by J. M. Walker
“I think this person wanted their shit found. They were probably hoping we would go to the police.”
Georgio grunted, pulling on black rubber gloves before throwing me a pair.
I slid them on and walked down the hall. “There should be money in one of the kitchen cupboards. It might be in something,” I called out to him as I headed farther down the hall. When Lexi had revealed that information to me several weeks ago, I was surprised at the time that it hadn’t been spent. It was also at a time that she feared me. And now she didn’t. She should. I wasn’t proud of who I was. But this person who was trying to destroy me, needed to be caught. They should just turn themselves in because once I got a hold of them, I would make them suffer. They also killed Lexi’s brother and in turn, hurt her. When she was in pain, I was in pain and I wouldn’t stop until I brought them to justice like Lexi deserved.
Once I reached the end of the hallway of the small apartment, I tried a door, but it was locked. I glanced down the hall. There were two other doors. I could only assume that one was Lexi’s bedroom and the other was the bathroom.
Something told me that the door I was standing in front of was Charlie’s room. Pulling out my lock pick set, I grabbed a tool and jimmied the lock until it clicked free.
Stuffing the kit away, I went to turn the doorknob when a bang sounded from the other side of it followed by a muttered voice. Leaning my head against the door, I tried listening but couldn’t hear anything else.
Georgio took that moment to come down the hall.
I held my finger to my lips, signalling for him to be silent.
He raised an eyebrow, coming toward me.
A bang sounded again.
He frowned, pushing me out of the way. Pulling a gun from the back of his pants, he grabbed the knob.
I retrieved my own gun and waited.
He held up three fingers and started counting down. Once all fingers dropped, he shoved the door open.
I followed in behind him.
The culprit jumped.
“Who the hell are you?” I demanded, aiming my gun at them. Dressed in all black, they had their back to us. The hood of the sweatshirt they were wearing was pulled up and over their head.
They held up their hands, dropping a bag at their feet.
“Answer him,” Georgio added. “Now.”
They slowly turned around, pushing the hood back.
At that moment, everything I had come to know, everything I had lived for, fell out from under me. The estate. The fucking empire, all of it, was nothing. None of it mattered. Not when the person staring back at me stole all of the trust I had ever felt toward anyone and replaced it with pure hard rage. No. It wasn’t rage. It was worse.
***
(Lexi)
I wasn’t expecting to see him. I shouldn’t have been surprised but I was. I stared at the two men aiming guns at me.
Georgio looked confused and shocked beyond belief while Luther looked like he was ready to—
“Tell me why the fuck you’re here,” Luther growled, his voice laced with venom.
And there it was. The man I had come to know.
I took a step toward him. “I can explain.”
“How?” He cocked his gun. “How the fuck are you going to explain this shit to me?”
I was vaguely aware of Georgio leaving the room, the door closing softly behind him.
“Lexi,” Luther barked. “You better tell me what the hell you’re doing before I put a bullet between your eyes.”
I closed the distance between us and grabbed his hand. Lifting it, I pressed the end of the gun against my forehead. “Do it, Luther.”
He was caught off guard momentarily before he pushed the end of the pistol against my forehead. “Don’t fucking test me, woman.”
I swallowed hard. “I can explain everything.”
“You have five seconds.”
“Right.” I laughed, pulling away from him and went back to my bag. “Because we both know that I can get all of that information out in that short amount of time.”
“What the hell is going on? Why are you here? You were in my bed. I left you in my fucking bed. How did you get here so quickly?” His eyes moved back and forth over my face. His stance was ridged, his body stiff. His shoulders were pulled tight. He was ready for a damn war.
I couldn’t blame him.
“I’ll tell you if you lower the gun.” I placed my hands on my hips when he didn’t budge. “Luther.”
A snarl erupted from him before he charged for me. With his hand wrapped around my throat, he pushed me up against the wall and aimed the gun at my head.
