Julia walked into her room, still replaying Devlin’s cold, almost smug smile as the news reported the chief’s death. She felt paranoid for even thinking that he had anything to do with the man’s death, because that was like something she’d see on one of the soap operas her mom watched.
It was unbelievable to even suspect Devlin of such a thing, but . . . but this family, these men, truly did operate in their own world.
What if Devlin did have something to do with the chief’s death?
What if their father had been murdered?
What would that change?
The last question stopped her in the tracks, because she already knew the answer and she wasn’t sure what that said about her. It didn’t change what she knew she was beginning to feel for Lucian.
Julia ran a hand over her head as she turned around slowly, her pulse kicking up. She was . . . well, she was really falling for Lucian and he wanted to talk about them. She had this feeling that they were standing at an important crossroads and once they talked, everything was truly going to change.
But the brothers . . . they had a dark side. They were dangerous. Maybe not to her. Maybe not to those they cared about, but that didn’t change that they were.
Could she accept that?
Had she already?
It was something she really needed to think about. Julia tugged off a bracelet she wore, tossing it on the bed as she walked toward the bathroom. She was going to go to Lucian’s room, but wanted to—
Her eyes narrowed as she scanned the bed. Something was missing. The diary! She’d left it on the bed earlier. Walking around it, she bent down and looked under the bed. It wasn’t there. Not on the nightstand or any place else she checked.
“What the hell?” She turned around, frowning. Where could—
The steady fall of footsteps across the floor above drew her attention. There was no way that was her imagination or some invisible spirit making that noise. And she knew where the brothers were. It couldn’t be them.
Spinning around, Julia hurried out of the room and upstairs. She had no idea what she was expecting to see when she threw open Madeline’s bedroom door, but what she saw, she never would’ve imagined it in a million years.
There was a finished painting on the easel—one that had not been there when she left earlier in the evening. It was of a man—a man who looked just like the senator . . . or their father.
And on the floor were all the paintings Madeline had painted since the easel was brought in the room for her. There were all lined up, either side by side or on top of one another, and . . .
“Oh my God,” Julia whispered as she came to a sudden halt.
Julia didn’t see it before. None of them saw it before, because the painting—the painting had been in pieces and once put together, an entire image appeared. The paintings had been a puzzle, half of a face painted here and the rest painted on another day. No one saw it until it was pieced together.
Until someone had pieced it together.
In a daze, Julia walked over to the easel, careful not to step on the paintings lined up in front of the porch doors. She picked up the sheet and turned, placing it where she knew it went—in the back, left corner.
Julia stepped back, almost unable to process what she was seeing. It was a family portrait. Two dark-haired boys stood shoulder to shoulder, all alone.
Boys that looked so much like the photos Julia found in the mother’s photo album.
And in the forefront was a blond boy and girl, standing in front of a woman who had to be their mother and a man who had to be Lawrence.
The girl and boy were obviously Madeline and Lucian.
A chill etched its way down her spine. Why had Madeline painting them this way? Why . . . ? The chill increased, raising the tiny hairs all along her arms.
Julia turned to the bed. Madeline was lying in it, eyes closed. “Did you do this?”
There was no response from Madeline, but Julia walked around to the side she was closest to. “Madeline, I know that painting wasn’t finished when I left earlier.”
Still no response.
Julie stared at her.
There was something up—something incredibly not right was going on here. “Madeline, did you put these paintings together?” Her voice sharpened and her hands closed into fists. “Answer me!”
Madeline’s eyes opened.
Julia sucked in a sharp breath. Madeline wasn’t looking back at her. No. Her gaze was focused on the—
A door creaked behind her and warm air lifted the hair off her shoulders. Time seemed to slow down even though everything sped up. She turned around, her stomach dropping.
Daniel walked into the room, stepping on the paintings. Canvas crunched under his boots. In his hand—a gloved hand—was the missing diary.
She tensed as she took a step back. “What are you—?”
Julia never got to finish the question. Pain exploded along her jaw. Stars burst, blinding her, and then there was nothing.
Chapter 30
Lucian wanted to punch Dev again.
So leaving that damn room was one of the smartest things he’d done in a while. The only thing calming his ass down was that he knew he was getting closer to Julia.
Christ, he was going to have to tell Julia. He didn’t want her to know, but he felt like she needed to. It felt too damn wrong to keep it from her.
He honestly wouldn’t blame her if she packed up her things tonight and left. If she did, he would probably do more than punch Dev.
Stopping by his room first, he found that she wasn’t there. He headed the short distance to hers, a frown pulling at his lips when he saw that her door was open.
“Julia?” he called out, scanning the room. The bathroom door was closed, so unless she was hiding in the closet, she wasn’t here either. That meant there was only one other place she could be.
Maddie’s room.
A small smile pulled at his lips as he pivoted around and made his way upstairs. Her devotion to her job—to his sister was just another reason why he lo—
“Holy shit,” he gasped.
Lucian stopped on the stairs. He didn’t let himself finish that thought, but he knew what that thought was.
It was another reason why he loved her.
He actually felt dizzy climbing the steps, weak in the knees kind of shit, but he was smiling as he walked down the hall and rounded the corner.
