Page 15 of Crown of Smoke

My phone buzzes. A text from Blaise.

Where are you?

Making sure our problem doesn't become a bigger one, I type back.

Three dots appear as he types.

The girl?

Yes, now leave me alone.

You’re not fucking her, are you?

I roll my eyes.

I never fuck and text.

I pocket my phone, deciding this conversation is over. Next I have to decide how to find out what Lucy knows. I could come back tomorrow and ask her. I can see those big blue eyes getting excited. She’d see it as working together. I can’t have that.

I blow out a breath as I realize the only way to find out what she knows is to break into her place and read her research, all without her knowing. I don’t normally have a problem breaking the law if it’s in the service of justice for my parents, but I hesitate now. I’m uncomfortable with violating Lucy’s space.

But then I remind myself that I’m also trying to protect her. The end justifies the means, right?

I examine Lucy’s lock and it looks pretty basic. Anyone wanting to get in won’t have much trouble. She might as well hang aWelcomesign for intruders.

I don’t have anything to pick the lock. Instead, I take out my driver’s license and slip it between the door and door jamb just over the knob. I slide it down, pushing the latch bolt back. The door opens. I wait, listening for any sound. Hearing nothing, I slip inside, glad that the hinges don't squeak.

The place smells like her, that mix of vanilla and something floral I caught earlier. Lavender maybe. Streetlight filters through thin curtains, giving me enough light to move around her small living space. There’s a small table off a galley kitchen. On top sits a laptop. Next to it, papers spill from a messenger bag onto the wood surface.

The computer's locked when I try to access it. Irritating for me, smart on her part. I rifle through her bag instead. She has a yellow pad with notes. Newspaper clippings rustle under my fingers.

Headlines jump out,Ifrinn Family Estate Burns,Power Vacuum in Boston's Underground,Keans Rise from the Ifrinns’ Ashes.

Rage builds from my gut. Motherfuckers will pay.

Ifrinn Boys… Dead, Missing, or Running from the Law?My hands clench, crumpling the paper. I want to call this reporter and tell them the Ifrinn boys are back for revenge. Hell, I could tell Lucy that. No doubt, she’d think that was a great story.

But our success relies heavily on the Keans’ not knowing where we are. So I push back the urge to wake her and give her a story of a lifetime.

A file folder catches my eye, tucked beneath the newspaper clippings. Inside, photocopied police reports detail the night of the fire. I scan the pages. The official story, faulty wiring, tragic accident. But Lucy's notes in the margins suggest she doesn’t believe it.

Accelerant found at multiple points of origin.

Emergency response delayed by minutes.

She's pieced together more than anyone else has dared. I open a piece of what looks like butcher paper to find a labyrinth of red lines connecting photos. My parents. Me and my brothers. The Kean patriarch, Hampton. His son, Ronan. His daughter Kiera. And who’s this? Bridgit? Kiera has a daughter? I wonder if Phoenix knows that. There was a time he had a thing for Kiera. Of course, that’s long dead and gone since her family killed our parents.

I’m impressed by how much Lucy has put together. She's mapped out the power structure that existed before everything went to hell. This isn't just another puff piece about the Keans' rise to influence and power in Boston’s legitimate business scene. Lucy's hunting the truth about that night, about what really happened to my family. She’s trying to show the Keans were behind my family’s demise.

I replace the files exactly as I found them. If she publishes any of this, especially before law enforcement has proof or I and my brothers get our revenge, they’ll come for her. I admire her bravery even as I curse her naivety. I can’t think of anything more dangerous for her than poking at the Keans.

I need to decide—shut her investigation down, or use it to our advantage? I know what she wants. While she has a sense of what she's dealing with, she doesn’t know the full depth of danger this puts her in. My brothers want to use her to help in our mission. I’m definitely outnumbered, but that’s never stopped me from fighting back before.

A sound, water jostling, maybe, echoes from down the hall. My muscles lock. Lucy's still awake.

The smart thing would be to leave. Now. Before she catches me in her apartment like some deranged stalker. But my feet carry me toward the sound, drawn by an impulse I can't control.

Light creeps out in the hall from a slightly ajar door. The scent of vanilla mixed with lavender, the scent that's been driving me crazy all night, pulls me closer. The door's cracked open just enough for me to see inside the bathroom.

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