“Tell me what you’re doing here. Tell me who you are. Tell me something. Anything. Because the thoughts going through my head right now are not going to help you live through the fucking night.”
I shivered at the threat. “God, I love this side of you.”
Luther’s jaw clenched, his hold on me loosening. “Lexi.”
“I’m sorry.” I placed my hands on his chest, my fingers splaying over his heart. “For everything. I am. I needed information on my brother. Both you and Georgio led me right to him. As soon as you left your room and thought I was sleeping, I got dressed and headed here.”
“Did you know I was coming here?”
“No, not exactly but I was hoping you were.”
“I don’t understand.” Luther released me but kept the gun aimed at me. “Was all of this a fucking lie?”
“What?” My eyes widened. I shook my head. “God, no. Not at all. My feelings for you are very real. I love you. My relationship with my brother was off.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was contacted about six months ago.”
“By who?” Luther’s jaw clenched when I didn’t answer. “Who the fuck contacted you, Lexi?”
“I did.”
Both of us turned at the sound of the voice.
“What?” All of the color drained from Luther’s face when he started putting the pieces together. “Georgio.”
“Let’s go into the living room.” Georgio pushed away from the wall. “I think it’s time we all sit down and talk.”
***
(Luther)
My long-time friend and business partner, a man I trusted, along with the woman I loved, sat on the couch, staring up at me like I would bolt. No. I wasn’t running. I wasn’t running anywhere. Not until I got the answers I was looking for.
“Did you want to sit?” Lexi asked gently.
I glared at her.
She jumped, looking away.
I had never been this enraged with someone. It was like she reached inside my chest, ripped out my heart, and ate it while I crumpled to the ground.
Betrayal. It was an ugly thing.
“This is my fault, Luther.” Georgio sat forward. “If you want to blame someone, blame me.”
“Oh, don’t fucking worry. I am blaming you. I’m blaming both of you. All of this time, you said not to have any secrets,” I told Georgio. “We’ve never had secrets and yet, you’ve kept the biggest one from me. You were supposed to be my friend.” I held up my hand when they both went to speak. “Tell me how you know each other.”
“Luther, how about you put that gun away first,” Georgio suggested.
“Oh sure. I’ll put it away so you two can plot my death. Is that what you’ve been planning all along? You took out Charlie and then you were going to take me out next. Tell me how the fuck you know each other.”
“Fine.” Georgio jutted his chin. “Go ahead and tell him, Lexi.”
“I met him at one of his clubs,” Lexi answered instead. “Officially anyway.”
“What?” My stomach twisted. “Explain that to me.”
She blew out a slow breath. “I needed help. I was in a bad place. Charlie hadn’t been easy to live with. I loved him. I did but he was not a good guy. Which you told me that. You just confirmed my beliefs on who he actually was. The deli was going under and I was on the
verge of bankruptcy.”
“That’s why you headed to The Club. That’s why you sold yourself to me.” I slammed a fist against my chest. “Or was that a lie too?”
“No, that was very much real.” She wrung her hands together in her lap. “Charlie had a temper. He was drinking one night, and we got in a fight. He was mixing drugs with alcohol and it was going downhill from there. He was becoming a mess. I called him out on it and he hit me. This happened at the deli and Georgio saw everything.”
“So, you were her knight in shining armor,” I said, my voice flat.
“No. It wasn’t like that. It was never like that. I want your sister. I never lied about that fact.” Georgio stood and started pacing. “I made sure Lexi was safe and then I left. A week later, I went to the deli again and asked her if she would make some pies for one of my clubs. I was obsessed with them. I couldn’t get them out of my head. I swear, it was just pie I wanted from her.”
“That’s not making me feel better right now,” I grumbled, shoving the gun in the back of my pants. “So you meet at a club. Officially. You obviously know more about BDSM than you let on then, isn’t that right?” I asked Lexi.
Her cheeks reddened.
“Answer me,” I yelled. “I deserve this much. Give me the answers I’m fucking looking for.”
