He kissed her on the forehead. “I love you, Victoria.”
She freed herself and headed inside. She needed to find Nyx. While she wanted to be mad at the woman, she had a sneaking suspicion that she was pushed to her limits.
Tori knew how that felt.
As soon as she was gone, Julian grabbed the pack of cigarettes and lit one.
“What are you doing, Julian?”
“When your sister dumped me, my brother got us drunk and we smoked so much I pickled my left lung. I have one spare left. How about you tell me what’s going on?” he asked.
Beau told him everything. He didn’t leave anything out.
His anger.
His fear.
Her anger.
Her…walking away from him.
One thing was crystal clear. It all hurt.
“It sounds to me like one of you has to bend a little,” Julian offered. “My suggestion, if you want a happy relationship, is it should be you every time.”
He stared at him.
“You tell Tori no all the time.”
He laughed. “Yeah, on the important stuff. Ultimately, she wins. I just bought a four thousand dollar painting that I don’t even like.”
“She risked herself.”
He laughed. “Welcome to my world.”
“What if she dies?”
“What if she doesn’t?” he countered. “I know how hard this is for you. Believe me, I lose sleep at night over it. Your sister makes me a nervous wreck, but I had to ease up. I rode her ass over this gift thing, over the dead, and over her being in danger, and it nearly ended us. Don’t do what I did.”
“She let herself get possessed.”
He stared at her. “Are you religious by any chance?”
“Yes.”
“I think that’s going to be your issue. Nyx is really strong. She handled Trey bitching for weeks before she found us. She can handle Evangeline for a short period of time.”
“It freaks me out.”
“It freaks everyone out. If it didn’t, you’d be insane. What you need to do is let her go if you don’t love her enough to stand by her.”
He stared at Julian. “I’d die for her.”
“But you’ll fight over this? Nah. You don’t know love, son. You should let her find a good man who will let her be her.”
“You’re trying to piss me off.”
“Am I?”
Beau thought about it. Before he could speak, his phone chirped to life.
“I. Will. Marry. Her. She’s. Hot. In. Bed. I’ve. Watched.”
“What?” Beau was horrified. “Trey! That’s all kinds of wrong!”
“Is. She. Into. Brothers?”
Julian just smiled. For once, Trey was being helpful. Oh, and he wasn’t busting his ass.
“Trey! That’s not even funny.”
“I. Like. That. Red. Number. She. Wears.”
“I’ll kill him,” Beau said. “I don’t care if he is my big brother. I’ll murder him.”
Julian was amused as hell.
“Come. Get. Me. Pussy. Boy.”
Julian was laughing so hard his eyes were watering.
“Where did he find the word ‘pussy’ on the radio?” Beau asked in horror.
Did it matter?
It was some funny shit.
“I’m. Going. To. Propose. Right. Now!”
“Trey! Get your ass back here!” Beau ordered, looking around. When no one answered, Beau was worried.
Julian smiled.
“He wouldn’t do it, would he?”
“No, that doesn’t seem like something your dead, evil, and mean womanizing brother would do at all. I’m sure you’re perfectly safe from anything like that.”
“Oh, shit.”
When Beau raced away, Julian was amused.
“Did. It. Work?” Trey asked.
“Hell yeah, it did.”
“Good. His. Momma. Raised. Him. Wrong.”
“Uh, Trey, she’s your momma too…”
“Don’t. Go. There.”
That was fine with him. Shelby was a topic he’d rather avoid at any cost. She was a pain in the ass.
A huge one.
Inside, he found everyone congregating together. It was probably wise since there was safety in numbers.
When Julian sat down, his wife immediately sniffed him.
“Were you smoking?”
“Uh…”
“Never mind. I probably don’t want to know. We need to talk about the case.”
He was good with that. They all needed to focus. Presently, Beau was trying to get Nyx to look over at him. He kept moving closer to her on the couch.
She inched away.
Yeah, this was a mess.
“What did you and Beau find out today?” Tori asked, trying to get the group to focus. Hart was nuzzling Lennox, Beau looked desperate, and Julian was smelly.
What the hell was going on?
“I wandered the whole house. I didn’t feel anything, but that’s not really my thing. Maybe we should call in Beckett.”
Tori had already thought about that.
They may have to in order to find the body.
“Who is Beckett?” asked Lennox.
“He’s our ‘locator’.”
She left it at that.
Julian really didn’t want to do that, but he understood why his wife was leaning that way.
Desperate times called for desperate measures.
“He’s coming back from his honeymoon on Sunday. If we need to bring him here, he’ll come.”
Tori knew he would.
He was part of the family.
She told them what she found out about the business partner. When she was done, Hart’s interest was piqued.
“He knows her.”
“Yeah. I know. He had a big old raging hard on when I mentioned Lennox, and then…”
“Wait,” Hart said, stopping her. “What?”
She told him her trick.
Hart stared at Julian. “Have you no control over your wife at all?”
Julian laughed. “Wife and ‘have control’ do not go in the same sentence together. Trust me on this one.”
