Page 46

Chapter 46

Juliette

I left Colin in the kitchen with his grandparents to steal a moment alone in the living room. I was growing increasingly anxious every minute Constantine was gone. He’d said he wanted to check both airports before returning, worried they’d be taking Lennon out of the States. But that was nearly an hour and a half ago.

There were no clouds blocking the view, so I went over to the window to try and get a glimpse of Central Park down below.

I caught sight of Alessandro hovering behind me in the reflection. “Let me guess, you have strict orders never to let me out of your sight?”

“Of course.” He pocketed his hands, continuing to hang back and offer me space without breaking his word to his brother.

“Can I ask you something?” I rubbed my arms at the goose bumps that’d become a permanent fixture and faced him.

He sat on the sofa and casually leaned forward, resting his arms on his legs. “Sure.”

I approached him slowly, unsure if now was the time for this conversation, but at least it would fill the time so I didn’t worry my way over the proverbial edge of no return. “I was under the impression Constantine didn’t tell anyone about meeting me in Aruba. He’s not much of a sharer, so I’m surprised he told you.”

“ Much of a sharer?” He smirked. “More like non-sharer, period.” He sat upright, and his wedding band caught my eye as he continued, “I thought you were going to ask me how we do this work and have families at the same time.”

His words sent pain deep into my temples, and I pushed my fingers to the side of my head to try and dull the sharp throb there.

Before I could respond, he said, “But now that I know your brother works with Carter, I suppose you don’t need that question answered.”

Speaking of Easton, he was talking to Izzy upstairs in the office, which was strange.

My brother.

Constantine’s sister.

Working together.

I’d called Easton to let him know what happened and how he was technically involved—then absolved him of his guilt before he could start up with any nonsense—before personally making the introductions between him and Izzy over FaceTime.

Gwen was also on their call, assisting with some “cyber stuff” (a.k.a. hacking) to try and expedite the search for Lennon.

Colin was relieved to hear they had her help. Courtesy of Easton’s boasting about her whenever they’d chatted in the past, Colin knew Gwen was one of the best cyber experts in the world.

As for Carter and Sebastian, they were off somewhere in the background “doing things.” I had no clue what those things were, but I wasn’t upset they didn’t join the call. I wasn’t prepared to think about the fact that Constantine would more than likely need to work with my brother and Carter to help save our son’s girlfriend.

“You good?” Alessandro stood and gave me a small smile. He clearly recognized I’d let my mind wander.

“I’m good now, yes.” I touched my cheeks, feeling the heat move into my face. “If you want to tell me about your private conversation with Constantine, I’m all ears.” I lowered my hands to my sides. “Unless you have a bro code you have to stick to.”

An easy smile crossed his lips. “I don’t mind. I’m sure Hudson and Enzo will ask for the story at some point. Jealous I knew and they didn’t. Not that they’ll admit that,” he said with a light laugh. “Constantine didn’t even mean to tell me about you.”

Now that was a start of a story I could believe.

“We were out drinking one night. This was before our sister . . . you know.” He cleared his throat. “Constantine was staring at a bottle of Legacy Ridge on the top shelf. Burning a hole through the damn thing, actually. So, out of curiosity, I asked him what that bottle ever did to piss him off.”

And back to rubbing my arms again because these chills were relentless.

“He ordered it after that, like he was trying to prove a point that he was unaffected by it. Typical him, ya know? But after a few drinks, he blurted out the truth.” He set a hand over his chest. “I know, I know, I was shocked, too. The man opened up. For all of four seconds.”

I wanted to both cry and laugh. Alessandro had an infectious smile and was an amusing storyteller, but I felt terrible for Constantine and everything he’d gone through. So, I chose to remain as neutral as possible and waited for him to continue.

“He told me about a mystery girl he’d met when his buddies dragged him to Aruba for a trip. That the bourbon reminded him of you. And that even a year and a half later, anytime an unknown number showed up on his phone, he hoped it was you.”

His last words were gutting, and I had to clench my hands at my sides to channel the pain. Pain I felt on behalf of Constantine.

“I told him not to be such an idiota and track you down. To take a chance. If you were dating someone, then fuck that guy, you’d leave him if he showed up even if you never called.”

His mouth drew tight, and his jaw strained as something clearly ate at him.

“I think he would’ve done it. He would’ve found you and called if . . . if our sister hadn’t been murdered five days after that.” He squeezed his eyes closed. “That’s why I remember the exact date he told me about you. Because it was right before we lost Bianca.”

My stomach didn’t just drop, the floor beneath me went with it. “Oh my gosh, I’m so?—”

“No. No, it’s . . . don’t be.” He opened his eyes, waving me off. “Past is past. It’s time for all of us to move forward.” He blew out his cheeks, keeping his hand up as if requesting me not to get emotional on him.