“Yes, I know about BDSM,” she said, her voice calmer than how I felt. “Only because I’ve done research. That was before you. I thought maybe you wouldn’t want me because I knew about it.”
I grunted, rolling my eyes. “Right. Tell me why you contacted her.” I demanded of Georgio.
He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a black item before flipping it open.
FBI. FBI. FBI.
The three letters screamed at me.
Before I knew what I was doing, I dove at him.
Lexi
“LUTHER,” I SCREAMED, TRYING with all of my strength to pull the men apart. I understood he was pissed. I got it. I really did. But he needed to understand that I had no choice. “Please stop. I’ll explain more. It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t either of our faults.” I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and pulled him back against me until we fell to the floor.
“How the hell could you be FBI? We’ve done shit together. Illegal shit, Georgio.” Luther shoved away from me and jumped to his feet before getting in his friend’s face. “How could you not tell me that you’re with the fucking feds? We’ve been friends since we were kids. Our fathers were best friends. How could you?”
“They contacted me.” Georgio rubbed his jaw. “Fuck, I forgot how hard you hit.” He shook his head. “Anyway, Charlie was closing in on you. He was going to set you up.”
“Is Charlie actually dead or did you two lie about that as well?” Luther fixed his jacket. “Well?”
“He’s dead,” I told him, pushing to my feet. “Georgio contacted me asking for help to get information on my brother. I let Charlie believe we still needed the money when we didn’t. I wanted him to become desperate. I wanted to see what he would do to get the money he thought would help us.” I wasn’t proud of the fact that I had used my brother, but I had tried to stop him before his desperation got him killed. Even though it didn’t work, I hope he died knowing that I was trying to make things better for him. For us.
“Did you get the information you were looking for?” Luther asked Georgio. “Well, did you? Was all of this fucking worth it?”
“Charlie…” Georgio glanced at me.
I looked down at my feet, shame weighing heavily on my shoulders over the shit my brother had done.
“Charlie was good at sales and a mastermind of the dark web. We’d been following him for a while but could never prove that it was, in fact, him running the show. Not until he made a mistake. He had different aliases but one true tell between all of them.” Georgio reached into his jacket and pulled out his phone. He clicked a button before showing Luther the small screen. “All of these names have one thing in common.”
“Knight,” Luther muttered. His gaze popped to Georgio’s. “Was he making it look like it was me this whole time?”
“I’m not sure yet. Lexi was getting me all of the information she could find from Charlie’s room. That’s why she was here.”
“He drove you,” Luther said, peering down at me. He turned back to Georgio. “You drove her. You picked her up from my place, drove her here and then waited out in the hall for me.” He pushed Georgio. “I’m right. Aren’t I?”
Georgio rubbed the back of his neck. “Yes.”
“Fuck.” Luther stepped away from us and began pacing. “What’s my role in all of this?”
I stepped up beside him. “I had no idea that he would lead you to me. I had no idea about any of this.”
“Who killed him?” Luther asked. “If he’s actually dead like you say he is.”
“I killed him,” Georgio stated nonchalantly like he was just talking about the weather.
“Did you set me up?” Luther got in his face. “Did you stage it, so it would look like I killed him?”
“No. That was a lie. Your prints weren’t here at all.” Georgio cupped Luther’s nape. “You have to believe me. Charlie wasn’t a good guy. We were trying to bring him down.”
“Then why did you lie and say that it was made to look like I killed him?” Luther threw at him. “Why the hell would you say that to me?”
“Because I needed to keep you away. I know you. You would have brought Lexi back here so she could grab her things. I needed to keep you both away to protect you. We’re not the only ones involved in this shit.” Georgio put his phone away. “I’ll explain when I get more information but it’s taking longer than I would like.”
“You used me.” Luther pushed him. “Both of you used me.”
“Luther.” I reached out for him, but he jumped back.
