and who would lug the kegs. Not rushing into a locked-down facility to investigate a death that would either erase a family bloodline or spill the blood of the students for some fucking bullshit tradition.

I closed my eyes for several seconds wondering how the fuck I ended up here. “Let’s focus on the fucking travesty of a situation we have here.”

“Agreed. Then I’m going to kick your ass for keeping shit from me.”

He wasn’t kidding. And I couldn’t argue. I deserved it.

Arcadia on lockdown meant no internet service andsecurity upgrades. The whole area would be viewed as a black zone from space. Anyone traveling at the border of the property wouldn’t have cell service. The security protocols in place were better than military grade. No communication. Control the border. And then the population.

The guard towers were active with approval of live ammunition. The hairs at the nape of my neck rose at the threat level all around us as we met Toombs at the gate. They made us get out of the car, confiscated our bags, technology, watches, even gave us eye scans to make sure we didn’t have tech lenses. Once we were violated, which is what it felt like, Rumor took Declan to the mansion where the Four and their guards would be staying for their duration while Tor drove me to Arcas. The living room lights were on. I suddenly felt wrong being there after all this time. Fox knew why I had to stay away, but the others hadn’t been as understanding.

“You are still one of us, Kieran,” Tor said.

“Are you sure about that?”

“So long as you don’t do anything you cannot return from.”

I met his brown eyes and knew exactly what he meant. Don’t turn into one of the assholes who were on our kill list. Don’t betray them. Don’t put them in harm’s way. No more lies.

“I won’t.”

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