Beneath HIS EMPIRE

chapter 10

Recording stopped. The garage went dead quiet, no sound. Mason’s voice stayed in my head, weak and hurt, but alive. I ripped my arm from Lucien’s grip, and his thumb left a mark on my skin. “We’re going after him now.” Lucien didn’t move. He looked at the phone in Dante’s hand, and a muscle jumped in his cheek as blood rushed under his skin.

Dante watched him. “You heard the message.” Lucien breathed out through his nose. “I heard it.” His voice was low and flat, and each word hit like stone. I stepped in front of him. The floor was cold through my shoes. “Who is his brother?” Nothing. Nobody moved, and even the dripping pipes went still.

“Lucien.” Dante let out a slow breath. “This is not the place.” “Then where?” Lucien grabbed the phone and smashed it against the wall. Plastic split, glass flew, and a piece hit my boot before it bounced away. Clink. Every guard froze. “Get the cars ready,” he told Marco. Then he walked for the elevators, his boots heavy on the wet floor. Talk over.

I ran after him before the doors shut. “You don’t get to walk away from me.” Lucien stepped inside. I jammed my hand between the doors, and cold steel cut my palm. He looked down at me, slow, and his face turned to ice. “Move.” “No.” Dante leaned against the elevator wall, smiling. “This marriage gets better every hour.”

Lucien ignored him. “Selene. Move.” “My brother is bleeding because of your family.” Lucien’s teeth ground together, and a vein stood out under his eye. “You think I don’t know that?” “I think nobody tells me the truth.” The doors kept trying to close, and the gears made a low whine. Neither of us moved.

Finally Lucien stepped forward until my toes hit his shoes. Hard leather touched leather. “You want truth?” “Yes.” “My brother was supposed to inherit the Armand empire, and he disappeared eleven years ago after stealing money from The Circle.” The air got hard to breathe, thin.

Dante crossed his arms. “Not just money.” Lucien’s face went darker, half in shadow. “The ledger,” I said. Lucien gave a single nod. My stomach fell. “Your brother stole it first.” “Yes.” “And my father copied it later.” Another nod. The truth hit fast and loud in my head.

“Mercer works with your brother,” Dante answered. “They built their own network after disappearing.” I stared at Lucien. Smoke and leather clung to his suit. “You never told me any of this.” “You were safer without it.” My hands closed into fists, and my nails dug in. “You don’t get to decide what I deserve to know.” “I decide everything involving your safety.”

The word hit my face like a slap, and my skin burned. I saw it on him before I could stop it. Not sorry. Claim. The elevator doors shook as they tried to close. Lucien hit the metal with his palm, and it bent inward. Thud.The guards looked away.

I kept my voice low. “Did your brother know about me?” Lucien didn’t answer at first, and the quiet pressed on my ears. Then he said, “Yes.” Ice ran up my back, fast. “How?” “Your father worked inside our system for years, and your engagement became leverage.”

Engagement.The word cut my throat like sharp glass. Dante checked his watch, and the face was gold. “You can continue the marriage counseling upstairs. Mercer moves Mason every hour.” Mason. I turned back to Lucien, and my ribs hurt. “Take me with you.” “No.” “Stop saying no.” “You become a weakness in the field.” “I become leverage because your enemies know you care.”

Something wild flashed across his face. Neither of us blinked. The air tasted like dust and cold. Dante cut in. “She’s smarter than your last girlfriend.” Lucien moved. One second he was next to me, and the next his fist sent Dante into the elevator wall. The steel groaned, crunch, and guards grabbed their guns as metal clicked.

Lucien’s forearm pinned Dante’s throat, and the skin went white under it. “Mention her again.” Dante smiled, blood on his lip, and the smell of iron hit me. “Still sensitive.” Stupid move. Lucien hit him again. Blood hit the wall, wet. Dante’s head snapped back, but he kept smiling. “Lucien!” Marco grabbed Lucien’s arm. For a second I thought Lucien would turn on him.

Marco stepped in. “Boss.” Lucien’s hand fisted in Dante’s shirt, and the fabric ripped. Then Dante laughed. Blood ran down his chin. “She knows nothing about Eva?” The name rang in my head like a bell. Every guard stared at the ground.

I looked at both of them. “Who’s Eva?” No one spoke. Dante’s smile got wider, red on his teeth. “Ask your husband why the ocean never gave her body back.” My lungs emptied. No air. Lucien let Dante go, slow. Too slow. That quiet was worse than his anger, and his hands were steady.

Dante wiped his mouth with his hand, and red smeared across his knuckles. “There he is.” Lucien looked at him. “Leave.” Dante pushed off the wall. “You’ll need me.” “I’d rather lose the war.” Dante laughed. “No you wouldn’t.” He walked into the elevator alone. The doors slid shut. Ding.

I faced Lucien. “Who is Eva?” He walked to the SUVs. Big, black, windows dark. I followed. Water fell from a pipe and hit my neck, a cold shock. “Lucien.” He opened the driver’s door and didn’t stop. “Did she die because of you?” He stopped. Turned, slow.

Water dripped from the pipes above. Drip. Drip.Shadow split his face. For the first time, his shoulders sank. Not weak. Hurt, like a wound that never shut. “She died because somebody betrayed me,” he said.

Marco walked up behind us. “The route’s clear.” Lucien nodded. Then a guard ran in, breathing hard, his boots loud on concrete. “Boss—” Lucien’s head came up fast. “What?” “We intercepted another message from Mercer.”

My heart slammed my ribs. “Play it.” The guard gave him a tablet. Noise first, hiss, then picture. Dark room, wet walls. Mason tied to a chair, and rope burned his wrists raw. Purple bruises covered his face, and blood, dried and brown, was at his temple. Alive.

My knees almost gave out. “Mason—” The camera shifted. Another man walked behind him, tall with wide shoulders, wearing a long dark coat. His face was in shadow. Then he raised his head.

I couldn’t breathe. Lucien stopped breathing. The man smiled, slow and mean, and I knew that smile. He talked to the camera, and his voice was almost like Lucien’s but wrong. “Little brother.” Then his fingers broke the tablet, and lines ran across the screen. Crack.

The man moved into the light. Same bones in his face. Same mouth. Same blood. Lucien’s dead brother looked at us. Alive.