by Mari Carr
“The Trinity Masters remains strong because it’s a secret. We’re able to achieve things that would never be accomplished in the public eye because we stay under the radar, we take special precaution and care. We protect our privacy with a vengeance. Something that is extremely important, especially not these days,” Juliette explained. “Who knows where this country would be if not for this society? I’m glad we’re not subject to the media, social media, politics, and—”
“Easy, Jules,” Sebastian said softly. “You’re preaching to the choir down here.”
She nodded. “Yeah. Sorry. Soapbox.”
Suddenly Vincent understood why the Grand Master asked Juliette to serve as a counselor. Her commitment to the society was intense…and inspiring.
“Anyway,” Charlotte continued, pointing to Franco who held up the sketch pad, Vanna White style. Everyone laughed and some of the tension in the room was dispelled.
“There are Stanford’s sketches. Some of which are marked with our symbol.” Franco flipped open the book and pointed to a triquetra.
“I took the sketches that have that symbol, and I blew them up.” Charlotte picked up a piece of vellum, then hesitated.
“Charlotte?” Vincent asked.
“I should have tested my theory before calling everyone to watch.”
“It’s okay, Chuck,” Christian prodded.
“Yeah, but if I’m wrong, I’m about to look really stupid in front…well, everybody.”
Christian shouldered Franco to the side in payback. “I’ve spent the last few hours watching you work on all of this. You’re brilliant, Charlotte. Lay the paper down.”
She nodded slowly, checked the drawing, oriented it, and laid it on the light box over the blueprint.
The vellum was semi-opaque, allowing them to see the blueprint underneath. The lines on the vellum lined up with the outline of the library building on the blueprint. Everyone leaned closer to look.
“Holy shit,” Sebastian said.
“That’s…that’s a drawing of our headquarters,” Juliette said.
Once it was laid over the blueprint, what she’d drawn on the vellum made sense. There was the long, grand entrance hallway, the medallion altar room, the main hall, and many smaller rooms and hallways.
Christian frowned. “Who knew there were so many rooms?”
“No one should know,” Juliette snapped as she shot Sebastian a dirty look. Then she sighed. “Except now we need to know. Everyone does.”
Sebastian looked carefully. “Either there was some remodeling or there are rooms on here that I haven’t been in before.”
Charlotte picked up the next piece of vellum and laid it on top. Everyone leaned forward. This time the lines on the vellum created tracks over the Copley Square area of the blueprint.
“There.” Juliette pointed. “That tunnel leads right to this office.”
With the layout of the headquarters in place, it was easy to spot where the tunnels ended.
One by one Charlotte laid the vellum on, until her clean black lines created an easily discernible map.
Sebastian snapped up the map he’d drawn. He, Juliette, and Franco leaned over Charlotte’s new map, comparing them.
“There are six primary tunnels,” Charlotte said, after they’d had enough time to study the map. Sebastian cursed several times with each revelation.
“We knew about five of them. There’s only one more entrance to the tunnels we didn’t know about,” Juliette mused. “Plus these.” She pointed to some chambers that branched off the tunnels.
The undiscovered tunnel ended either in or near the medallion room. After hearing about the way another member of the Trinity Masters had fallen through an upper layer of tunnels and ended up coming out through a secret door in the entrance hall, everyone decided this one must also be an old construction access chamber. Charlotte guessed, based on how she was reading it, that the tunnel ended under the medallion, but Juliette said she suspected it was actually above it.
The remaining undiscovered tunnel was by far the longest of them all. It extended under Copley Square, Trinity Church, and what was now Clarendon Street.
Franco nodded. “That must be the one Caden had been using to get in and out.”
“If that’s true,” Charlotte rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes as if playing something out in her head, “then the non-library entrance isn’t something you could get to from the street.” She studied the map once more, and Vincent could see her trying to imagine modern-day Boston overlaying the older blueprint. “If the measurements are correct, it would be inside, or under, the building on this corner of Boylston and Clarendon.”
Juliette scowled. “Are you certain?”
Charlotte nodded slowly. “I’d like to go back down to the tunnels to follow it all the way to the end. You can access this new tunnel from the one right here.” She gestured to the room around them. “See, here’s an intersection, assuming my drawings are accurate. But yeah, I’m pretty sure about where it comes out. Why? Is that bad?”
“That corner of Boylston and Clarendon is 500 Boylston.”
“Of course!” Charlotte smacked her forehead. “I should have put it together. A beautiful postmodern building, designed by Burgee and Johnson, before the firm went bankrupt, of course. It has repeating two-story windows and carved granite cladding. The courtyard is lovely, the way the lower wings hug the space, protecting it from the wind while keeping it open.”
Vincent’s mouth was ajar as he listened to Charlotte. Christian hadn’t been wrong. The woman was absolutely brilliant in her field. He took a moment to let that process, while Christian traveled a different route.
“Nerd,” Christian said, ruffling her hair as she laughed.
Unable to let his teasing lie without a retort, she lobbed one of her own. “Aw, Christian. You don’t really want me to revisit the whole lack of a Tony thing again already, do you?”
