Page 45 of Loving Lex

Her steps faltered, her head dropping a bit before she shook it. “I don’t care.”

Then she was gone.

I wrapped my arms around myself as the trembling started. As the new terrifying reality settled into my bones and my gut and my everything. I’d been taken for something that for others was a forever sentence, something probably worse than death. And my fate rested on my father.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Lex

The truth aboutmy brother? Now?

My heart was utterly torn.

What. The. Fuck.

Kane seemed to sense my quandary and took pity on me, his expression softening just a touch. “Relax. This will just take a couple of minutes. JD already has Tony working whatever angle he can to get your Shay back.” He strolled around his desk and perched a hip against the front, facing me. “I didn’t kill him, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“No?” I bit out.

“No. Far from it. Stone was one of my best men.”

“Then why the bullshit robbery story?” I asked. “What really happened to him? Because we both know no burglar slit his throat like an animal.”

“You’re right.”

I sucked in a breath. Finally. Someone was acknowledging the lie I’d suspected all along. Strangely, I felt no relief. Nothing would bring him back. And, right now, all I could concentrate on was getting Shay home. I lifted a brow, silently demanding the answers I deserved.

“Your brother died honorably, doing his job, protecting one of the girls in the club from the Lady Killer.” He glanced away momentarily, then back, letting me know how much my brother’s murder really did upset him. “Unfortunately, the killer was able to get the drop on Stone, and, well... you know what happened.”

“So, why the big cover-up?” I demanded.

He gave me a long look. “This is the reward part, Lex. Nothing revealed to you today is to leave this room or there will be consequences. Continue to show your loyalty by toeing that line, and I will always have your back. Do we understand each other?”

This was it. What I’d been waiting for. A part of me knew I should feel more, but I was strangely numb. Antsy to get answers and get the show on the road. “I understand.”

“As far as the police are concerned, the Lady Killer murders are unsolved cold cases with no known suspect. But those of us with a—you can call it—need to know, caught the killer red-handed, and he was eliminated.”

“Eliminated,” I echoed.

“Appropriately and painfully,” he intoned. “Your brother was avenged, as was every single woman he brutally murdered.”

We stared at each other for several moments as I processed this information. Clearly, he was not going to tell me who this killer was. At least not now. I wasn’t sure it mattered in this moment; the motherfucker was dead and buried, most likely at the talented hands of JD.

My phone buzzed, but I ignored it as I sensed Kane had something more to say.

“I do whatever I have to in order to protect my family and my organization. If you’ve learned nothing else in your time with us, I hope you’ve at least learned that. In Stone’s case, I had to do what I felt was best for everyone involved, so we took care of things as we do.” Kane’s hard gaze softened just a fraction. “But he deserved a proper burial and your family deserved some closure, which was why we staged the robbery. I’m sorry for the pain it caused, but I figured it was better than the alternative.”

The alternative.

His words rang through my brain like a bullet.

Thealternativebeing a hidden grave in the desert or mountains somewhere and me and my parents never knowing. As shitty as it all was, the cover-up was Gideon Kane’s version of mercy—and he was brutally unmerciful.

I nodded in acknowledgment, taking what I could get, and silently thanking him. It would take me a while to digest this, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to tell my folks the truth, but I’d figure that out later.

“Okay.” He nodded once, moving on, and turned to JD. “Any word from Tony?”

I pulled out my phone to check the text from earlier while JD shot off a message to their tech guy. Looked like Lucky had arrived and was having a little issue getting by security. I glanced to Kane. “My friend is here. The guys out front are holding him up.”

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