Page 81 of Greed
What the fuck should she do?
Was he safe to be around? The man could bend metal to his will. He could shake the world with his incredible power. She looked at the nightclub backdoor exit, heard the thumping base, and knew Grace was in there dancing… with Evan. If Griffin was Greed, then Evan would be one of them too. And the rest of his family. Parker, the billionaire… Tony, the fricking movie star!
“Oh my God, I feel sick.” She patted her clammy forehead.
“I won’t hurt you, Lilo, but I can’t keep this a secret from you anymore. You’re very special to me. Come inside, and I’ll explain everything. I’ll tell you about me, about my family. Everything. Please.”
Shit.Fucking shit! She bit her lip.
He was one of them.
Clearly.
He had morals, she knew that. He wasn’t a murderer like the fake Greed.
If he said he’d not hurt her… was that enough?
The Deadly Seven.
She had to go. This was the story of a lifetime. It was her unicorn—the one she never thought she’d actually find. Stamping down her fluttering heart and rolling nausea, Lilo agreed. “I will give you ten minutes.”
Griffin exhaled. “Good.”
She walked back to the nightclub exit. She’d need a stiff drink to get through this.
“This way,” he said behind her.
When she turned around, he’d opened a cast-iron door she’d not noticed before. A glance inside showed her steps leading into a dark space. It reminded her too much of the dark stairwell he’d left her in the other night. A glance back at him showed him hopeful, and sincere.
She had to decide right now if she trusted him.
“It’s a direct path to”—he bit his lip, pausing—“our headquarters. It’s safe.”
His words echoed in her mind.
Safe.
Holy crap, she was doing this? He was one of them, and he was going to show her everything. Every journalistic instinct inside her wanted to uncover the truth, but every human instinct in her was fearful of finding the truth. Then again, could she really use what she found to write an exposé that outed the deadly heroes?
Not only would it hurt Grace, but the truth would hurt the heroes, and the city would be without them again. As if to punctuate her point, she heard a police siren wail in the distance.
All she knew was that she was a strong woman, a proud reporter, and she wasn’t going to let him win by showing her fear. Get the information, then decide what to do with it later. Without hesitation, she stepped through the door, and down the deadly rabbit hole.
Chapter Twenty-Four
He didn’t speak while he led Lilo into the headquarters basement. Sensing his arrival, the ceiling halogen lights illuminated as he walked, casting the walkway into light. AIMI would be watching from cameras, cataloging the new intruder, filing away information for later use. That’s the way she was designed, to take the lead from the seven. To watch, record, and leave it up to them to discern.
The magnetic build up in his body still thrummed, and he couldn’t shut it down. Each day since he’d developed powers, he’d felt it in his bloodstream, in his organs, and in his mind, changing him on a molecular level. He hadn’t trained enough with it, like his family suggested. He could control his power well enough during battle, but afterwards… it still rode his system like a drug. It made him edgy, wired, and in need of release—as though the magnetism bottled in his blood and wanted out. But he didn’t have time for that now. Lilo walked beside him.
He stopped at an intersection of hallways where four doors led to different rooms. “This is the workout room.” He pointed to a room on the right. “That’s the tech workshop. Med room is there and—”
All the lights and computers flickered, a byproduct of his overworked magnetic biology. He flinched and looked at her with guilty eyes. “Sorry, that’s me.”
“Griffin,” Lilo said calmly. “While I appreciate the grand tour, I said I would give you ten minutes, and I meant it.”
She was an angry goddess in a blue dress, and he ached to make everything right, but how could he explain this passion burning him up inside, this ache to be near her, and the fear that he’d stuff it up, just like everything else. How could he tell her she was everything to him? That she was the very thing stopping him from going insane, just by being near?
“Okay,” he breathed. Grace said to be honest, and it was all he could do. After that, it would be up to Lilo. “I need to show you my room.”
