Troy raised his brows. “Well, that sounds a little suspect.”
“It’s true,” Lucian chimed in. “No matter how many times we had someone out here to look at the system, it goes down. Some kind of interference. Happens if anyone tries to use a regular camera in here. Only thing that seems to work is a damn camera phone.”
Troy frowned, looking like he wanted to point out how crazy that sounded, but Lucian wasn’t bullshitting him. Damn video feed was constantly interrupted and not a single tech could find a reason why. Of course, the staff found reasons—preternatural reasons. It was one of the many reasons some of the staff became uncomfortable in the home.
“Your father cared more about what people thought of his family than he did for his family,” Troy said after a few moments, and Dev couldn’t say shit about that, because it was the truth. “There’s going to be questions, Dev. How much are the oil refineries, the real estate, and Vincent Industries all worth? Billions? Who just inherited all that?”
“Gabe and I,” Dev answered without hesitation. “That was in our father’s will. I doubt it has changed.”
Troy jerked his chin at Lucian. “What about you?”
Lucian chuckled at the question. “I was cut out of the family business a long time ago, but don’t worry about me. I’m doing more than okay for myself.”
“Great. Now I can sleep at night knowing that.” He refocused on Dev. “The point I’m getting at is that people are going to ask questions. This is going to get out.”
“Of course it is.” Dev arched a brow. “And what will get out is that he died of natural causes.”
Troy choked out a laugh as his eyes widened. “Are you shitting me?”
“Does he look like he’s shitting you?” Lucian replied dryly.
“Yeah, I can pull some strings, but that’s a real big string that would unravel as quick as fuck.” Troy shook his head. “Coroner isn’t going to list a suicide as a natural cause of death.”
Dev arched a brow. “You’d be surprised by what people will do.”
The dumbfounded look seeped off Troy’s face as he stared at Dev like he was a second from slapping him upside the head. “Actually, I’m not surprised by much, Devlin.”
“We understand you’ve got a job to do,” Lucian cut in, ignoring the sudden sharp look of warning settling into his brother’s features. “And we don’t want you jeopardizing it whatsoever. We can deal with . . . with whatever people are going to say or think.”
“Good to hear since some of us aren’t about to inherit a billion-dollar business.” Troy’s response was dry as he pinned Dev with a look. “Lucky you.”
Dev did something rare in that moment, something Lucian hadn’t seen in a while.
The devil smiled.
Dawn was fighting back the shadows while Lucian waited in the living room. Those milling in and out of his father’s study were quiet, and the ones who did speak did so in hushed tones. There were no flashing red-and-blue lights outside. There were minimal questions asked of them. Dev was still with Troy, most likely making damn sure the story he wanted to be told was the one that got heard.
He looked up from where he was staring at the stone fireplace as the crew appeared. The words MEDICAL EXAMINER were scrawled across the black polo of one of the men who was rolling in the gurney.
It reminded him of a different night with a similar ending.
It actually reminded him of a lot of nights.
A woman cried out. Lucian rose and turned to the entryway. Mrs. Besson stood there, clutching her husband’s arm. Both were pale. “What is going on?”
Striding forward, he took Richard by the shoulder and guided both into one of the many unused sitting rooms, far away from the living room and the study.
“Lucian, what has happened?” Richard asked, his brown eyes searching his.
Rolling his shoulders, he wasn’t sure how to tell them. Wasn’t like they would grieve the death of Lawrence, but he was still their employer, still a major part of their lives. “There’s been an incident.”
Richard curled an arm around his wife’s waist as her hand fluttered to where her silver hair was smoothed back into a knot. “Son, I have a feeling that’s a pretty large understatement.”
“Yeah, you could say that.” Lucian glanced at the doorway as he squeezed Richard’s shoulders. Livie was their housekeeper, keeping track of the staff that came in and out throughout the day and all other needs. Her husband was a bit of a butler and jack-of-all-trades. The couple had been with them as long as Lucian could remember and he knew both were of strong stock despite some of the views they held on the house and land. After all, they had to be to work for the de Vincents and were a part of this family, being there for his brothers more than their parents were. Hell, Livie and Richard’s daughter used to run these very halls as a girl, becoming a second sister to all of them, but Lucian hadn’t seen Nicolette in years, not since she left for college.
“Lawrence hung himself in the study,” he said.
Fine lines appeared around Livie’s eyes as she squeezed them shut and murmured what sounded like a prayer under her breath, but her husband simply stared at Lucian and asked, “Is that right?”
“Appears to be.” There was no mistaking what the look on Richard’s face meant. It was the same on Troy’s. It was what all of them, deep down, were thinking. Suddenly exhausted, he dragged a hand through his hair.
“Lucian,” Gabe called from the hallway, his jaw set in a hard line. “We need to talk to you.”
He stepped around the couple. “If you guys need to take some time—”
“No,” Livie said, her brown eyes sharp. “We’re fine. We’re here for you boys.”
A tired smile pulled at his lips. “Thank you,” he said, meaning it. “I would just stay away from father’s study for the time being.”
Richard nodded. “You still leaving tomorrow?”
