Page 69 of From Hell

I glance at my brother as the last course comes out. Looks like I missed dinner altogether. “You sound jealous.” Wolf is the ultimate life and soul of the party. The number of times I’ve had to restart his heart after an overdose…

“Yeah, they could have invited me.”

“You’re in rehab,” Matty hisses from the far end of the table.

“Fuck rehab,” Wolf laughs, downing the quadruple whiskey, causing two of the founder’s wives between us and Matty to stop gossiping and look up.

“I just want to know what you’re doing about the bastard who murdered my son!” Tiffany Wickham stands up, eyes and cheeks wet with tears, throws her napkin on the table, and storms off.

Her husband half stands awkwardly and then sits back down when one of the other wives goes after her so he doesn’t have to. “She’s taking losing Henry hard, Archkey,” he mutters at my father, the whites of his eyes almost as large as the dark circles squatting under them.

“No shit, Sherlock,” Wolf snorts.

My eyes flick to my father, who has turned the color purple. “My son will deal with it.”

A muscle clenches at the corner of my mouth, but I say nothing. Abe giving the assignment to me is the better option since he knows I killed Henry. The fucker was out of control. It was only a matter of time.

I dumped the body on the common as soon as I told Abe what had happened. It’s always easier to deal with my father when he feels he’s being kept in the loop. Unlike Wolf, I know how to handle Abe and diffuse his temper.

Wickham nods, relief settling in his eyes. He’s always been one of my father’s devout followers, unlike Eric, who is still burning holes in my head from his seat in the middle of the table.

As my father’s legacy, I’m entitled to punish Christian for bringing a female into the restricted areas of the house. I wouldn’t have usually bothered. Every acolyte breaks the rules, especially the lesser ones regarding women. But he upset Laine.

No one gets to upset her.

Apart from me.

Dessert is abandoned in favor of cigars in the billiard room. Although the women usually disappear elsewhere, Shina comes too and singles me out at the corner bar.

“Thank you.”

I raise a brow. “What for?”

“Christian was taking…” she pauses, uncertainty flashing across her perfect features as she looks around, gaze darting to her husband. “Liberties,” she finally adds.

That’s news to me, although I’m also not surprised. Still, I don’t let it show on my face. What happens behind closed doors is none of my business.

“Don’t mention it.”

She steps closer, eyes giving me the once over, confident despite she’s younger than me. “You know, you’re not at all like your father.” Her hand rests on my arm briefly before I can move it away. She’s playing a dangerous game. Fortunately for her, I don’t feel anything toward her. But right now, I wish she’d take the hint.

“That’s not hard. No one is a fucker like Abe.” Wolf looms in, taking some of the heat. Shina smiles, turning her charms on my brother.

“Wolf is such an unusual name.”

He grins at her, and I take the opportunity to leave them to it. “Excuse me.”

If my brother wants to get his dick wet in shark-infested waters, I won’t stop him. He can swim.

I eye my father as I walk out. The cold look he gives me is one I know very well. It’s a warning and a reminder in one: I’m not the Archkey yet, even if I act like it.

As I walk out the door, Matty is standing alone on the porch, smoking, her hairpins pulled out so that her locks tumble around her. Duty over. The porch lights are off. She must have cut the mains so no one would know she was there.

Matty has it the hardest out of all of us—acting as our mother’s replacement in the family.

“Who is she?”

I raise a brow. “She?”