Page 34 of Devious Truth (Vicious Sinners #3)

T here’s yelling. Men cursing at each other, but all I can hear is the blood whooshing through my ears.

“Frank!” Ivan’s presence draws my attention. His voice cuts through the panic.

“Ivan. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” It’s all I can manage before my voice cracks and tears roll down my cheeks.

His eyes slice through the room, cold and unblinking as they devour the scene before him.

No flicker of emotion. Just the slow drag of a gaze that catalogues everything—me included.

A bored, almost cruel curve pulls at his mouth as he steps inside.

He’s calm, collected. A man in complete control of a situation that’s gone off the rails.

Two of his men step inside with him, shut the door. The music and noise from the lounge seem to have drowned out the sound of the gun firing. No one seems concerned about what’s happening in here.

“Frank, I would appreciate it if you would take your gun off my fiancée.” His shoes clicking along the wood flooring is the only sound as he takes the short walk to Kieran’s dead body.

“Your fiancée?” Frank lowers his gun, shocked eyes flickering to me. “She’s your fiancée?”

He steps over Kieran’s body without a second glance, each footfall deliberate, controlled. When he stops, he’s directly in front of me—close enough I can feel the quiet rage masked by his stillness.

Silently, he wipes his thumb over my cheek, then rubs his bloody thumb against his fingers.

“Are you all right?” His question is soft, firm.

“Yes.” I breathe easier. “I am. I’m sorry.”

He cuts me off with a slight shake of his head. A silent demand for me to stay quiet. Let him handle this.

“You drew your gun in my club.” Ivan turns to face Frank.

The rest of the players sit stock still in their seats. The man to Kieran’s right, the man who’d heard my warning, has blood drying on his face.

“He was cheating. She—your fiancée—helped him.”

Frank drops the gun to the table, a show that he’s not on the attack.

Ivan’s back ripples with tension before he turns on his heel and comes back to me.

“Vivienne,” he says my name dangerously low. “Is this true?”

The question hangs between us, a heavy pull that keeps us grounded to the floor. To each other. My vision tunnels, leaving only him in my view. I can’t look away. I need the storm in his eyes to draw him in from the chaotic winds of panic. I open my mouth then close it again.

If I had just gone to him. If I’d asked Meredith to send a message upstairs, this probably wouldn’t be happening. He’s shown me at every turn; I can trust him.

Finally, I answer him, my voice low and steady. “Yes.”

Before I can go on to explain myself, he turns away from me, stepping back to the table.

“Given the circumstances, I’m going to overlook the disrespect of firing a weapon in my club.”

“The disrespect?” Frank’s eyes narrow.

“We’ll handle cleaning up this mess. You and your men should leave now.” Ivan flexes his hands at his sides.

Frank stares at him a moment, his nostrils flaring as his anger slowly subsides.

“Your fiancée helped him cheat us. What will you do about that disrespect?” Spittle collects at the corner of his mouth.

“She’s mine to deal with, and I will deal with her how I see fit.” Ivan’s words are uttered with cold finality.

“Yeah. Fine.” Frank looks around the table. “Game’s over, fellas.”

“If you’ll bring your chips with you, you can cash out in the room next door.” One of Ivan’s men opens the door, a signal for them to get their shit and go.

The room clears, chairs left out from the table, a cigar is left smoking in the ashtray. Anthony swipes Kieran’s pile of chips and is the last to head out of the room. Ivan’s men follow, shutting the door behind him and leaving only him and me inside.

“Ivan—”

“What was Kieran doing in my club?” He walks around the table, pushing the chairs back in place. “I gave orders for him not to be allowed in. How’d he get in, Vivienne?”

“I let him in. I told him how to get to the employee entrance without being noticed and let him in that way.” I take a deep breath.

“I know you’re mad, and you have a right to be, and whatever you decide to do with me because of this I deserve, but Ivan, you have to listen to me.

” I step forward, avoiding the puddle of blood.

“Listen to you about what?” He folds his arms over his chest, casting me in his dark stare.

“Caroline is missing.” I blurt out. “She’s been kidnapped. Kieran told me if I helped him win back all the money he lost to those men, she’d be released. He had pictures, Ivan. She’s hurt bad.”

Kneeling beside Kieran’s still body, I go through his pockets. The gunshot to his throat has stopped bleeding, but there’s so much blood everywhere it gets all over me as I search him for his phone.

“Vee, what the fuck. What are you doing?” Ivan is at my side, pulling me to my feet.

“His phone. He has pictures of Caroline on his phone. Devon is the guy who took her; I need his phone.” I jerk my hands at Kieran.

Ivan walks me back to the bar. “Stay here; don’t fucking move.”

Frozen in place, I watch as he rolls Kieran to his side and finds the phone in his back pocket. He swipes across the screen.

“No lock,” he mutters as he taps on icons.

