Page 98 of House Rules
I need to move.
But Maverick will not take his fucking hands off my shoulders. He’s literally pinning me in this goddamn chair, and I’m allowing it—because I don’t know what will happen if I stand up.
Before I can say anything else, Atticus comes into the room again with his laptop and his phone still pressed to his ear.
“Okay, thank you. Yes, please let me know. Of course—your discretion will be rewarded.”
“Who the fuck was that?” I bark as Atticus disconnects the line.
“I’ve called all the hospitals. They’re keeping an eye out for the two men Storm sliced and diced. They’ll let us know if either of them shows up to the ER. If that’s the case, then we can address it when it happens. I don’t think the larger one—the one who just needs stitches—will show up, but the other one might. Depends on how deep Storm’s knife went.”
“I honestly don’t know, man,” Storm says, still holding Phoenix in his arms like she’s some innocent little girl that needs to be protected. Does our Little Red Riding Hood not realize she’s literally in the arms of the big bad fucking wolf?
She shifts slightly in his arms, like she knows he won’t drop her—even when the rest of us might. And I fucking hate how he gets to be the one she leans on. I want her to flinch from me, fear me. But I also want her to crawl to me when she breaks.
She’s curled into him like she’s weightless—bare feet tucked under her, cheek against his chest, hair falling like a veil that keeps me out. Storm’s armsare caged around her, and the fucker looks calm. Like she belongs there. Like he’s earned the right to hold her after what she did. Her hand fists in the fabric of his shirt like it’s the only thing keeping her anchored. And maybe it is. Maybe she trusts him now. Trusts him.
Not me.
My jaw locks. I should be the one she looks to. The one she leans on when the world starts breaking apart. But she chose him. And watching her tremble in his arms while my own hands shake with the need to tear her away from him—that’s what unravels me.
“Okay, I don’t know who these two work for, and that bothers me. I’ve gone through some of the text messages in the group chats between employees?—”
“What?” Maverick and I ask at the same time.
“There are a few group chats among the maids, the dealers, the waitresses, etc. I hack into them every so often just to make sure no one’s bragging about stealing or any shit like that. It’s mostly just Maverick’s dick pics.”
“Any good ones?” Maverick asks, and we all ignore him.
“So, Phoenix is right. There are rumors that we have something to do with the girls going missing—mostly because a lot of the staff just quits without telling anyone, and they’re never heard from again. A few of them even went to go check on the girls, and they’re just gone, their apartments ransacked. It looks like they left town.”
“What the fuck?” Maverick asks. “How have there not been any police reports about that?”
“I’m trying to figure that out now.”
“How about why they think we’re the ones doing it?”
“Because most of the women missing are girls, and they go missing the day after they’ve been with one of us.”
“Fuck,” Maverick says, and he takes his hands off my shoulders for just a minute. I consider standing up, but I just don’t have the strength.
“What do we think is actually happening?”
“I don’t know,” Atticus says, a line forming between his brows. Out of all of us, he’s the one who’s always demanded to know all things at all times. He could never handle justnot knowingsomething.
“What do we know?” Maverick asks.
“I have more questions than answers,” Atticus admits, rubbing his temples. “I want to know who’s pulling the fucking strings. What exactly is happening to this staff? Who the real target is. There’s no reason any mob—low-rent or not—should be coming afterus.We don’t have the keys to the kingdom yet. It has to be something with our parents.”
“Obviously,” Maverick says, giving Atticus a bored look.
“Then there’s the other thing,” I say, glaring at Phoenix, who is curled up on Storm’s lap like a fucking cat with her head on his shoulder. “What the fuck do we do with our little traitor?”
“I think she needs to be punished,” Atticus says with a shrug.
Of course that’s what he would want. Fucking sadist.
“I understand why she’s here now. I understand why she did what she did. But she needs to be punished for lying to us for so long.”