“Ms. Hughes, are you . . . ?” He trailed off. Maddie’s door was open, so he saw right inside. “What in the fuck?”
His sister was not in her bed.
She was not in the chair before the easel.
Julia was nowhere in the room, and there were . . .
Lucian stalked around the bed, staring at the paintings on the floor. He knew what he saw—holy shit, it made no sense, but there wasn’t time to really process what his sister had been painting, because Maddie was gone.
So was Julia.
A surreal feeling slammed into him. Like he’d experienced all of this before, and fuck, he had. The night his mother died.
Turning around wildly, he stopped when something red on the edge of the cream bedspread caught his eye. Drops . . . drops of blood?
Pressure clamped down on his chest as his gaze swung to the open porch doors. He shot forward, whipping the curtains out of the way as he stepped outside.
“Julia!” he shouted. “Maddie!”
Shit. Where could they be? His sister couldn’t be far—
A sharp cry ended in a yelp. He spun around, backing up until he reached the railing as his heart pounded in his chest. “Julia?”
He started walking, then running. The sound came from above—from the roof.
“Don’t come up here, Lucian!” Julia shouted from above. “Please—” Another sharp cry cut off her words.
Like hell he wasn’t coming up there.
He charged up, the old wooden steps shaking under his weight. He reached the roof within seconds, hi
s wild gaze swinging around the dark space. With only the silvery moonlight guiding his way, he almost didn’t see her standing behind the rippling canopy.
Relief crashed into him. “Julia, what is—”
“Don’t come any closer.” She held up her hands. “Please.”
Concern exploded through him like buckshot. Moonlight sliced over her. Blood marred her face and her hands trembled.
“I’d listen to her if I was you.”
He slowed as Daniel stepped out from behind the canopy. He almost didn’t recognize his cousin, seeing that he was dressed all in black, like a damn commando. “I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but if you’re the reason why she’s bleeding, I’m going to fucking kill you.”
“Is that so?” Daniel moved swiftly—faster than Lucian would’ve ever expected. In a heartbeat, he was standing behind Julia, one arm around her waist and his hand at her throat.
Daniel held a knife.
“What the fuck?” Lucian exploded.
Julia briefly squeezed her eyes shut. “It’s been—”
“Shut up,” Daniel warned her, his hand moving just a fraction off an inch. “You say one word, you die—you die right now.”
A bitter burst of panic lit up Lucian. He had no idea what was going on or where his sister was, but right now, all he could be concerned with was getting Julia out of harm’s way.
“Let her go, Daniel.” He kept his hands up. “Please. Whatever is going on here has nothing to do with her. Just let her go.”
The knife pointed at Julia’s neck shook. “You’re right. It has nothing to do with her. More like wrong place at the wrong time kind of thing. She wasn’t supposed to be upstairs. None of you were supposed to be.”
Lucian’s gaze shot to Julia’s. One wrong move, and it would be over for her—for them. He struggled to keep calm. “You need to explain to me what is going on, Daniel.”
The younger man’s face was pale. “None of you were supposed to be upstairs. I would’ve had time, but she was there and lined up those damn paintings.”
“I didn’t—I didn’t put those paintings there,” Julia said, wincing. “I heard footsteps. I went upstairs to check. That’s all.”
“The footsteps? That’s been you?” Lucian demanded as lightning ripped across the sky. “This entire time?”
“Good thing those cameras don’t work, right? I guess I have the ghosts to thank for that.” Daniel laughed, but the sound was forced. “God, you have no idea. You’re such a fucking idiot.”
Lucian’s hands closed into fists. “Then maybe you can help me understand. Let Julia go and you and I can talk. Let her go and I won’t hurt you. We’ll just talk.”
“Yeah, right. You think I’m stupid? I know you’ve always thought that about me, but I’m not the idiot. Hell no.” He started moving Julia away from the canopy. “I’m going to fix this. I’m going to take care of this, like I’ve been taking care of everything for ten fu—”
What sounded like a champagne bottle being uncorked echoed across the roof.
Daniel jerked back and at the same time Julia screamed. Red sprayed the side of her face as Lucian shouted. Daniel went down, the knife clattering off the roof as Julia lurched forward, dropping to her knees.
Lucian didn’t even look back. He charged forward, reaching Julia’s side. He knelt, gripping the sides of her bloodied face as panic dug in with icy tendrils. “Are you okay? Julia, baby, talk to me.”
“I’m okay.” She sucked in a shaky breath as she lifted her chin. Her eyes were wide. “The blood—oh my God.” She started to pull away and look behind her.
“Don’t look.” Lucian stopped her, folding an arm around her shoulders, yanking her to his chest. Daniel was flat on his back, half his head gone. He focused on Julia, wiping off the blood and gore from her cheek with his hands. His hands were trembling. “God, I thought . . . I thought I was going to lose you—that I lost you.”
Julia was shaking so badly that she was rocking his body as he looked over his shoulder and saw Dev standing several feet from the entrance to the roof, a gun in hand.
“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.” Dev lowered the gun. “Good thing I heard you all shouting.”
