Page 98 of Tangled Lies

He tossed me the invitation. The envelope was soft, almost like fabric. Expensive. I pulled out the invitation with its metallic inlays.

“Did you call them and tell them where she is?”

Barone straightened his suit jacket.

“Of course I did. You little brats think just because I let you do as you please you can withhold information? I was the onethat set up the engagement for my own benefit. It just happened to help out her family. But now? She is a bargaining chip. I suggest you tell Ronan to say goodbye.”

I kept the invitation in my hand and motioned for to Talon to follow.

Ronan wasn’t the only one who wasn’t going to be okay saying goodbye. Absently I rubbed at my chest, and didn’t realize it until Talon grabbed the invitation from my hand as I practically crushed it.

“They had to send a fucking invitation? Harrington knew her parents' wishes then. This is him thinking he has the upper hand,” Talon said.

“Lucky guess on his part,” I said.

A loud thud caught our attention, and we picked up the pace.

The hall opened into the foyer and the blood running down Ronan’s hand onto the marble floor had me tracing the line up.

“Didn’t we tell you to stop punching walls?” I asked.

The thing was, I wanted to join him.

“Where is Margaux?” I asked because she wasn’t fussing about his hand.

“Jett is still looking. She has to be here. Barone crossed us all in one night. The announcement was the warning,” Ronan said.

Talon practically danced on his toes, itching for a fight.

“He crossed a line. He’s never gone after anyone’s family before,” Talon said.

“No. He hasn’t. Then again, all the brides have always come with gifts he wanted and by the time of the wedding there was no more to get out of the families,” I said.

We all turned to where we heard a familiar female voice.

“Jett, I can walk. For the love of god, I am not one of your workout routines.”

Jett came out of the archway from the kitchen.

“You can be part of my daily routines. In fact, I accept.” He looked up at us. “Boys, pretty girl here just offered to help us out with our daily workouts.”

I licked my bottom lip.

“Tempting. Get her to the car. Oh and, Ronan?” I held up the rather crumpled invitation. “Daddy dearest contacted Harrington and the Thornes when he got this.”

Ronan grabbed the invitation.

“I think it’s time to deal with Harrington. He knew what he was doing when he sent this as bait. I doubt he knew who we were, but he didn’t have to if he suspected that the Barone family still would want what they were due. He’s been ignoring all our meetings, forcing our hand, and the one thing I hate is being cornered.”

“Is someone going to tell me what happened in that office? Or better yet, where are we?”

I glanced back at her next to Jett and Talon.

“If she goes in dressed like that, she’ll attract more attention than if she were naked,” I commented.

The boys looked at her. She’d been dressed for the family dinner in the perfect illusion that Barone would approve of.

“Wait, why? What is wrong with this dress? It was fine for dinner.”