by Piper Rayne
I’m halfway through tidying away the gauze packets and surgical tools, getting my phone out to reply to Zac, to reassure him, to tell him that I’m fine and that I’ll call him tomorrow, when I see something glint at me from under the filing cabinet.
I slide my phone into my jean pocket, promising in my head to reply to him later, and get on the floor to peer under the cabinet. Dust bunnies assail me as I scoop my hand under pulling the glinting object out.
It's a brooch in the shape of a rook much like the one I’ve seen on the Twins’ company logo, looking very ancient and very expensive. It could belong to the brothers, although clearly, it’s a feminine brooch.
I’ll have to ask Elias, maybe he dropped it here at some point.
I slip the brooch into my white coat pocket and take a minute to finalize some notes before changing, turning out the lights and locking up with a spare set of keys. I did think about changing the locks, but then I’d have to explain to Elias and Alexei what happened. Since I don’t plan on staying here long and whoever broke in has already had the run of the place, fessing up and forking out for new locks seems like overkill.
I’m texting Darius to meet me after the fight when in the middle of the hallway, I hear a noise. I spin around, heart jumping in my chest, to face an empty corridor.
There's no one there.
It’s probably just my imagination.
Panic grabs me, rising up just below the surface, prickling the hairs along my arms and the back of my neck. I push it down, enough to slow my racing heart and still the feeling of fear in my veins. It wouldn’t do to freak out right now even though I want to.
Ever since that guy outright attacked me, I’ve been a little skittish. And now, with the distinct lack of Darius time, my confidence seems to have gone into hibernation mode. Annoyed with myself for being afraid of shadows, I complete my message to Darius.
While we didn’t plan on keeping to our usual routines—me working late hours at the clinic and Darius training every hour of every day—it made sense to keep things normal. But since the morning after the attack, we’ve hardly spoken and I’ve no idea what's going through his head. I trusted him when he said he’d find my brother but I need to know how he’s going to help because I’m still in the dark about that one.
I’m also missing him a bit.
Okay, a lot.
A stray memory of Darius’s kiss tingles, sending hot flutters all over and down to my toes. My body reacts making me shiver. Whatever happened between the two of us has left me crazy with desire for him. More so than before. At least then I never knew what I was missing. Now…
Hell. I’m glad we stopped and didn’t go any further. But the feeling of regret of not having gone all the way has been running through me for a while now. It might have been my only chance to be with him.
I close my eyes and inhale, letting my chest expand, and then let it all out. I can’t be mooning over Darius when I see him. I need to focus.
I’m torn out of my internal conflict by a hand clamping over my shoulder. I spin around as my vision adjusts allowing me to see a silhouette of someone in the dimly-lit corridor.
7
Rae
“So, you’re Elias’s new muse, I thought you'd be a lot prettier.” A woman my age with ruby-red hair and steel-gray eyes smirks. Her lips are coated with fire-engine-red lipstick to compliment her striking eyes.
Red hair, red lips. I’ve seen her before.
“I know you,” I say. “I mean, I’ve seen you before, outside the Twins’ apartment.”
She grins. “Yes, that was me. I saw you too. We had a little moment, I like to think. I must apologize for scaring you just now, but stalking outside your clinic is the only way to get you alone on a busy night like this.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“I can’t imagine the resemblance is wholly apparent, but I’m the Twins’ elder sister—”
“—Nadine Lexington,” I finish for her.
“Ah, so you have heard of me?”
Who hasn’t? She’s a style icon, an heiress with enough bodies behind her to have an army of the dead, a black widow set to inherit her fifth fortune, oh and a bitch, all rolled into one. I let what I think of her show in my eyes and she just laughs.
“That bad, huh? Tabloids, they always get it wrong you know. I didn’t kill my last husband.”
I raise a brow. “Just the last one?”
She gives a sad smile. “I loved him, if you can believe it. Anyway, I’m not here to talk about me, as seductive as that sounds, I’m here to see if we can help each other.”
“Why would I do anything for you?”
“If you want to keep your little tryst with the fighter a secret, you’ll do exactly what I ask.”
How does she know that?
I stare at her and then laugh, I can’t help it. “Tell who you want. I don’t care.”
She sighs. “You think Elias will take lightly to Darius’s betrayal? Eli and Lexi have been known to get hot-headed from time to time. I’d hate for anything to happen to your boyfriend.”
“He’s not my boyfriend. I don’t give a shit about him,” I say, but the words sound weak, even to my own ears.
“Oh? Then you won’t mind if I tell Elias.”
Then it dawns on me. She called me Elias’s muse. Does she think I’m Elias’s girlfriend or something? “I don’t know what you think is going on with me and Elias, but he’s my boss, nothing more than that.”
“Oh, I know that, my dove. When you told Elias you had a date, I knew it was one-sided. But here, in his place of business, you belong to Elias. Darius should know that.”
“Even if you tell them, it won’t change anything. I’m not that important.”
“Are you willing to risk it?”
“Yes,” I lie. The moment I can get away from this psycho, I'm calling Zac. If I have to tell him what I know then I will, if only to keep Darius out of it. ’Now if that’s all you’ve got to say, I need to be on my way.”