Yeah, well, been there, done that, and had yet to stop being emotional since Constantine had come back into my life on Wednesday.

“Everything’s going to be fine. We’ll put all this insanity involving your son to rest in time for a birthday I’ve heard you have coming up. Maybe the three of you can visit us in Nashville so you can meet Callie once our baby is born?”

“I’d love that.” That dramatic pit of pain in my stomach loosened its hold on me at the subject change. “Boy or girl?”

“We’re letting it be a surprise.” He smiled, only to immediately change gears and frown. “I’m sorry Constantine wasn’t there for Colin’s birth. Or, um, for any of it. He must be grieving the loss of all that time.”

He was, but Alessandro was also right about something else he’d said. “Past is past, remember? Many more moments to come in Colin’s life for them both to enjoy.”

He patted my shoulder twice and winked. “Maybe another kid in the future, too?”

I never thought I’d have more kids, especially after being solo for so long and now almost thirty-eight, but Colin mentioned wanting a brother today, and now a seed was planted.

So . . . maybe? I opened my mouth to toss out that answer, but before I could, Izzy came rushing into the room along with Colin and his grandparents.

“I think I know who may be behind this,” Izzy exclaimed, holding out her phone, as Colin stood next to me.

I hooked my arm behind his back while we waited for her to explain.

“It wasn’t Jamie who ran the background check on Colin last month,” she shared. “And it wasn’t Jamie who cloned your phone and has been monitoring your texts with Lennon.” She fixed her gaze on Colin, keeping her back to her parents and brother. “Gwen figured it out.”

Ah, that was why she was still holding out her phone. Gwen may still have been on the line.

“It was Daniel O’Brien,” she revealed. “He’s obsessed with Lennon. She found evidence that suggests . . . well, that. ”

Colin immediately bent forward, dropping his hands to his thighs to gather a deep breath at the news that probably had him feeling physically ill. I held his arm and rubbed his back with my other hand.

“Daniel’s twenty-three. She’s only sixteen,” he hissed. “But I—I should’ve known. The way he looked at us when Lennon introduced me as her boyfriend last month . . .”

“Wild enough, if Daniel hadn’t attacked Constantine’s intern last week . . .” Izzy let her words trail off, turning her comments in a new direction when she resumed talking. “I think we were wrong about Brian Cormac. No one is trying to revive The Alliance.” She turned to look at her parents and brother as well. “Jamie and his family were just trying to make money here, away from the eyes of The League. They’d never have known Sebastian has the cyber wallet in a vault at The Sapphire Hotel.”

I helped Colin stand tall again as I asked, “Then who would know?”

“What if,” Izzy began, “Daniel was obsessed with Lennon, so he wanted Colin out of her life, and somehow, Daniel knew about The Sapphire Hotel and that cyber wallet?”

Salvatore shook his head. “How would a kid like him know that?”

“Shit.” Hudson cursed again. “Last week when we questioned Daniel, he was afraid of anyone finding out about his attempted mugging and also said, ‘you have no idea who you’re messing with.’ At the time, we assumed he’d been talking about his boss, and he was worried he might blow the deal at the rave. But now that we know all this . . .”

Hudson left us to connect the dots.

“If it’s not Cormac and The Alliance looking to restart things, then who is?” Angela asked him, drawing Alessandro’s eyes instead of Hudson’s.

Her son unfolded his arms, grimacing. “A wolf in sheep’s clothing who couldn’t let any of this connect to him. Someone with enough power and pull to have prison records changed, sending us down the wrong track, thinking this was Alliance-related because of Cormac.”

“Who?” Colin’s question punctured the air, eyes moving back and forth between Hudson and Alessandro for answers.

“Someone in Sebastian’s inner circle who’d know what was on that device and where it’s hidden but couldn’t get their hands on it themselves,” Alessandro said. “Someone who knows Easton and Carter and what they’re capable of, so they had to keep their hands free of this and use unknowing puppets to get the job done. A member of?—”

“The League.” At the sound of Constantine’s voice finishing his brother’s suspicion, I abruptly turned to see him standing at the living room entrance, a pained expression crossing his face.

Colin pulled free of my hold and rushed to him, wrapping his arms around his father, smashing his cheek against his dad’s hard body.

Constantine tipped his head to the side to meet my gaze, and then he flicked his wrist, a silent request to join them.

I sidestepped Alessandro and joined in on their embrace, standing quietly together with Colin sheltered between us.

We were a family. Together now. And not anyone, not a damn one, could break us apart.