Page 94 of The Villain's Beast
“I doubt that’s true.”
“It’s the reason we’re all here,” he said, finishing his beer and immediately turning his attention to picking off the corner of the label with the sharp edge of his fingernail. “He sniffs out the people I care about and…”
“And?”
“He threatened to out you,” Fletcher said, eyes dark. “And Luca.”
Adrenaline raced up my spine, fight or flight kicking in even though the threat was already well on its way to being neutralized. I wasn’t sure how my parents would react to finding out I was bisexual, but for Luca…it would have been devastating.
“That’s why I had to send Bellamy over. I had to do what he wanted to…”
“To protect us,” I whispered.
He glanced up at me, lips pursed like he was ready to argue about my word choice. But as far as I was concerned, there was no more room for argument. Fletcher cared, and not just about Gideon. He’d acted to save Luca and me…and even Bellamy. There was a time when I’d found him stoic and selfish, and he was anything but.
“Anyone who gets close to me becomes leverage,” he said. “It’s better to keep people away, but…”
“Luca is pretty irresistible,” I teased, leaning back in my chair and stretching out my legs.
Fletcher barked a laugh, rolling his eyes. “He is, but it was more than that this time. I didn’t have it in me to break my own heart a second time, a third, a fourth.”
Fletcher cleared his throat and pushed away from the table before I even had a chance to comment. I supposed there wasn’t anything that needed to be said. The dynamic of whatever was developing between us was far out of the range of normalcy, but I didn’t hate it. I loved Luca and the more people who loved him, the better. It was the least he deserved and the most I could give him. I’d never keep him locked away when he was so willing to light up the lives of everyone he came into contact with. Even his name, his status in his family, Luca was an open book and a kind heart. Besides Bellamy, he was the best of us; I knew that.
Everything he did was to gain favor, not power.
Everything I did was because I was scared of losing both.
“Fletcher.” I reached out before he could leave, catching his pinky finger with my pointer. It wasn’t anything more than the hint of a touch, but it stopped him in his tracks just the same. “What happens after?”
“Assuming Gideon doesn’t get arrested for murder?”
I snorted, curling my finger around more of his hand, grazing it across his palm and the bends of his fingers. “Assuming that.”
“We unite the Sinclair and North families,” he said.
“That…that takes your parents out of the way, but what about Luca and me? What about Bellamy?”
“Your fathers will fall in line or they’ll be taken out of it entirely.”
“How?” I asked.
“Angelini ties run deep, Daren,” Fletcher answered, turning his palm so our hands connected, both of us staring down at a new and tentative connection between us. “I’m starting to think they have more sway than Gideon’s and my father combined.”
“Then why don’t they take power?”
“Power comes with visibility.” He shrugged, letting my hand fall away. “And responsibility.”
I hummed, thinking of the possibility the Angelini family had been pulling strings before we’d even understood we were puppets.
“All three of you, four of you, five of us, whatever…we’re all getting out of this and getting our lives back. You can be with Luca and?—”
“So can you,” I interrupted.
Fletcher swallowed, cocking his head to the side like I’d propositioned him. In a way, I supposed I had, but with so much uncertainty swirling around both of the houses, it would be nice to know what was waiting for me on the other side of this war.
Before I could ask for clarification, the moment was interrupted by the sound of tires crunching on gravel. We didn’t need to look to know who it was.
Miller Sinclair had finally arrived, and Fletcher was about to get his reckoning.