Sebastian guffawed loudly. “Jesus, you guys are perfect for each other.”
There was another beat of silence. Then Juliette shook her head as if to clear it. “Can we please?” She threw up her hands and then spat out her concern. “The Andersons own 500 Boylston.”
Charlotte looked shocked. “Seriously? It was a hundred million dollars just to construct it, never mind what the property value is worth.”
Now it was Vincent’s turn to tease. “Charlotte, baby, that’s not that much money.”
“Not that much money?” Charlotte and Christian looked at one another, and then both stared at Vincent.
“We’ve got them!” Sebastian said loudly, banging his hand on the table. “This is it.”
Juliette shook her head. “Is it? How is that enough, Seb?”
“They have access to the tunnels,” he stressed.
“Big deal. I mean, there’s an entrance to the tunnel right over there, inside this office. Does that mean the Grand Master is a purist too? That we are?”
“Jules—” Sebastian looked like he wanted to argue the point, but Juliette waved away his words.
“Those tunnels are too dangerous. We can’t go down there again.”
“But Caden is gone,” Vincent said.
“He’s not the only threat,” Juliette said.
Sebastian scowled. “You don’t think Rose is going to start causing trouble, do you? The two of you have a past, Jules. Besides, given what we’ve learned about her childhood, there’s a good chance she’s dancing a jig in California, delighted to be free from Caden.”
Juliette tilted her head in disbelief. “You don’t really think that, do you, Seb?”
Sebastian leaned back in the leather seat he’d taken across from the Grand Master’s desk, and Vincent appreciated the man’s desire to put this mystery to rest. Vincent and his trinity had only been fighting this battle a few days. Sebastian had been trying to bring these bastards down for much longer.
“No,” Sebastian muttered. However, before he could say more, Juliette’s phone rang.<
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“Hello,” she said.
The rest of them remained quiet as Juliette spoke to whoever was on the other end of the line. From the troubled look in her eyes, Vincent braced himself for more bad news.
“You’re sure?” Juliette asked. And then she said, “And where is she now?” The answer clearly wasn’t a good one. “Fuck,” Juliette muttered. Franco stepped next to his wife and wrapped his arm around her waist comfortingly.
According to Christian, Franco, Juliette and Devon were a fairly new trinity as well. Vincent tried to imagine taking on a new trinity as well as counselor positions for such a prestigious, important and large organization as the Trinity Masters. His respect for Juliette rose several notches.
“Okay. No, don’t come here. We’re just about finished. Franco and I will meet you at home.”
“Devon?” Sebastian asked as she hung up.
Juliette nodded. “The Grand Master asked him to find Rose. Apparently, she’d boarded a flight, headed to Boston just about the time Christian had his run-in with Caden in Charlotte’s living room.”
Vincent noticed the way Juliette didn’t say the word shooting. He was grateful to her for not bringing it up again. There was no denying the pain in Christian’s eyes every time Caden’s name was mentioned. Vincent had worked hard when they’d returned to the hotel last night to replace that misery with something good, something beautiful.
Jesus, his head was still whirling over how good it had felt being inside Christian. His cock, though sore, started to thicken.
“So she’s in Boston?” Vincent asked.
“Yeah. Devon was able to follow her trail as far as Boston Park Plaza. Then he lost the scent.” She frowned. “But that was hours ago.”
“Shit,” Sebastian said. “So is she trying to make her way to us as a friend or as an enemy?”
Juliette tipped her head back, looking up, as if she could see through layers of stone to the building above. “If she was coming as a friend, she would have come here by now. Maybe she went to the legacy house, where Sebastian and I lived until recently,” she explained to Vincent and Charlotte.
Juliette looked solemn as she quietly worked through everything they’d just learned. Vincent’s head was spinning with the information, and he didn’t doubt for a second he only knew a fraction of what she was privy to.
Franco reached out to push a stray piece of blonde hair away from Juliette’s face. “Bennett Securities has someone watching the house. If she’d gone there, Price would have called you. We would have known.”
“Dammit. You’re right. I forgot about that.”
Franco ran a finger under her eyes. Vincent had noticed the dark circles as well. Juliette was a young woman, very beautiful. But it was clear this position was taking its toll. “You’re tired, love.”
She leaned into her partner for just a second before straightening up, finding some last vestige of strength. “Devon wants all of us to use caution on the way home. Until we find out which way the wind is blowing with Rose, be cautious.”
“I agree with Juliette,” Vincent said, anxious to get his lovers back to the hotel, back to safety. “Let’s call it a night. We’re all running on fumes. We’ll get a good night’s sleep and meet back here tomorrow. Start fresh.”
They gathered their coats and prepared to leave. Charlotte wanted to take her vellum with her, but Juliette insisted that the Grand Master wouldn’t want it to leave the office. Christian distracted the others while Charlotte took a quick photo of the assembled pages on the light box, before unplugging it.
“Wait,” Juliette said as they were about to leave.
Charlotte looked guilty, so Vincent pulled her against him.