Lucian coughed out a harsh laugh. Hell, he’d just knocked Dev on his ass and his brother just saved Julia’s life and . . . killed their cousin.
Lucian’s mind was spinning.
Suddenly, Julia jerked back from Lucian. Her hands dug into his shirt. “Lucian, your sister—”
Dev shouted out a warning that ending in a grunt. A second later, his knees buckled and he fell forward, the gun slipping from his grasp. He went down and didn’t move.
Where Dev once was, Maddie stood, still as a wraith in the white nightgown Julia had dressed her in earlier. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited to do that.”
Chapter 31
Lucian was slow to rise. “Maddie? What did you . . . what did you do?”
“He’ll live. For now.” His sister knelt down, dropping whatever it was she used to knock out Dev with. She picked up the gun. “Is he dead? Is Daniel dead?”
When Lucian didn’t answer, she yelled, “Move! Move away from him.”
Reaching behind him, he felt Julia’s hand fold around his. He pulled her to her feet. They stepped clear of Daniel.
“Damn it,” Maddie cried as she reached his side. She knelt down, placing her hand on his chest. “Daniel. Babe.”
Lucian was in shock, absolute shock. “Maddie, you’re walking—you’re talking. I don’t—”
“You don’t understand. I know. I’m sorry. I really am.” She picked up Daniel’s limp hand and pressed a kiss to it. “I didn’t want you to see any of this. You weren’t supposed to. It wasn’t supposed to go down this way.”
Lucian was thunderstruck. “What wasn’t supposed to go down this way? What in the hell, Maddie? What’s going on?”
His sister straightened and she let her head fall back as she sighed. “I should’ve known Daniel would get himself killed. If he just . . . if he just kept his shit together this entire time, like I’ve made him do for years, this would’ve worked out, but no. The moment he showed up in this house, I knew he was going to screw everything up.”
“You . . . you’ve been with him this whole entire time?” Lucian asked, shocked into stillness.
“Yes,” she said, lowering her head. Wind picked up the long, blond strands, tossing them around her face. “Everything was fine. We . . . we were finally left alone and I was happy, but we just—we ran out of money. We had to do something.”
Shock gave way to repulsion as what his sister was saying began to click into place. “What do you mean?”
Julia’s hands pushed into Lucian’s back. “They were together. They were—”
“We were in love!” Maddie shouted. “I know you all probably think it’s wrong, but I don’t care. We loved one another! And all we ever wanted was to be together.”
Lucian’s stomach roiled.
“That’s all.” Maddie shook her head. “But you know Daniel. He’s so . . . so weak sometimes. All he had to do was trust me to take care of this, and then we’d be together again. That’s all he had to do. And now look at him?”
He didn’t need to look at Daniel. “God, Maddie, what have you done?”
“It’s not my fault!” she yelled. “He messed up and I knew he’d messed up when he showed up here. I knew it would only be a matter of time before he screwed up and it would all be over, so I had to fix this. We can still fix this.”
Reeling from the realization that his sister had been with their cousin, really been with him, and living with him this entire time, he felt sick to his stomach. “Tell me. Tell me what is going on here.”
Maddie glanced back at Dev and then exhaled heavily. “I was coming back because we needed money and I knew how we could get it—not just Daniel and me, but also you, Lucian. I knew what I could do, but . . . but it wouldn’t be easy, so I had t
o—”
“You had to stay away for ten years? Have me worried that God knows what was happening to you? Do you even know—” He cut himself off before he lost it. “Then you come back and you’ve been faking this illness?” His hands opened and closed at his sides. “Jesus, this was . . . Maddie, this is messed up.”
“Please, let me explain, and then you’ll understand. Okay? Please?” his sister begged.
There was no way Lucian was going to understand any of this, but he nodded, because he needed to try. He had to see what had driven his sister to this. He had to figure out how he could’ve never seen this coming when his brothers . . .
When his brothers had always been suspicious of Maddie’s return.
“I didn’t want to leave all those years ago, but I had to. I just wanted to be with Daniel, but I had to leave you.”
“Because I wouldn’t have accepted what you and Daniel were doing?”
“Because you probably would’ve killed him if you found out,” she said, and damn if that wasn’t the truth. “But I had to because . . .” She pressed her lips together as she stepped over Dev. Walking across the roof, she kept the gun aimed at them until she reached the silver vase Dev filled with fresh flowers. She stared down at it for a moment. “I loved Mom. You know that, right?”
A whole new horror filled Lucian.
“But she found out about Daniel and me,” Maddie said quietly. “She was getting printouts of my texts and IMs. She caught us together.”
“Oh God, no,” Julia whispered, wrapping her arms around Lucian’s waist.
“We were up here when she told me that she knew that Daniel and I were together and that it was wrong. I already knew it was wrong. I’m not stupid, but it didn’t change how I felt.” Sniffling, she reached up, wiping under her eyes. “She forbade me to see Daniel, told me that if I didn’t obey her, she would tell Daniel’s father and I just . . . I don’t know what happened. We were yelling at each other, and I just wanted her—wanted her to stop and be quiet, but she wouldn’t and it just happened.”
Moonlight Sins Page 33
