Page 60 of Lucas (The Valeur Billionaires #2)

Chapter Forty-One

LUCAS

I perch on the edge of the leather couch as Logan sits across from me, his icy blue eyes drilling into me with laser-like intensity.

“Why did you call us here?” he asks.

I take a deep breath, my heart pounding against my ribcage like a caged bird desperate to escape. “Because we need to talk. There’s something I have to tell you, something I can’t keep buried any longer.” My gaze darts between Logan and Cora, trying to gauge their reactions.

Liam strolls into the room, an amused smirk playing on his lips. “You’re pregnant?”

At this moment, I would gladly announce an unplanned pregnancy rather than the earth-shattering bombshell I’m about to drop.

“No, you ass,” I snap. “Ava’s not ready for that yet.”

Liam’s eyes widen, his smirk slipping. “Hold up. You’re serious? Lucas ‘love-is-manipulative-bullshit’ Valeur not only fell head over heels but wants kids too?” He clutches his chest. “I think I’m having a heart attack.”

I jump to my feet and punch his shoulder hard. “I’d put you in a headlock and make you tap out for that, but I didn’t call this little family meeting for your comedy routine,” I growl.

“Okay, okay, message received.” Liam holds up his hands in mock surrender and plops down on the couch next to Logan, propping his feet up on the coffee table.

“Just don’t say you’re also quitting the company because I don’t want to be responsible for the whole shebang.

I’m only now getting a handle on my shit at Valeur-Tech. ”

I shake my head. “It’s not that.”

The playful atmosphere evaporates as they take in my grave expression, the air charged with foreboding. I clench my jaw so hard my teeth ache as I prepare to rip off the bloodstained bandage.

“Remember when I told you Dad cheated?”

“Yeah,” they chorus, leaning forward.

“Well, I may have been wrong.”

“Ha!” Cora leaps to her feet, fist-pumping the air. “I knew it! He always said she was the love of his life. It made no sense that he’d cheat. I knew it!”

“Yeah, well, don’t pop the champagne just yet,” I whisper, my voice cracking with emotion. “Because now I think the real reason they grew apart is worse.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, stop beating around the bush and spit it out already,” Logan snarls, his intense stare boring into my skull like a power drill .

I lift my head, meeting his burning gaze head-on, steeling myself. “I think Dad murdered someone.”

Cora makes a strangled choking sound, her hand flying to her mouth.

Logan’s expression doesn’t change, but I can tell he’s affected by the slight angle of his head and the almost imperceptible shift of his broad shoulders. We grew up together. I can read him like a book.

Liam pales, gripping the armrest with white knuckles, his breath coming faster. “This isn’t some sick joke?” he asks, desperation clinging to each word, begging me to laugh and say, “Gotcha!”

But I don’t.

“Jesus tap-dancing Christ. You think Dad...that our father is a goddamn murderer?” Liam looks like he might vomit on the expensive Turkish rug.

“You think I’d gather you here to spout nonsense?” I snap.

“What gave you this absurd notion?” Logan asks in a calm voice. But I’m not fooled. A storm churns behind his eyes. He’s hanging by a thread.

In clipped, emotionless tones, I recount the damning conversation I overheard, each word tasting like bile, acidic and burning. By the end, I’m trembling, my breath coming in harsh pants.

“Th–that proves nothing,” Cora stammers. “Maybe you misunderstood. Perhaps he was talking about something else, like...like in a book or a movie...”

She’s grasping at straws, drowning in denial, and I understand why she would. I have no doubt that hearing this is just as difficult for each of them as it was for me .

“I confronted him, okay?” I cut her off. “I asked him point blank.”

Liam sits ramrod straight, eyes wide as saucers. “And? What did he say?”

I grip the back of an armchair, my fingers digging into the buttery leather. “He didn’t deny it,” I rasp. “He said, ‘It’s not what you think, Son. I need you to trust me.’ But how can I? How can I ever look at him the same way again, knowing he has blood on his hands?”

A heavy, oppressive silence falls as they digest this world-altering revelation, the air crackling with shock and horror.

“Do you know who it was? The person he...” Liam trails off, unable to say the words aloud as if that would make it too real.

I shake my head. “No. He refused to give me any details. Said that it happened twenty goddamn years ago. But then, as I laid awake all night, connecting the dots, I realized that’s when he and Mom?—”

“Started drifting apart,” Logan finishes in a pained whisper, pinching the bridge of his nose. “The timeline fits.”

“Exactly,” I say. “The more I turned it over in my mind, the more I became convinced she knew, or at least suspected. And that’s why they separated—she couldn’t bear to be with him anymore, knowing what he’d done.”

Cora shakes her head, covering her ears. “No. No, you’re wrong. They didn’t separate. They were together until Mom died,” she cries, her voice hitching on a hiccuping sob.

“Were they, though?” I counter, scrubbing a hand down my face.

