Chapter 1
In the morning, I woke up to the sound of people talking in low voices.
I recognized all three of them, but none of them felt familiar this early in the morning. Why did they sound so close to me?
Didn’t matter. For the first few seconds, everything was fine. I felt fine. Warm all over, eyes heavy, half-asleep.
Then Maxim spoke.
“We haven’t had issues with the Romanians in five years.”
Oh fuck.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Suddenly I remembered everything. The fire. Eliza. Romanians.
“You must have done something,” Cam said with a chuckle. “You usually don’t have to try to piss someone off.”
I cringed, but kept my body still. Cam was right about Maxim’s ability to piss everyone off without trying, but I didn’t think this had anything to do with Maxim this time.
No. It was obviously all my fault.
Because while I had followed the trail to find more about Christine, I had accidentally also gotten into the Lazar sister’s business. The ones who hadn’t replied to Cam’s message.
It couldn’t be a coincidence that right after asking Eliza to get me the videos, her apartment was set on fire. I obviously didn’t get the message then.
Now Maxim’s warehouse was set on fire, and it took their lack of response for the message to hit me. It was for me. All this mess was because of me. Right?
“Sounds like a warning for something,” Kiernan thought out loud. “They chose the one warehouse that was empty.”
Yeah, a warning allright. The last part didn’t make me feel better at all.
“I can’t even remember the last time I saw the sisters,” Maxim said. “I don’t give a fuck about their sandbox mafia, they’ve been left alone for years out of the kindness of my heart. And it might have been empty, but it will cause me the biggest loss of profit when they start building the docks.”
This was bad, right?
Very bad.
“Couldn’t it have been the Polish?” Kiernan asked. “Tomek has been making noise about your hotel for a while.”
Was that a possibility? I held my breath, hoping Maxim would say something to convince me it might not have been entirely my fault after all.
“Tomek is an idiot with too much money in his hands,” Maxim replied curtly. “He knows I can take it all away.”
My hope dwindled.
Silence.
“Does this mean we get to go shopping?” Cam asked.
Shopping?
“We already have enough guns and ammo to take out the entire world,” Maxim scoffed.
“We bought those years ago. I want the new M400 Forge,” Cam said. “We could buy a tank this time.”
“We’re not buying a tank,” Maxim replied curtly.
“Shame.”
It was Kiernan who said it.
What?
“What did Antonov say?” Cam asked suddenly.
Oh, shit. My eyes flew open.
Maxim had talked to him?
The only reason I could fall asleep last night was because I’d thought Eliza’s possible guilt had dissolved.
Very slowly, I pushed myself onto my elbows and looked around the room.
Kiernan stood in the middle of it with his arms crossed. Cam was behind his desk, screens open. And Maxim sat on the edge of the bed I was sleeping in, right near my feet.
The bedding crinkled beneath me, and all three of them turned to look.
“Morning, babe,” Cam said first, smiling like they hadn’t just talked about the burning warehouse, angry Romanians, and the possibility of war. “How’d you sleep?”
“Deeply,” I replied, my voice hoarse. I rubbed my eyes. “What time is it?”
“Ten,” Cam replied.
Ten? Why had no one woken me up sooner? Cam knew I had classes today. He must’ve turned off my alarms.
Wait. No. That wasn’t important.
I was worried about Eliza now.
“You went to talk to Eliza?” I asked warily, pushing myself up a little higher. “She didn’t do this, you know. She didn’t have a reason to go to her apartment when it was-”
“We know, Charlotte,” Maxim said.
I blinked. “Oh.”
“She didn’t do this,” he continued. “But someone definitely wanted to make us believe she did.”
Good. Eliza was out of trouble. But I didn’t feel relieved, because I knew Eliza had been dragged into it because of me.
I had to call her as soon as I could.
Maxim cleared his throat, drawing my attention back to him. “Charlotte, I’m going to have to ask you to stay home today.”
“Oh,” I replied. “Why?”
Maxim seemed hesitant to answer, but Cam sent him a pointed look from across the room.
Maxim sighed. “There’s some shit going on with my work.”
Work.
He meant the warehouse being burned down. Because of me.
“I already called the college,” he then admitted. “You should be safe, but I’m not taking any chances right now.”
I wanted to be annoyed, but knew I didn’t have the right to be. Not when I’d seen with my own eyes what had happened in that warehouse. Not when I knew there were people out there willing to set things on fire to send messages.
“Okay.”
Then I looked around the room, suddenly noticing a very important missing presence. “Where’s Capone?”
“On one of his daddies’ laps,” Cam said, amused.
Huh?
Neither Cam nor Kiernan were holding him.
Which meant-
“He’s here,” Maxim said.
I shifted a little and saw Capone sprawled across Maxim’s lap, looking far too pleased with himself. Huh. Looked like Maxim was getting more comfortable with the newest member of the house.
“Want to take him?” Maxim asked.
I shook my head. “No. He looks comfortable there.”
He really did. I didn’t want to disrupt his sleep.
Then I dropped back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
The fact that the guys held a family meeting right here, while I was sleeping in the room, should have made me feel uncomfortable. But I felt safe. And even though they probably didn’t involve me on purpose, the meaning of it made me feel warm all over. They felt comfortable talking about everything here.
It made me feel like I was part of their group.
And that just made me feel guilty.
So fucking guilty.
I knew I had to say something. Had to start talking to fix this mess, because it wasn’t just my problem anymore.
I’d made it a problem for everyone.