“I’m really skeeved out that he was checking me out,” Lennox stated. “He’s old enough to be my father.”
The phone chirped to life.
“He’s. A. Man. You’re. Hot. I’d. Marry. You. Too. Artist. Girl.”
“Shut up, Trey,” all the men said together.
“Tough. Crowd. Today.”
Tori, while amused, had a plan. “I want to re-interview him. I took it easy on him, but this time, I want to really make him bleed.”
Julian wasn’t sure if he wanted his wife near that lecherous asshole.
“I’m avoiding him,” Lennox stated. “He’s been trying to stare down my shirt since I was a teenager. I hope I don’t have to be part of that interview.”
“I’ll kill him,” Hart stated.
It gave Lennox that warm fuzzy feeling. Just the idea that someone wanted to defend her—for once in her life—gave her a sense of peace.
That reminded Tori of the deputy.
“Lennox, Lincoln Brooks has been trying to reach you. He said he called a couple times. He wants to stop by and see you.”
“I was tied up.”
Yeah, having sex with a sexy man.
“I. Like. Being. Tied. Up,” offered Trey.
Hart pointed at Tori’s phone. “Getting that app was a bad idea. I say we delete it, and him.”
“I agree,” Beau stated.
Julian wouldn’t stop them. “I’m in.”
“You’re. All. No. Fun.”
Lennox laughed at the dead man. Her life was totally weird. “I’ll call him back.”
“He was concerned, and I think smitten,” Tori stated to gauge the man’s response.
Hart kept his face neutral, but something made him want to rage around the room. He’d found Lennox, and he had a feeling the second this
was solved, and he was gone, she’d be fine. Apparently, the sharks were already circling.
“We go way back.”
As Tori was about to say something, her phone rang. She was going to ignore it, but it was Justin.
“He might have some news,” Julian added.
She put it on speaker phone.
“Hey, Justin. What’s happening?”
“We have a huge problem.”
They didn’t like the sound of that. While Julian was away, Justin, who owned a third of the business, was in charge. If he sounded this riled, there was a mess.
“What?” Julian asked.
“Mom was here.”
Julian laughed. Well, that said it all.
“You’re not going to be amused in about five seconds,” he stated.
“What happened?” Tori asked, ignoring her husband. It was clear that Justin wasn’t happy.
“She was just arrested.”
The room went silent.
“Wait! What?” Julian asked.
“The cops took her in. To make it worse, if that’s even possible, it was in front of our building and now on the news.”
His brother had to be yanking his chain.
His mother, while a wild card, wasn’t the criminal type. The boys once stole a candy bar as kids, and she nearly whipped the stupid out of them.
Clarissa didn’t tolerate illegal jackassery as kids, and he was pretty sure she took the same stance now. She’d raised her kids to be honorable.
Dependable.
Productive members of society.
Something had to push her over the edge for her to be arrested.
“How the hell did that happen?” Julian asked. There had to be some kind of mistake.
He hoped…
“I’ll give you one clue,” Justin stated.
“What?” Tori asked.
“Shelby.”
Julian stared at his wife.
She had only one thing to say.
Beau too.
“I am so sorry,” they said.
Together.
Chapter Eighteen
They didn’t have a choice in the matter.
They were going to have to split up in order to handle the case and the situation at home. Once they had gotten that call, it changed the game. Julian was all about family, and theirs was embroiled in a mess. That meant all hands on deck.
Everyone.
Family stuck, and this was one of those cases where you put your money where your mouth was and covered for the people in your life.
Since it was Beau’s mother, who had caused this mess—likely looking for him, he volunteered to throw himself on the mercy of the police department to get Clarissa out.
Only, Julian wouldn’t let him.
There was no way in hell he was letting the man go back to that situation without backup. He wasn’t just Tori’s brother. He was now Julian’s too. He loved him as much as he loved his own blood, simply because he mattered to Victoria.
He’d do anything to save her heart.
At first, he was thinking that it would be best to keep him here. Then he saw the look in the man’s eyes. He, like his sister, was a soldier. The man had fought for all of them in wars, and that meant something. Julian was going to let him join him on the trip back.
Maybe this would be the catalyst to sever that last bond to Shelby Christensen. It was what Julian had hoped. The man needed closure. He was the only one who had been with Shelby his entire life, and it was going to sting.
At least he’d have someone to watch his back.
Well, it wouldn’t only be Julian.
If the whole situation wasn’t bad enough, Hart had to join them too. When he’d taken the call, he could hear Ivy crying in the background. The second that happened, Hart’s face had said it all. His child needed him, and he wasn’t going to sit idly by while she was afraid.
Julian couldn’t blame him.
He thought about Veronica, and he would have done the exact same thing. While Hart profusely apologized, Julian got it. When they hired him, they knew that the man came with another person who relied on him.
They’d liked that about him, and they were going to make sure they followed through. Family was important, and if anything, they appreciated that the man was a good father.
