Page 185 of Green Flag
Luca raised his brows, stifling a laugh.
“It’s not a joke,” Nix snapped, French accent thickening as he stepped in front of his love.
Luca’s frown suggested he wasn’t fully on board.
“We’re listening,” I said, sitting next to her.
“We’re only telling you this because we trust you,” Nix said, resting his hand on Livie’s shoulder. “We value your friendship and there’s no way to explain why Pedro is here without telling you the truth.”
Luca’s amusement had vanished, concern etched on his features as he looked at me, stepping closer to my side.
“To help me, Nix made a deal with some… unhinged people,” Livie said, glancing at Nix, silently asking if that was a fair description.
He tilted his head from side to side, then nodded.
“The repayment was a favour,” she continued. “That favour was for Pedro to join MotoBike in any capacity. He’s no longer a sports analyst, but he gets transport access.” Her eye contact was intense. “The planes.”
“The planes?” Luca asked, but I didn’t look away from Livie, sure I must have misunderstood.
“To ship drugs,” Nix sighed.
I jumped up, pressing my back into Luca. “Why would you do that?”
“That’s not…” Livie closed her eyes, her voice trembling. “Because Nix—”
“Because I would do anything for Livie,” he said. “Anything. Easy decision.” He sighed and Luca and I shared a glance. “I know you’ve been looking into your dad. And I couldn’t… I can’t let you go on thinking he had any involvement.”
“What involvement did you have?” Luca asked, frowning down at him.
Nix’s lips formed a tight line. “I was as involved as Pedro, if not more so. I was being blackmailed, but… Pedro was using your logins, Ever. He bragged about framing you.”
He paused, waiting for a reaction. I shrugged. None of that surprised me anymore.
“Oh,” he said, frowning at the anti-climax. “So I, er, told your dad—”
“That’s when he decided to get the police involved,” I said as Luca stroked my shoulder.
He cocked his head to the side. “Possibly. But he buried the evidence as best he could and… then Arabella told me you were messaging him and I saw the two of you at the fight and… I couldn’t let you go back there. So when I was told to get him a job, it didn’t seem like the worst thing for a while. I could keep an eye on him. Well, add another eye onto him.”
“Another?”
“I’ve had someone following him since he was released.”
“And next year? When you come back to StormSprint?” I asked, stepping out of Luca’s touch to threaten Nix. “What about then? It’s not just drugs you should be looking out for.”
Livie’s head cricked because she turned it so fast to look at me.
Nix’s eyes narrowed.
“Do you even understand what he did to me?” My voice shattered.
Nix shook his head, mouth open, as he tried to ask but couldn’t.
“I’ve spent the last eight years defending everything he did,” I laughed, shaking my head because I still couldn’t quite believe just how far he’d gone to blame me. “When he really was a piece of shit. I was fourteen when he first found an excuse for me to stay at his. He wheedled his way in — he’d text me, give me presents, he was… fuck, he made my idea of a relationship so screwed in my head. He made me think there was no one out there who could love me.”
Luca reached around to hold me and keep me together, hugging me from behind.
I leaned into his chest, looking over my shoulder to smile softly at him.