“No. I’ve been betrayed by a lot of fucking people but none of those hurt like this does.” He shook his head, heading to the door of my apartment. “I’m done. All of this is fucking done.”
“Luther,” I cried, rushing to him. “Please. Take me home with you. Let me explain. Let me make this up to you.”
“Explain?” he shouted, gripping my shoulders and shoving me up against the wall. “Explain what, Lexi? Explain that you made me fall in love with you. That you gave me everything that I needed, only to throw it back in my face.”
“No, that’s not true.” A sob escaped me. “Please believe me.”
“Fuck you,” he spat, shoving away from me. He slammed the door open, storming down the hall.
“Luther,” Georgio called out.
I ran after Luther. “Please, Luther. Sir. Master. Please fucking believe me,” I screamed. “I didn’t want this. I didn’t want any of this. I had no choice. Charlie was evil. He was using the dark web to sell things. Weapons. Drugs. People. He was going to make it look like it was all you. He was going to destroy you.”
“You didn’t know me when this shit started,” Luther snapped, spinning on me. “You didn’t know me at fucking all, so you can’t say that shit to me. You can’t tell me that you actually cared because you didn’t know me.”
“I did know you. I saw pictures of you. Georgio had me read up on you. Please.” I gripped his jacket. “Please believe me.”
“You gave her information on me?” Luther asked, staring over my head.
“I had a feeling that Charlie would try and backstab you. I wanted Lexi to have as much information as she could. My job was on the line for bringing in someone who wasn’t even remotely close to being FBI. I was desperate. I needed help.” Georgio swallowed noisily. “You have to believe me.”
Luther’s jaw clenched, that muscle beneath his ear ticking. He stared down at me, grabbed my wrists and leaned down to my ear. His hands tightened, squeezing until the bones rubbed together.
I whimpered.
“If you know what’s good for you,” Luther’s voice was calm and even and it utterly terrified me. �
��You won’t follow me.” He pushed me away and headed down the hall, taking my heart and soul with him.
Lexi
“LUTHER! PLEASE.” BEFORE I could run after him, an arm wrapped around my middle and I was lifted off my feet.
“Trust me, Lexi, you don’t want to go after him.”
“This is your fault.” I pushed Georgio. “I didn’t want any of this to happen.”
“I wasn’t expecting you to actually fall in love with him,” he threw at me.
“Fuck you.” I shoved away from him and before he could catch me again, I ran after Luther.
Once I reached outside, a black car sped by me. I hailed a Taxi. Luckily it was still early at night, so the cabs were moving constantly.
“Lexi,” Georgio called after me.
A cab stopped in front of me.
I jumped into the back. “I need you to follow that car.”
“Which car?” the driver asked, frowning.
“Just go!” I yelled. “Please!”
He grumbled a curse but listened to me. “Do you have an address?” he asked a moment later.
I gave it to him and pinched the bridge of my nose. What the hell was I doing? I was about to face Luther. By myself. Without Georgio. He could at least back me up but no, I was stupid and rushed off. I just needed Luther to hear me out. I needed him to understand. I needed him to know that I had no choice.
Once we pulled up in front of the gate leading to Luther’s large estate, I threw money at the driver and jumped out of the cab.
Luck was on my side when I saw the gate was still open. I wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like Luther. He clearly wasn’t thinking straight. And it was all my fault. Everything was all my damn fault.
I ran up the gravel driveway, my heart jumping when I saw Luther’s black car. Bounding up the steps, I tried the door. It opened. Thank God.
“Luther,” I yelled. “Luther, we need to talk. Please let me explain.”
He appeared around the corner, a tumbler of amber liquid in his hand. “Talk. You want to talk?” He placed the glass on a nearby table. “How about I talk instead?” He took a step toward me. “I fell in love with you. I fell in love with you fucking hard. I felt guilty for not telling you who I was right away. And you were pissed. I understood that. And then I find out that you’ve actually known my best friend for months. Did you even care that he killed your brother? Did you know that he set me up?”