It’s only a second before he finds the photos Kieran flashed me earlier. His jaw tightens when he sees her.

“Who the fuck is Devon?” He asks me.

“A guy she met at Blue Diamonds when we were out the other night. She went home with him, and I––”

“You what?”

“Oh! I can find her! I need my phone!” I rush to the door, making sure to avoid stepping in the blood.

Ivan barks an order for his security men, then follows me through the hallway leading to the employee locker room. If anyone in the lounge notices me with all the blood over me, they know better to than to comment or stare.

“Vee? What’s going on?” Meredith catches up to me in the locker room. Ivan is right behind her, shoving his way in.

“Caroline. I can find her.” I throw open my locker and dig out my phone, scrolling for the location app. “We were nervous about her going with that guy, so I asked her to share her location with me. I’d forgotten about that until now.”

“If her phone’s on, you’ll be able to pinpoint where she is.” Ivan watches my phone with me, waiting for the little icon to stop circling.

“Is she okay? Why are you covered in blood?” Meredith fires off questions.

“Meredith, I need you to seal off the room the Santuccis were in. My men will be down to clean it, but I don’t want it used the rest of the night.”

Meredith nods without question. “Of course.”

“Here! She’s here.” I show him the screen.

He takes the phone from me, zooming in on the map. A murderous glint to his eye, he looks up at me. “Who the hell was that guy?”

“Devon, she just called him Devon.” I should have asked more questions. “Kieran said he knew him from when they were kids. Devon works for the DeAngelos now.”

His jaw gets tighter. He pulls his own phone from his coat pocket.

“We need to go get her.” I argue.

His stare makes me go still. The anger over what I’ve done isn’t gone, but he’s focused now. Getting Caroline out of that hell matters first.

“Artem, are they at the house yet?” His eyes lock with mine. “One of our girls, Caroline, is inside. I’m sending you a picture, it’ll come from an unknown number.”

Ivan cradles his phone between his ear and shoulder while he uses Kieran’s phone to send Caroline’s photos to Artem. The silence while he listens to whatever Artem is telling him, is suffocating. Like a thin wire being wrapped around my throat.

“Yes. Good. Okay, let me know when you have her, and bring her straight to the doctor’s house. He’ll be waiting. He’s closer than Alexander’s or Obsidian; take her to him.” He ends the call.

“What’s going on? Why is Artem already there?” I grab hold of Ivan’s arm.

His thumb taps his phone and again he’s on another call.

“Artem’s there now, one of our girls is in there. He’s going to get her and take her to the Doc’s house. I need someone to come down here and get Vivienne.”

“I’m going with you; she’s going to need—” I snap my mouth shut when his finger presses to my lips. He continues speaking to the person on the phone.

“They need to take her home. She’s not to leave. For any reason.” He reaches into my locker and grabs my jacket, shoving it at me. “If she tries to leave, move her to the pit.”

A chill runs through me with his last order. I’ve heard of the pit. The girls gossip about there being another level to Obsidian where they take their enemies when they need to deal with them.

“Ivan. What’s going on?” I yank my jacket on over my uniform.

“Lev is coming down to get you.” He disappears into the shower room and comes back with a towel.

“Why are your men at that place?”

He wipes my face with the towel then my chest, cleaning off as much blood as the towel will soak up.

“The DeAngelos have what they call pleasure houses around the city. Women are bought and sold there, rented out to the highest bidder to do whatever the fuck they want with them. We’re taking out the house tonight.”

“The one Caroline’s at?”

“Yes.” His jaw tenses, and he tosses the dirty towel into the large bin. “Lev is taking you home.”

“Where are you going to be?” I grab at him as he turns for the door. “Ivan, I’m sorry. I know you’re mad and you have every reason to be mad, but please, tell me what’s going on.”

He spins to face me, anger and hurt contort his features. “Mad? I’m fucking furious. You should have come to me as soon as he reached out again.”

“I know. You were in meetings, and I didn’t want to?—”

“You didn’t want to what? Come to me for help?” His words cut sharp. “You didn’t want to depend on me? Because what would happen if you did, Vee? What would happen if you let your guard down for one fucking minute?”

He’s right. If I started to lean on him, it would make what I feel, how deeply I feel for him more concrete. It would make all of this—real.

“I just—” A knock on the door cuts me off.

“I need to get over there.” He rolls his shoulders back, raises his chin. “Go with Lev.”

He yanks the door open, talks quietly with Lev.

I’ve told Ivan over and over again I didn’t want this. I didn’t want him. And now that it’s not true, now that I’ve proven to myself to be a huge liar, maybe he doesn’t want me anymore either.

“Vivienne?” Ivan pokes his head through the door.

“Yeah?” I hold my breath, waiting for him to demand I be a good girl. Demand I obey him.

“You’re fired.”