Page 90
Story: Barons of Decay
“Seriously,” DK says, sounding truly offended.
I raise my brows at the King. “You got a cat?”
“She has a cat,” Sy’s thumb jerks at his Duchess, but his tone softens just a notch.
“I’ve got a dog,” I offer. My mother always said to offer something about yourself if you want to get something in return. With that settled, I lean forward. “We’ve got a problem.”
Lavinia’s fork pauses halfway to her mouth. Sy keeps chewing.
“It’s a North Side thing,” I continue, “which is why we asked the Duchess to be here.”
DK picks up a menu and scans it. “You left a lot of people behind when you decided to blow daddy dearest off the map.”
Sy grunts like he’s already over it. “Not our problem.”
Lavinia wipes her fingers on a napkin. “There was collateral damage. I feel terrible about it, but the alternative would have taken out a lot more people.”
“This one is probably adjacent to collateral,” I tell her. “Sofia Martinez.”
“Who?” Sy asks, forehead creased. “Never heard of her.”
“Hold up,” DK says, waving over the waitress. She walks up, smacking gum between her overly red lips.
“You boys ready to order?” Her oval name tag says, ‘Gert.’
“I’ll take the breakfast plate. Scrambled, no toast, extra pancakes,” he peruses the back, “and a juice.”
He offers me the menu, but I wave it off. “I’ll have the same, but make my eggs over easy.”
“How about you, hon? Need another coffee?”
Sy gives her a tight smile. “Please.”
“Be back quick as a jiff,” Gert says, heading off.
“Who the fuck is Sofia Martinez and why should we care?” Sy asks, clearly growing impatient.
“She’s Bruno Perez’s half-sister.”
That gets Lavinia’s attention. She sets her fork down and brushes a lock of blue behind her ear.
“She kept it quiet. Sheisquiet, and she’s trying to stay that way. But someone’s following her. Sending her messages. DMs. She got marked and now she’s being hunted.”
Sy shrugs. “Still not our problem.”
“I thought you wanted to find who was picking off girls in Forsyth?” DK snaps. “Girls with connections to Royalty. Does it not matter if she’s related to someone you hate?”
I glance at Lavinia. Her lips are pressed tight, but there’s something in her expression that wasn’t there before. It seethes under the surface.
“Let me tell you one thing,” she starts, “if I didn’t know for a fact that Bruno Perez was dead, as in, I didn’t see his decapitatedhead at my feet, he’d be my number one suspect. He was a pig with zero respect toward women, or anyone else, unless it got him ahead. His frat, his family, no matter how distant, is not our problem.”
“We’re new to all of this,” I admit. “I asked around with the guys in Beta Rho, it’s well known that Perez had beef with everyone in Forsyth. He’d kidnapped the Lady at one point and word has it Nick Bruin killed him for simply looking at you.”
Lavinia blinks, but Sy simply pushes his clean plate in front of him and props those massive arms on the table. “What’s your point?”
“Story Austin had her Lords to save her from Perez when she needed it. If Bruin hadn’t gotten to him, I suspect one of your other Dukes would have.” My gaze flicks from the King to Lavinia. “Not only does Sofia Martinez have no one looking out for her, she may be a way for us to catch whoever is doing this.”
She doesn't say anything for a moment. Then, “Where is she now?”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144