“If you see Rose, if she approaches you, call Sebastian or me.”
“Jules,” Sebastian started.
“And if you find her before me, Seb, don’t tell her about Caden if she doesn’t already know. We were…friends a million years ago. I need to be the one to do it.”
Vincent didn’t envy her that task. He led them out of the Grand Master’s office, through the hallways they now knew to be only a small piece of a larger puzzle.
Charlotte took his hand and gave it a squeeze. Her earlier excitement over solving the puzzle was giving way to exhaustion.
“I want to visit 500 Boylston tomorrow before we come back here. Get a feel for the building at the other end. Then I want to go back down into those tunnels. My gut tells me there’s still something to find there.”
Vincent considered arguing with her, and then closed his mouth. He’d witnessed her passion for her work firsthand tonight. It had been enough for him to know that no force would stop Charlotte Mead when she was on a mission.
Once they stepped back out onto the city street, Charlotte hesitated. “Do you think it’s safe to walk?”
Vincent had been so focused on getting them out of the library and back to the hotel that he hadn’t considered calling a cab before stepping out in public. “We’ll be fine,” he said with forced bravado. “Just stay near me.”
He and Christian flanked Charlotte, both walking close.
“I was thinking about what Juliette said about Rose,” Charlotte said as soon as they set out. “About her boarding a plane.”
“Me too,” Christian said.
“What about it?” Vincent asked.
Charlotte glanced at Christian. “I’m sure it must have been Rose Caden was talking to when Christian…”
“When I shot him.” Christian gave them a sad grin. “Not saying the words doesn’t change anything. I shot a man. Killed him. Crazy thing is, the motion wasn’t all that unfamiliar. I’ve played roles in the past that called for me to raise a gun, fire it, watch the other actor go down. I’d seen all of it before. And yet…” Christian ran his hand through his hair.
He wasn’t looking at them. Rather, he was staring straight ahead. Vincent knew Christian wasn’t seeing anything around them, not the people walking past, the taxis parked by the curb, the dog lifting his leg to relieve himself on a lamppost.
Vincent wished that was what Christian was seeing. Those things were normal, safe. Instead, Christian was reliving something Vincent would give every last cent he possessed to wipe from his lover’s mind forever.
“And yet what?” Charlotte prodded.
“No one’s ever played the role right. Typically, there’s always the pained expression, the horror. Caden’s face…when the bullet…I swear to God for a split second I caught a glimpse of it. The streetlamp outside illuminated it just enough and…he smiled. I thought he actually looked happy, peaceful. That couldn’t be right, could it? I’m just imagining that, trying to find some way to make peace with what I did. Right?”
“I don’t know, Christian,” Charlotte said quietly. “I was behind you. I couldn’t see him clearly. I do believe, with everything in my heart, that you did exactly what you should have done.”
“It was a book, Charlotte. Not a gun.”
She stopped walking and turned to face him. “But it could have just as easily been a gun. You didn’t have a choice. If you’d taken the extra second to see exactly what he held, it would have been one second too long and you would have been the one shot.”
“We need to keep moving,” Vincent urged them.
Vincent couldn’t stand the wooden look on Christian’s face as he began to walk once more, but he wasn’t sure how to comfort him. So he changed the subject, went for distraction instead. “So you really think Caden was talking to Rose on the phone.”
Charlotte nodded. “Yeah. Caden’s cell was dead before I thought to look at it. If it was her…”
“She heard it all.” Vincent knew Sebastian and Juliette weren’t convinced this woman was an enemy, but he was. And there was no way in hell he’d let her get near Christian or Charlotte.
Christian’s face hardened. “Which means Juliette doesn’t have to tell her about Caden. She already knows.”
They walked two more blocks in silence
before Vincent became more aware of their surroundings. He’d been too lost in his worries to realize the sirens in the distance were growing nearer, louder. And there were more of them.
“Damn. Something bad is going down,” Charlotte muttered as the third fire truck in as many minutes flew by them.
“We need to get back to the hotel and off the street.” Vincent picked up the pace, his partners matching it. They all felt the need to tuck themselves away.
As they rounded the corner, a block away from the Boston Park Plaza, their steps slowed.
“Shit,” Christian muttered. “Is that…?”
Vincent nodded slowly, his eyes glued to the same thing Christian was seeing. “Fire.”
Flames were roaring out of their penthouse-room windows, the top floor of the hotel engulfed in fire.
Christian’s phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket but didn’t answer. His gaze was still riveted to the scene before him.
“That’s our room,” Charlotte murmured, equally transfixed.
Vincent grabbed Christian’s phone from him and answered when he saw Sebastian’s name on the screen.
As he answered, he waved down a taxi. “It’s Vincent.”
Sebastian blew out a loud, relieved breath. “Thank God. I just got word someone firebombed the penthouse of the Plaza. I was afraid…”
“We opted to walk instead of grabbing a cab.”
“Good call.”
Vincent ushered Christian and Charlotte into the taxi, both of them still spellbound by the fire.
“Get off the street,” Sebastian demanded.