“I need to.”
“I know.” Richard clapped him on the shoulder and gave him a grim smile. “I’ll hold down the fort as long as I can.”
Clasping the older man’s hand, he squeezed gently, and then Lucian left them, making his way to his brother. As he approached Gabe, he saw that Troy was waiting for them out in the hall. He didn’t see Dev. “Do I even want to know what you guys have to say?”
Gabe shook his head. “Probably not.”
Troy kept his voice down as he spoke. “When they got his body down from the ceiling fan, they took the belt off. You probably didn’t see this because of where he was hanging and because of the belt, but . . .”
A chill skated down Lucian’s spine as he glanced at his brother. “But what?”
“There were marks on his neck.” Troy drew in a deep breath. “Around where the belt was. They look like scratches. That means one of two things. He either got himself up there and had second thoughts, or he didn’t put that belt around his neck in the first place.”
Chapter 3
“Why do you have to leave me?” cried Anna. She stomped one heeled foot, thrusting out her lower lip as the bright blue drink sloshed over the rim of her glass. “Who is going to listen to me complain about my neighbors from hell or when I openly objectify the really hot pharmacy reps?”
Julia Hughes laughed at her coworker—well, her ex-coworker as of two hours ago. She and several of the nurses and staff from the center were at the bar a few blocks from where they worked, having a little going away party. Which was also turning into who was going to have the worse hangover in the morning.
Julia’s bets were on Anna.
“You still have Susan. She appreciates your tales of tribulations and she also likes checking out the reps.”
“Everyone likes checking them out, but you were the only single one left on our floor. I got to live vicariously through imagining you going out with them and having that nasty kind of sex that makes you walk funny afterward.”
Almost choking on her champagne, Julia lowered her glass.
; Anna grinned and then took a healthy gulp of her drink. “And I can’t try to fix Susan up with any of them.”
“Lucky her, because those dates never turned out well,” Julia reminded her. Those dates had turned out really boring or ended up being no shows. There had been no in-betweens, and definitely no nasty sex that had left her needing a Tylenol the next day.
Julia leaned forward, placing her elbows on the round, high-top table. The hum of rock music grew louder while their group had spread throughout the bar. The congratulations cake someone had brought with them had been consumed within minutes of it being revealed. “I am going to miss you guys,” she said, drawing in a deep, stinging breath.
“I really can’t believe you’re doing this.” Anna leaned into her, sighing.
In all honesty, a huge part of Julia couldn’t believe she had quit her safe, secure nursing job and taken an in-home one several states away, in a different time zone. The decision had been so entirely out of character that her parents thought she was having some kind of midlife crisis a decade too soon.
The decision to apply for a traveling nursing job had been fueled by an empty bottle of wine and . . . a keen sense of desperation, a deep, almost all-consuming need for something, anything in her life to change. She’d almost forgotten about applying at the agency, so the call that came a week ago had been a shock. There was a job in Louisiana, in home, and offered the kind of pay that nearly floored her.
Julia’s initial reaction was to turn it down, but she didn’t listen to that dumb voice that kept her up late at night, the voice that caused every step of her life to be too measured and overcautious. So after signing a ton of forms, including a slew of nondisclosures that the agency assured her were common with certain situations, today had been her final day at the assisted living facility where she’d worked for the last three years. And that also meant that today was the last day of normalcy for her, because she’d done the unthinkable.
Well, at least for her it was since she’d lived like she was scared.
Scared of nothing in particular, but pretty much everything out there. She’d been scared of leaving home for college, scared of finishing her schooling and taking her first “real” job. Scared of flying. Scared of driving on highways. She’d feared that first date all those years ago that turned out to be one of the worse decisions in her life. And she’d been scared of leaving the person who had been chipping away at little pieces of her every day of her life.
Being scared hadn’t meant that she didn’t force herself to get over the fear, but it usually made her overanalyze and overthink every decision she made. It made things harder and it made accomplishing these things even more important.
She wasn’t living like that anymore—like she was seventy years old and had buried the love of her life three years ago instead of divorcing him, which was what had happened. These last three years had felt like she’d given up, was going quietly into the night.
Not anymore.
Most of her clothing had been shipped ahead and tomorrow she was boarding a plane.
“I’m proud of you,” Anna said, angling her body toward hers. “I’m going to miss you like hell, but I’m proud of you.”
“Thank you,” she mouthed, blinking back tears. She and Anna had grown close over the years. She knew what Julia had gone through with her ex. She knew how much of a big deal this was.
Anna leaned in again, kissing Julia’s cheek. Then she planted her chin on Julia’s shoulder. “What time is your flight?”
“It’s at ten, but I have to leave early to get to the airport.”
“But you don’t have to work first thing in the morning, so you know what that means?” Straightening, she tipped the bottom of Julia’s glass toward her mouth. “Time to drink up and get silly before we both end up crying in the corner of the bar like two losers. And we don’t want that.”
“No one wants that.” Grinning, she did just that. Well, sort of. Julia wasn’t much of a drinker, mainly because she didn’t like the idea of not having control of herself and she usually stuck to wine while she was at home. So she finished off her champagne and then halfway through the second flute of the bubbly stuff, her blood was cheerfully buzzing.
