Page 46 of Six
“I don’t know how it happened, but he, Jeremy, learned about what…about what happened in Indonesia. He called to tell me he knew all about it. He wanted to stop some auction. I don’t know what auction he was talking about but…I knew what else he was referring to.
“I called Victor after the first call. I told him Jeremy knew everything. I don’t actually know that Jeremy knew everything, but he knew enough for me to believe him when he said there’d be consequences for our actions.”
“What did Victor say?” Six asked.
Julian snorted. “What Victor always says. That I’m an idiot and he’ll take care of everything and not to say anything to anyone. You know he’s having an affair with my wife, right? I think they’ve been sleeping together since she moved in with him and his family when she was a kid. Kind of sick since he’s like ten years older and I think she was maybe thirteen when she moved in.”
The irony of that statement had Gavin gripping her hand to keep her in place.
“What happened next?” Gavin asked, because she was unable to.
“He told me to call Jeremy back and agree to meet him somewhere. I did and then I left Boston. I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I could see where things were going. If this Jeremy person knew—someone I never knew even existed until he called—then chances were someone else, or a whole lot of someone elses, knew. Victor tried to convince me Jeremy was the only problem, but I think he was trying to lull me into a sense of security.” He paused, and his attention shifted to the window beside him. “I’m pretty sure Victor means to kill me. That’s why I came up here. I’m not surrounded by guards or anything, but this house has decent security and because of the field, it’s pretty hard to sneak into. I haven’t left since I arrived here on Monday night.”
“What, specifically, did Victor say when you told him about Jeremy?” Six asked.
Julian’s gaze remained on the window, but he lifted a shoulder. “He told me to arrange the meetup but not to say anything else.”
“You’ve already told us what he said in relation to Jeremy, but what did he say to you about the situation?” Gavin asked.
Julian remained silent for a long moment. “He said he’d take care of everything. That everything would be fine.”
“You didn’t believe him?” Gavin asked.
For the first time, Julian showed a truly human reaction and gave them a smile that was half rueful and half sad. “Of course not. Jeremy said he had videos and described one of the nights in enough detail that I knew he wasn’t bluffing. Victor tried to convince me hewasbluffing, but I knew better. And now I think Victor wants to kill me.”
That was the second time Julian had alluded to Victor having it out for him. Six didn’t disagree. If she were Victor, she’d want to take Julian—and his propensity to faint when asked hard questions—out as well. But she was curious as to why he thought so, and so she asked.
That same smile appeared. “I’m the weak link,” he said, surprising Six. “I know…I know you probably don’t believe me, but I love them. All the women, the girls, I’m with. I want to protect them, to show them what it’s like to be with someone who cares about them. I’m not like the others. I don’t want power and I don’t want to hurt them. God no. I want them to know what it’s like to be with a man who loves them.”
“And so you force yourself on them,” Six said, not bothering to hide the disgust and disbelief in her voice.
Julian’s guileless gaze met hers. “I want them toknowwhat it’s like to be with a man who cares for them. I care for them.”
Bile rose in Six’s throat and involuntarily, she gripped Gavin’s hand. In response, he rubbed his thumb over her skin, and something about the rough texture grounded her. Not enough to be able to speak to the sociopath without screaming, but enough to keep her quiet and let Gavin take over.
“Why does Victor think you’re the weak link?” Gavin asked.
“Because Jeremy Wheaton made what I did soundbad,” he answered. “I mean, I know by societal standards, it’s not right. But you know, ancient civilizations did it all the time. It wasn’t until modern times that such things were considered taboo, that they were considered wrong. It’s all a social construct created to make people feel superior. Love, physical love, between an adult and a child, is normal.”
“Can I kill him myself?” Six said, directing her question to Gavin.
Gavin considered the man sitting across from them before answering. “No, but only because I think Victor will do it for us. Because DePalma is right, Julianisa weak link. He thinks what he did was the right thing and will defend it. That puts everyone else in jeopardy. And if DePalma kills him, well, that’s one less thing we have to worry about.”
Gavin’s reasoning might sound trite, but he was right.IfDePalma took Julian out, Julian wouldn’t be brought to justice, but he also wouldn’t ever harm another child. Her years of working for AISE had inured her to the idea that the killing of another human was always wrong. And while she’d like to see Julian made an example of, she also didn’t care one whit if he didn’t live to see the sunset. But if she didn’t have to be the one to do the job, then all the better considering she wasn’t supposed to be operating on US soil. There was also the added bonus that if DePalma killed him, that might be one more charge they could get DePalma on. And unlike the civil case Jeremy had been preparing, murder would be a criminal suit.
“Where’s DePalma now?” Six asked.
Julian’s eyes jerked from the window to the foyer as if by asking, they might suddenly conjure him.
“I don’t…know,” Julian answered.
“You don’t know, or you won’t say?” Gavin asked.
Julian frowned. “He’s out to kill me. I know it. If I knew where he was, I’d tell you, because then maybe he’d believe that everything Jeremy knew hasn’t been kept a secret and then there’d be no point in killing me.”
“He might kill you because you’re a prat,” Gavin said, surprising a huff of laughter out of Six.
Julian blinked rapidly at them again, and Six wondered if it was a nervous tic or a sign of something else, like an addiction of some sort. “Um, what are you going to do now? Are you even a Salvitto? Just who are you? Can you protect me?” Julian wasn’t gaining a spine; his questions were more bewildered than aggressive.