One day, little Ivy might be part of their team. It was part of Julian’s hopes and dreams. That’s why he was handpicking his people.
It was all about their values and integrity.
Besides, Julian felt bad for poor Ivy. While she was good with everyone at the agency, she was super attached to Clarissa. The woman had filled a role in her life. She was like a surrogate grandmother. He only hoped that the poor kid didn’t have to watch Clarissa being taken away in cuffs.
That would suck.
Then that made Julian think about his mom. The breaking point, that had made her snap, had to be monumental. His mom was badass, but she wasn’t violent.
Julian couldn’t wait to hear the story behind this one. It had to be epic. Shelby had obviously pushed the wrong button on this one to make the woman go postal.
Thankfully, Justin didn’t tell him over the phone. That, to him, meant one thing. This was about Tori. If Justin was holding back, it had to be about the woman he called his wife. Julian imagined that Shelby crossed a line and Clarissa had heard it.
Tori was her favorite.
No one messed with Clarissa’s favorite, including her own kids. She was giving the Native woman a grandchild.
She was off limits.
While Julian was amused by the situation, he was also freaked out. Now he had a huge problem.
Lennox.
They couldn’t leave her unguarded, and honestly, Julian didn’t want his wife playing armor to her. Tori was a soldier to the core, and he could picture her diving in front of Lennox to take a bullet.
Yeah, no.
That was NOT happening as far as he was concerned. So, if Julian had to take Hart back, Lennox had no choice but to come along.
It was about safety for both women.
She would be with them, and hopefully, the killer would leave Nyx and Tori alone.
Julian had to hope it was the right call to make, and that it wasn’t going to blow up in his face.
Now it was time to take the gamble, and Julian prayed it was going to work in their favor.
Hopefully.
Only time would tell.
As they all grabbed their things, Tori waited for her husband in front of the house. She wasn’t the least bit nervous about any of this. She knew that they had to play divide and conquer to handle the situation.
That was the problem with being the boss.
Julian was being pulled in multiple directions. While she was technically the boss, he was the man in charge. He ran their business like it was his child.
She understood his situation.
While it sucked being in the field without her backup, Tori knew how to be an investigator. She was battle tested by the FBI, so she’d survive.
She only hoped Julian did. He was one hell of a nervous Nelly.
That was putting it lightly.
When she saw him coming, he looked pissed and worried. There was no doubt in her mind why.
Clarissa wasn’t a teenager. She was an older woman, who had some health issues, and this was the last thing she needed. If anything happened to her, the whole family would be sick over it.
Tori wanted to help alleviate any of his stress.
Well, as much as she could.
“I left a message for Elizabeth. She’ll call you as soon as she gets it. If you need her help, she’ll get Mom out,” Tori promised.
Thank God for friends in high places.
While he hated using them for work, he would reach out for a personal matter. That’s what family did, and the Blackhawks were part of his and Tori’s life. If they ever needed him, he’d drop everything and be at their disposal in a heartbeat.
“
Thank you, honey.”
He motioned toward Beau and Hart. “We’ll get there and try to handle this as fast as possible. I don’t want to leave you two for an extended amount of time.”
Tori pointed at the butler standing on the porch, the gardener not far away, and then at the other people milling around.
Tori wasn’t alone.
Not even close.
“I. Have. Her. Back,” stated Trey from her phone.
“See? I think I’ll be well watched.”
That helped a little.
“Trey, if anything happens, you find me and let me know,” Julian stated.
“Chill. Out. We. Will. Be. Fine.”
Yeah, Julian hoped so.
“Load up!” he stated.
Beau was fighting an internal battle. He didn’t want to leave Nyx. They weren’t on good standing, and he was afraid he’d leave and she’d be gone.
His face must have shown it.
Nyx saw it too.
Immediately, she went to his side and hugged him. “I’ll be okay.”
“Baby, please be safe,” he whispered. “If anything happens to you,” he began, letting it go. If he thought about it, he’d be sick.
“I’ll be fine. You just be safe.” Her voice held a great deal of emotion, and it was clear that while she was angry, she wasn’t mad enough to make him hurt.
Beau pulled her ring out of his pocket. Gently, and with so much love, he placed it in the palm of her hand before closing her he fingers.
“I know you hate me right now, but hold onto this for me. If you forgive me and feel like putting it back on, I’d really love that. There will never be anyone but you, Nyx, and we can work this out.”
She ran the pad of her thumb over his lower lip. “I’ll think about it.”
That was all he could ask for from her. If she said no, she said no. Beau knew he’d pushed her way too far.
“I’ll keep her safe,” Tori offered, when they broke apart. “You men can relax.”
She pointed at Hart. “You’re the most logical one. Ivy is safe with Vivian, so stay calm and make sure no one loses their damn minds.”
Hart felt horrible about bringing Lennox, but he wanted her safe. “Sure thing, boss.”
“What are you going to do while we’re gone?” Julian asked.
“We’re going to go lounge by the pool,” Tori teased.
Forbidden Secrets Page 28