A few other nurses joined their table, and Anna disappeared to play a game of darts over on the other side of the bar. Julia tried to keep track of her, but as it grew later in the evening, the crowd thickened. She caught glimpses of the petite blonde every so often and the man she was playing darts with. He was tall, but then again, everyone standing next to Anna looked tall. His dark-colored shirt stretched over broad shoulders as he lifted an arm to throw a dart. Even from where Julia was standing, she could see how well formed his biceps were.
Whoever he was, he had a nice back.
Shaking her head, she refocused on the convo around her. Anna was married—happily so. She was just all over the place and made friends everywhere she went.
Everyone was talking about the new owners who’d taken over at the beginning of the year. All of them had been worried, unsure of what it meant long-term. Obviously, she didn’t have to worry about it anymore, but she was relieved for her coworkers that the new owners seemed to know what they were doing.
Since Julia had never done the traveling nurse gig and was unsure if she would take another after this upcoming assignment ended, she had no idea what to expect from her new employers. She answered to the agency she was hired through, but she also would answer to the family she would work for.
Toying with the base of her glass, she stopped her mind from wandering to what was going to happen tomorrow. She was nervous, understandably so, but she couldn’t allow herself to freak out. If she did, she’d start to panic and then she would second and third guess herself. At this point, it was too late to do—
“Julia!” chirped Anna a second before she grabbed her arm from behind. “There is someone I need you to meet.”
Oh God.
Whenever Anna had someone she needed her to meet, it was usually some eccentric rando she virtually just ran into that Julia really didn’t want to meet. Swallowing a groan, she slowly turned around and nearly dropped her glass as her gaze moved from Anna’s flushed, excited face to the man standing next to her.
Julia’s eyes widened as she got an eyeful of the stranger. Holy mother . . . It was like her brain short-circuited and emptied of all useful thought. It was the man Anna had been playing darts with. She knew this because it was the same dark shirt that turned out to be a thermal with the sleeves pushed up to the elbows, and he was tall. Not just because he was standing next to a demented pixie at the moment, but he was a good foot or so taller than Julia, and she wasn’t a short woman.
This man, whoever he was, was absolutely stunning.
He had a ruggedness about him. High and broad cheekbones and a well-formed mouth with a perfect cupid’s bow. A slight scruff of hair covered a jaw that looked like it was cut from marble. His golden brown hair was wavy along the top and cut shorter along the sides. She bet his hair was almost as blond as Anna’s in the daylight. Based on what she could imagine under that thermal and those dark jeans, she figured his body was just as amazing as his face.
And those eyes framed by impossibly thick lashes? They were such a beautiful mix of blue and green, reminding Julia of warm oceans and summer.
He stood there, staring at her with those eyes, his shoulders loose, but she got the wild, distinct impression that he was coiled tight, ready to strike even though everything about him appeared relaxed.
Did Anna find this fine specimen of a man at the dart boards? Julia needed to spend more time by them if this was the kind of guys who . . .
“Julia—Jules, this is . . .” Anna’s blue eyes glinted with excitement as she twisted her toward the most beautiful man Julia had ever seen in her entire life. “I’m sorry. What did you say your name was again?”
How in the world could Anna forget this man’s name? Once Julia heard it, it would be forever tattooed in
to her brain.
He smiled then, and every part of Julia’s body took notice, from the crown of her head, all the way down to the tips of her toes, and especially all the unused places in between. His smile was crooked, the left side rising higher than the right, and absolutely heart-stopping. “Taylor.”
Oh my.
His voice.
Deep and smooth, there was a hint of accent. Perhaps southern? Julia didn’t know, but Taylor had it going on and on and on.
“Taylor! That’s right.” Anna was grinning like a cat that just ate a room full of canaries. “Anyway, this is the lovely and very single Julia I was telling you about.”
Did she just say what it sounded like? Very single? Was Anna drunk? Did she not see what this guy looked like? Not that Julia was a flaming garbage fire. She had what her mother always claimed were symmetrical features. Her face just lined up right, and a lot of people commented on her hair. A lot. Some even wanted to touch it, which was super weird, but whatever. It was long and thick, falling in waves beyond her breasts. Right now it was twisted up in a messy bun. She’d only had time to change after work and not do anything with it. Anyway, she knew she was decent-looking, but she was not modelesque by any means—not the kind of woman she could easily picture Taylor with. The kind of woman who was either tall or tiny, but definitely slender with curves only in the “right” places. The type of body Julia was rocking went out of style before she was even born.
“Hi.” Taylor extended a hand. “I’m very pleased to meet you.”
Her gaze dropped from his face to his hand and then up again. His lopsided grin grew as he waited while she just stood there, gawking at him like an idiot. Snapping out of the stupor, she managed to lift her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
His fingers closed around hers in a tight grasp. “Can I get you a drink?”
“Yes,” Anna answered for her. “You can most definitely get her a drink.”
She was going to kill Anna.
Moonlight Sins Page 3
