Page 13 of Duality (The Archers #1)

EVELYN

S ilence followed Sebastian’s dramatic statement. It was almost comical how all four men turned to face me at his words.

I shook my head at Sebastian. “I should have known you would be the first to figure it out.” Six years of hiding it, and he figured it out from one clue. Okay, it was a pretty big clue…

Adrian cleared his throat, and I rolled my eyes. Any more visible displays of sass I had kept hidden all these years, and Marcus’s and Alexander’s jaws would be on the floor. I was acting totally differently from their professional assistant, Evelyn Harper.

Here, in Archers headquarters, I was Eve Harper, a take-no-shit woman.

And it was time to see how much shit the Stone brothers were about to give me for the secrets I had been keeping.

I guess it was time to go all in. I couldn’t really hide it all anymore.

That scene at the warehouse had done a good enough job of that. But I couldn’t have let them die.

“Okay, figured it out second.”

Marcus’s head whipped around to face Adrian.

“You knew?” His tone was accusatory, but the devastation that flashed across his face before he hid it had me wincing.

I had hoped this would never come out for that reason alone.

Marcus and Adrian were closer than brothers, and Adrian keeping a secret like this was going to break that relationship, and it was all my fault.

Adrian shifted uncomfortably, no doubt seeing the same thing I did. “I did.” He didn’t try to hide it, even when Marcus’s jaw slackened before he scowled.

While Adrian and Marcus were having a silent stare off, Liam handed me a folder. I scanned the contents quickly, my eyebrows shooting up before I schooled my expression. Well, that definitely explained a lot of things. And solidified that I was the one who dragged SDS into this mess.

“So you’re the leader of the Archers?” Alexander confirmed.

“I am.” It felt weird saying it aloud. I know Sebastian had outed me—well, I had outed myself with my actions earlier—but I had spent so long keeping my two lives separate that freely admitting it to one of my bosses had my stomach pitting.

But it was necessary. Hopefully, it wouldn’t blow up in our faces, and they would hear me out.

“Who was back there at the property? Why were they trying to kill you?” It was hard to read Alexander. He had his boardroom mask on, but there were no visible signs of anger. His signs were subtle, a tick in his jaw and tightness around his eyes, but those were absent now, so I relaxed slightly.

“Actually, they were trying to kill you,” Izzy said brusquely, folding her arms as she leaned against the table.

My lieutenants weren’t comfortable with the Stone brothers and Adrian being here, from their stiff body language.

Danny had angled himself in front of me when Sebastian had made his dramatic statement earlier.

I appreciated their overprotectiveness, but it wasn’t necessary.

I knew these men, and they were more likely to have me arrested than to respond with physical violence.

“Us? Why? Who were they?” Sebastian asked. His eyebrows furrowed, and a frown crossed his handsome face. I had an indescribable urge to make him smile, and I shoved that feeling down deep inside me.

Grace and Izzy looked at me. It was my call on what to tell them.

Danny rubbed my back comfortingly. He knew how hard I worked to keep my two lives separate.

I rubbed my hand over my face. All in, right?

It was time to come clean. Well, maybe not about everything , but everything that was relevant to the brothers and the threat against them.

I didn’t want to see them dead, and they wouldn’t appreciate the severity of the threat if I kept some parts out.

Still, it felt like peeling off a layer of my skin and exposing the secrets underneath.

“Okay, let’s start at the beginning,” I began. “A week ago, we became aware of a contract taken out on you.”

“What does that mean?” Marcus asked, scowling at Danny. What was his problem with Danny? All of the guys looked at him strangely, now that I thought about it.

“It means that someone wanted you dead,” Grace said bluntly.

“I’m sorry, but who are you?” Marcus asked. “Who are all of you?”

Right, I was shitty at introductions. “That’s Grace, Izzy, and Liam, and this is Danny.” I pointed to each of them and then jerked a thumb at my cousin. “They are my…lieutenants, so to speak.”

Izzy rolled her eyes. “I know you hate the title, but that’s exactly what we are.” It was a familiar argument, but it wasn’t the time for it, so I ignored it for now.

“Anyways,” I continued, trying to get us back on track. “We discovered a hit put out on the three of you on the dark web.”

“A hit? Who?” Alexander demanded, the skin around his eyes tightening.

“Citadel,” I said evenly, holding his piercing blue gaze. I had spent enough time with him that I could read the anger in his eyes. He looked like an avenging angel, and I couldn’t help the flutter in my stomach, but this was so not the time.

His brow furrowed. “Citadel? Why?”

“Why didn’t you just tell us about the threat?” Marcus accused, his eyes looking at me like I’d just killed his puppy. He clearly had no interest in forgiving or forgetting my ‘betrayal’ any time soon. Even if I did save his and his brothers’ lives.

“Gee, I wonder how that would have gone down,” I drawled.

“Good morning, Mr. Stone. Here are the notes for your 9 a.m. meeting. By the way, did you know Citadel put out a hit on you and your brothers last night?” I get that he was angry, but he was also a smart guy. How did he think that was going to go?

I gave him a look like “are you dumb”, and Sebastian chuckled. Marcus shot him a dirty glare, and he shrugged. “What? She makes a good point. How did you want her to work that into conversation?”

“Maybe not by lying in the first place!” Marcus demanded. “She’s been working for us for years. She’s probably compromised all of our systems and our clients.”

