Page 71 of The Villain's Beast

“You aren’t seriously telling me you bought him. Human trafficking is below you.”

“Not in the sense that you’re thinking, Fletcher, no. But Bellamy has a purpose and if he doesn’t deliver on it, then I don’t see a point in keeping him around.”

It was high school all over again. I was sixteen and my father was detailing all of the ways he would ruin Gideon’s life if I didn’t break things off in a way that ensured they’d never piece back together.

“Bold of you to assume I care what happens to Bellamy.” I forced the lie out, words barbed in my throat.

“But do you care about Daren?”

I glanced up again, finding Daren’s stare focused on the phone in my hand and thankfully not my face.

“Why would I care about him?”

“Because you’ve always had a bleeding heart, Fletcher. It’s your biggest weakness. If you don’t send Bellamy over to Rose Hall to get information about the North family financials, I’llremove him from the equation entirely, and then I’ll call Daren’s parents and let them know that he suffers from the same sexual deviances as you.”

“I don’t…”

“Please tell me you know he used to fuck that Mandeville boy,” he interrupted.

Daren sighed heavily, covering his face with both of his hands. I recognized the panic he must have been feeling, but I took it as a good sign my father thought Daren and Luca’s relationship was past tense and not present. Even better that he didn’t know of my involvement with either of them, or Bellamy…or Gideon.

“I heard rumors,” I said.

“Luca is a bastard trying to earn favor with a father who never wanted him. Being second to Gideon North is the only way for him to do that. Are you really trying to tell me that you would ruin all of their lives instead of sending in a spy whomI fucking paid forto get information that will only serve you and your family when all is said and done?”

My father sounded so arrogant, so fucking proud of all the chess pieces he’d moved into place without any of us even realizing we’d been played. I tossed my cell phone onto the bed, a better option than throwing it out of the window and I gestured for Daren to go downstairs and round up Bellamy and Luca. He hesitated, like he wasn’t ready to leave me alone with the kind of phone call that would give me nightmares for weeks.

“You’re right, Father,” I agreed. I lied. I swallowed down bile. “I just wanted to understand the mechanics of the next move so I can be prepared for whatever happens after.”

My father huffed a laugh against the receiver. “I’m relieved to hear that, Fletcher,” he said slowly. “It would have been horrible for everyone you know if you wanted to fight me on this.”

“I know better, Father.”

“See that you don’t forget that you do,” he said. “Send Bellamy into Rose Hall. He has one week to get you the information you need and you have far less time than that to get it back to me.”

“Yes, Father.”

“And Fletcher?”

“Yes,” I whispered.

“Stay away from Gideon North,” he warned. “Or every promise I made you at sixteen will finally come true.”

Chapter 50

Daren

Fletcher didn’t have to tell me what to do after he disconnected the call with his father. He threw his phone against the wall and cursed under his breath, dropping his head into his hands.

“I’ll go find Bellamy,” I said.

“Send him back with Luca,” he grumbled. “You stay here.”

“Fletcher.”

“Say your fucking goodbyes to your little boyfriends, Moore,” he warned, standing and stalking past me toward the door. “Tell Bellamy what he needs to know, but under no circumstance is he to mention it to Luca or Gideon. And neither are you.”

There was no way he meant that. After everything the five of us had already been through, there was no possible scenario I could imagine where any of us would have kept a secret that large from the rest of us.