“Think about it, Cora. In the last two years, they never shared a room, never exchanged a single affectionate touch. They put on a good facade in public but at home? They were practically strangers. Not divorced on paper, but not really together.”

Cora crumples as if I punched her in the gut, folding in on herself.

I lean against the wall, feeling a hundred years old.

“That’s why I always assumed he cheated.

It was the only thing that made sense. But the truth is so much darker than I ever imagined.

And I don’t know what the fuck to do now.

” I slide down the wall to sit on the floor, knees drawn to my chest, fingers tangled in my hair.

Logan crosses the room in two long strides and crouches in front of me, gripping my shoulders. “You did the right thing telling us,” he says in a low, soothing rumble. “We’ll figure this out together. You’re not alone in this, Brother.”

“There’s something else,” I rasp.

Three sets of eyes snap to me, wide with dread, the tension ratcheting up to unbearable levels.

I dig in my pocket and pull out the crumpled, innocuous-looking letters. “I’ve been getting threats.”

Logan snatches them from my grasp, his knuckles white. “What the ever-loving fuck, Lucas? Why didn’t you tell us?” he roars.

I cower back, raising my hands in surrender. “That was a fuck-up on my part. I didn’t want to freak you all out over what could be nothing. I figured it was some nut job ex-employee with a grudge. I had a P.I. look into it.”

I can see by the look on Logan’s face that he’s not appeased in the slightest. He springs to his feet, towering over me, eyes wild. “Nothing? This is the furthest fucking thing from nothing. ‘ Now it’s your turn’ —what the hell is that supposed to mean?”

I push to my feet, meeting his furious stare head-on. “I didn’t connect the dots, okay? Not until my accident, which the P.I. thinks was no accident at all, by the way. It was too goddamn clean—no evidence, no skid marks, no witnesses. And then there’s Ava’s bike.”

Logan narrows his eyes. “What about Ava’s bike?”

The words tumble out of me in a rush. “The night of the crash, I only went out on my bike because Ava’s bike was missing from the shed.

I thought she had gone out. At first, I figured I was losing my mind, but I swear on my life, it wasn’t there.

But later, when she went looking for me, it was back in its usual place. Like it had never been gone at all.”

Liam sucks in a harsh breath, eyes round as dinner plates. “Holy fuck. So, someone took it? Removed it so you’d go out that night, and then, what? Went after you?”

I thrust my hands in my hair, yanking. “I don’t fucking know. It sounds insane, but it’s the only thing that makes sense. Whoever’s been threatening me wants me gone. Permanently. And they broke into the shed to orchestrate it.”

Cora stumbles back, a hand pressed to her heaving chest. “Oh my God. Oh my God. This can’t be happening. What if they try again? Lucas, you can’t stay in that house. It’s not safe.”

“It’s okay,” I assure her. “I’ve already called Storm Security.

As of an hour ago, I have two ex-Navy Seal bodyguards watching Ava and me twenty-four/seven.

I’m also having them overhaul the security system at the estate, top to bottom.

” I turn to Logan and Liam, my expression hardening.

“ You should all do the same. Hire protection. Upgrade your security measures. Just in case.”

Logan nods. “Already texting them now.”

“Why do you think we need protection?” Liam stands, realization dawning on his face. “You think there’s a connection between what happened with Dad and what happened to you.”

It’s not a question; it’s a statement.

I nod. “Not for certain, of course. It’s just a hunch, a sick feeling in my gut. But I can’t shake it.”

Liam looks ready to tear his hair out by the roots.

“But why? It’s been twenty fucking years.

Two decades! Whoever Dad...killed,” he starts, choking on the word, “they’re long gone, rotting in the ground.

Why would anyone come after us now? It makes no sense.

Isn’t it far more likely this is about you?

A rival with an axe to grind, some corporate espionage bullshit?

We’re not exactly Mr. Rogers. We’ve stepped on plenty of toes and made enemies climbing the ladder. ”

“Don’t you think I’ve considered that?” I shout, my control snapping.

“I’ve wracked my brain, gone over every scenario a million times.

And maybe you’re right, and I’m losing my fucking mind, so desperate to make sense of this nightmare that I’m connecting dots that aren’t there. But I can’t ignore my instincts, Liam.”

“This is crazy,” Cora moans, hugging herself. “Crazy. I feel like I’m trapped in some sick, twisted movie. I don’t believe it.”

I turn to Logan, raw desperation carved into every line of my face. “The video,” I rasp. “Of you and Sloane. The name they chose. Don’t you see?”

Realization crashes over Logan like a tsunami, his eyes flying wide open. “The Silent Witness,” he says, voice cracking. “You think it’s a message. A taunt. A sign that this is all linked.”

I nod. “It could be a coincidence. But the name? It lines up too perfectly to be by chance. I think whoever’s gunning for me knows the family secret. Knows what Dad did.”