“I did not compromise any of your clients,” I responded icily.

That was a line I had fervently drawn in the sand.

I knew it would devastate them if they ever found out, and I wanted to protect them.

Plus, SDS didn’t do business with anyone dirty, anyway, so that made it easy to hold that line. “Nothing I did brought you any harm.”

“Oh, that makes me feel better,” Marcus snarked back at me. “The liar says they didn’t, so it must be so.”

“It’s true,” Adrian said evenly, drawing Marcus’s ire. “Nothing she did was a threat to you or SDS.”

“And you know this because you’ve been working with her,” Marcus shot back. “You’re an Archer.”

“Hey,” I cut in. “Adrian has always been loyal to SDS. Obnoxiously so at times. So lay off and accept the fact that sometimes people lie for the right reasons.” I understood his moral code, but the world existed in shades of gray, not black and white.

Whatever icy retort Marcus was about to fire back was blocked when Alexander lifted his hand.

“You could have let them take us out. You have no allegiance to us,” Alexander said. His tone held a thread of hurt, and I reared back at his accusation.

“Never,” I swore.

I could never let them die. The idea of them dead, lying on the morgue tables like Eric and Brittany… I shuddered. I could never do that, and that was before my stupid crushes on them.

Alexander’s eyes glinted at my reaction, looking satisfied, and my eyes narrowed. What was he playing at? Why did he ask that question? What was he looking for?

“That’s not what we do,” Danny answered for me, his tone level, but I could hear the thread of anger. “And I get that you’re pissed”—his eyes swung to Marcus—”but start treating Eve with a little more respect, or you’re not going to like the outcome.”

“We’re getting off track,” I said, holding up a hand to stop Danny from saying anything else. As much as I was hurt by their anger, the truth was, I deserved every bit of it. But for now, we had more important things to do. Like what to do next now that I had burned my life to the ground.

Alexander nodded. “Agreed. Clearly, we have more to discuss later, but for now…” He waved a hand like he was giving me permission, and I fought the urge to roll my eyes.

“We were not going to let them take you out; not when it was kind of my fault you were caught up in it,” I said, waving the folder that Liam had handed me.

My lieutenants stiffened, and I knew they didn’t like that I was admitting fault, but I had lied to them for so long that I was tired of the lies. In a way, it was freeing to let go of the masks and just be Evelyn Harper, both an executive assistant and the leader of the Archers.

“Liam uncovered some dark web chats between Citadel and the mercenaries that showed up today at the property site. Apparently, Citadel believes that you all lead the Archers.” I pointed at the four of them. “That SDS was your public front, and the Archers was your private company.”

Grace chuckled, and the rest of my lieutenants looked amused. The four men traded baffled looks—eyebrows edging upward, lips parting, as though I’d suddenly switched to a language none of them spoke.

“They think we run the Archers?” Alexander said slowly. “Why? And why does Citadel care?”

I bit my lip as I thought. With the information that Liam had discovered, and based on the last few weeks, I thought I knew why. “My best guess is that this is related to your meeting with Geoff Young.”

Theystill looked confused, but Marcus appeared to have connected the dots first. “Wait, so…” he trailed off.

I nodded. “My best guess is that after you all met with Young, he went to Citadel and told them about your meeting. The hit was put out after his meeting with Citadel. The timeline makes sense.”

“But nothing about that conversation was inflammatory…” Adrian trailed off. “Young brought up the Archers. You all were the ones who exposed that drug ring.”

Izzy nodded. “That was us.”

“So since we didn’t bash the Archers in the meeting, he tried to have us killed? That doesn’t make any sense.” Marcus rolled his eyes, clearly not convinced.

Grace snorted. “In our line of work, we’ve seen hits taken out for a lot less than the whims of a rich man.”

“But why does Citadel care about the Archers?” Alexander asked. Nothing got by this man.

I shared a look with Izzy. “We’ve had several…

run-ins with Citadel in the past. They have covered up some nasty crimes for their clients in the past.” I didn’t mention the murders of my people just two weeks ago.

Those losses were still too raw, and I don’t know if I could explain how I failed to these men just yet.

Alexander snorted, an uncharacteristic reaction from him. “We’ve heard rumors about that. It doesn’t surprise me.” Sebastian, Marcus, and Adrian nodded in agreement.

“So Geoff Young was upset we didn’t bash the Archers and tattled to Citadel about it, then Hammond and Young decided that meant we led the Archers and needed to be taken out.” Marcus ticked off the facts on his fingers, clearly not convinced.

I shrugged. “The chats that Liam uncovered, plus the timing of the event, leads me to believe that was the case.”

“So what do we do now?” Sebastian practically bounced in his seat, looking giddy despite just learning there was a hit out on his life.

“We can’t hide out here forever,” Marcus grumbled.

It really was a goddamn miracle my eyes weren’t permanently stuck in the back of my head with how often these men drove me to roll them. “You’re welcome here as long as you would like,” I said, ignoring his attitude. “We can arrange a safe house for you all until the threat is over.”

“And what are you going to do?” Adrian asked.

“We’re going to take down Citadel,” I said grimly.

The Archers had been dancing around them for too long while they covered up crimes their clients committed.

It was time, and going after the Stone brothers, who were innocent, was the last straw.

It had nothing to do with my feelings for them.

Or at least that’s what I was telling myself.

Alexander stood. “Good. Let’s get started.”