She sighs. “You're tougher to crack than I thought. I was going to offer to help you too.”
“A second ago you were blackmailing me and now you want to help?”
“True, I can be a touch melodramatic at times. Look, I know you don’t know me, but I do want to help.”
I narrow my eyes. “How?”
“A little birdie tells me you’re looking for your brother. He’s sorry, by the way, your date. He was set up by Alexei, so it seems. The evil twin suspects you’re not who you say you are.”
“If Alexei was the one who set me up, why do you know all about it?”
“We’re family.”
“Sorry?”
“We, my siblings and I, can’t help but try to fuck each other over. Elias likes you so Alexei hates you. It stands to reason it was Alexei if it wasn’t me. You have a large family yourself don’t you? You know how it is?”
Disbelief must still show on my face because she rolls her eyes and sighs.
“Look, you think you know my brothers, but you don’t know our family. There are five of us who will inherit a share of my parents’ wealth, each Lexington will also get a stake in any enterprise founded from the family fortune. A few of us suspect the Twins are, or at least one of them is, selling us out. Trading at the black-market auction in return for cold hard cash. Unfortunately, I don’t know what they’re trading or have enough details to take action. I suspect they’re trading flesh. Suspecting isn’t enough in a family where no one trusts the other. When I heard you were looking for your brother, I thought he might be one of the fighters sold. If you help me, we might find your brother, or at least find out what happened to him.”
I take a second to digest what she’s saying. “Wait, you think my brother was sold?” The very thought makes my blood run cold.
She nods. “It’s a possibility.”
“But you don't know for certain?”
She shakes her head. “All I want is to know which brother of min
e is double-crossing our family.”
She might be lying, even so this is the first real lead I've got. I can’t ignore it. I don’t believe how she found out about my true intentions for being here, but the fact that she knows now can’t be changed.
“Okay, why are you telling me this? You said you need my help? What do you need me to do that you can’t?”
“You can get close to Elias in a way a sister can’t.”
I frown at her. “I’m not close to Elias.”
“No, but he likes you. It’s easy to manipulate someone who has a little crush, no?”
I think of Darius. “Maybe. Surely there’s a better way? Can’t you just ask to see the books?”
“No, I’ve tried. I have no authority to see the books and they are much too careful at keeping their guard up around me. And when they’re not, Elias and Alexei won’t even let me in the club. I’m not even meant to be here.”
“They let you into their apartment last night.”
“Eventually, after I stalked them outside for two hours. Their apartment is as far as I’m officially allowed and only at their grace. Regardless, I need hard evidence. Elias keeps a copy of the office key around his neck on a chain. Sad way to accessorize if you ask me but easier for us. Now, if you can get me the key…”
My shoulders tense. “No. No way am I stealing from a Lexington twin.”
“Not even to save your brother?”
“You don’t even know if my brother is mixed up in this.”
“I know that fighters are missing, no bodies, no funeral, and the company is expected to pay out damages. Those damages are supposed to be part of my inheritance.”
“My family didn’t get damages.”
She raises her eyebrows. “Oh? Seems like my family isn’t the only one double-crossing each other.”
“You’re saying my family got paid off?” This just keeps getting worse.
“I can send you evidence that The Pit paid for and wiped your father’s debt. If I do that will you consider my offer?”
“You want me to somehow get a key from around Elias’s neck?” At the thought of it, my heart pounds and thoughts whirl around inside my head.
“You don’t have to steal it. All I’m asking is that you get me an imprint of the key. I can take it from there.”
“What about Alexei? Doesn’t he have a key?”
She cocks her head. “Oh, you prefer Alexei, do you?”
“No, but he must have a key. Where does he keep his?” Not that stealing from Alexei is any better.
“I’ve no idea. Alexei is a secretive little shit. Elias, on the other hand…” She sighs. “Look, if I didn’t need you, I wouldn’t ask. But I swear that if you do this, and we find out absolutely nothing, I’ll still help you and your lover leave here without retribution.”
“And how on earth would you manage that?”
She purses her lips. “It might not be my club, but I’m still a Lexington, darling.”
“I’ll… need to think about it,” I say finally. There’s no way I’m helping her. What she’s talking about is suicide.
But what if this is the only way to find out what happened to Dylan?
The corner of her mouth curls up and I feel something shoved into my hand. A card.
“Here is my number. Call me when you’re ready.”
A waft of cold breezes over me as she opens an external door, flooding the corridor with outside air. She looks over her shoulder, framed in the doorway.
“Although, don’t think on it too long. I hear a big fight is to be held soon. One your lover might not walk away from.”
And with that, she stalks off into the darkness, leaving the door to slam shut, enveloping me in her floral scent and the chills of nighttime.
8
Darius
Thoughts of Rae follow me around. I can’t stop thinking about her all the way up to the fight on Friday night, and I can’t stop thinking about her in the gym the next morning.
Or should I say thoughts of what I did to her brother.
My blood turned to ice the moment Rae showed me the screen of her phone. I hadn’t lied to her when I told her I didn’t remember. My messed-up memory didn’t recall him at first. But how could I forget the wiry fighter with determination in his eyes who faced me in the cage months before Rae turned up.
He was good but massively under-trained. I’ve no clue how he ended up as part of the undercard for a big fight, a rookie like him shouldn’t have been recruited in the first place. But he was keen. I remember admiring his tenacity and reserve. After a few rounds in, when it looked like he couldn’t take anymore, I knocked him clean out.
I don’t know what happened to Hunter afterwards or if he even survived. I was on to my next fight trying not to die at the time. But when I didn’t see him backstage, in the clinic or in the changing room area, at the end of the night, I just assumed he didn’t make it.
And now that I know he’s Rae’s brother, I need to be sure.
I know I should tell her but what if it was me who killed him? I need to know what happened to him before I break the news to her. Really? How does that change anything? Surely, she has a right to know now even if it was me who killed him?
Fuck. It’s all messed up.
I’m halfway through my extended workout, heaving myself up on the pull-up bars, feeling my stomach burn like hell, when my phone dings.
I fall to the floor, panting, allowing my muscles to ache for a gratifying moment before springing to my feet.
It’s a message from Rae saying she needs to meet right now.
Easier said than done.
Keeping away from Rae all this time hasn’t been fucking easy. Mainly because I don’t want to. But having any weakness in this world is a dangerous thing, and Rae is fast becoming my Achilles’ Heel. Not that I care about what happens to me. I need to get Rae out of here. That’s all that matters.
I drop my phone back onto the bench and turn it off. I just need to stay away.
The gym door swings open, bringing me back to my senses. My bad mood escalates as soon as Elias strides in. I know it’s Elias because he has an extra lick in his hair on the right side, and he’s wearing an expensively tailored suit paired with a bright peacock-colored waistcoat.
He’s all smiles as he comes over, but his eyes are viper sharp and full of darkness, not unlike mine.
“You spoke to my brother, about the fight?”
“I did.”
His furtive, gray eyes try to stare me down. “Interesting caveat to throw in for next week’s fight, asking for a rematch. Who is this Hunter to you, anyway?”
I return the look and grab my towel off the bench next to me. “Who knows, I picked him out of a hat.”
“Are you sure he’s not a friend of yours?”
I glance over at Elias, frowning. “I don’t know. Could have been before you screwed me every way from Sunday?”
Elias smirks, recognizing our usual pattern of banter. “Memory still a bit fuzzy, Archer? Maybe you killed him already?”
“I think I’d remember killing a rookie like that. Scraping the barrel with challengers for me lately, aren’t you?”
“Just pick someone else so we can get on with the real business of making money. That one isn’t available.”
I stop toweling myself. “Is he dead?”
“That’s what I’m telling you.”
“That’s not what Alexei told me. He checked the lists and said it wouldn’t be a problem.” Alexei said nothing of the sort, only that he’d consider my request. But he didn’t bat an eyelid when I mentioned Hunter’s name. He just stared at me with that dead look in his eyes, as though I was already six feet under ground and then signed the request.
Like I say, Alexei is the one to worry about.
“Well, my brother is wrong on this.”
My nostrils flare as his tone spikes. He’s lying. I've no idea why, but he is. He’s also nervous, which is the only reason I press forwar
d.
That and he’s Elias, not Alexei.
“My terms still stand. I’ll fight in your fucking circus, because that’s what it’s become, on one condition—I also fight Hunter as undercard before the main match. Your brother saw sense and is making it official as we speak.”
“Is that your dying wish?”
I nod, letting the resolution show in my eyes.
“You’re in way over your head, you know that?” Heat simmers behind his usual mask of arrogance, with a shadow of fear that I’ve never seen before.
What could possibly scare a Lexington?
The fear is fleeting though, and after a pause he carries on. “Actually, I have a condition of my own…”
“And what’s that?”
“For the main event you fight us both.”
“Both?” You and Alexei at the same damn time?” No fucking way. “You want me dead that badly? Why don’t you just hand me a length of rope now so I can kill myself without the whole damn arena watching?”
An evil looking grin spreads onto his face. “How depressing. If that’s the way you flirt no wonder Rae’s been awfully quiet since her visit to your apartment the other day, I might take her out this evening to cheer her up.”
The hairs on the back of my neck prickle and I growl a warning. “Don’t you fucking go near her.” The words come out thick in my throat and I can’t help but take a step forward.
“Oh, you’re threatening me now? Good to know how you feel about our Little Saint. She’s barely twenty. Not even out of medical school yet. Did you know that? Lied about her age and her education. No matter. I selected her myself out of all the applicants. The one with the tightest ass on the cheapest payroll. One has to wonder if she’s a firecracker in the bedroom as well as the cage. She’d make quite the headline if you don’t want to fight.”
“I’m going to fucking kill you,” I say, the fury inside making it impossible to back down.
A smug smile breaks out across Elias’s lips. “That’s all we’re asking for. Fight’s in three days. Don’t let us down.” I watch him walk away, still bristling with rage. I’m close to chasing after him, tearing his throat out. He’s fucking goading me and it’s working.
