Treachery

Her eyes meet mine. “I-“

“You know, when I told you two to behave, I didn’t mean to get along this well.”

A groan rolls over my lips to hear Gabriel’s voice. Son of a bitch. Could his timing be any worse?

Shoving up from the bed, I turn to glance over to find him leaning a shoulder against the doorframe to the room, Ezra standing right beside him with a shit-eating grin on his face.

Gabriel meets my stare and smirks.

“Whatever will Daddy Dearest say if he finds out what you two are up to?”

Asshole.

Luca moves to shove me aside, her body crawling away from me on the mattress as I sit up and brush the wrinkles from my shirt.

Gabriel grins. “You might want to straighten your tie, Ta

Pushing to my feet, I glare at the two of them when they laugh, a low chuckle as if they’d caught something I give a fuck about them seeing.

“It’s about time you got here. Where the hell have you been?”

Glancing at the broken window and back to me, Gabriel lifts a brow.

“Obviously not where all the excitement was happening. What happened to the window?”

“Luca broke it.”

His eyes slide to her. “Has your day improved?”

“It’s gotten worse,” she answers, voice back to normal now that we’re apart.

He frowns, a fake as hell expression before his eyes are back on me.

“We need to talk. Privately.”

Guiding Gabriel out of the room, I look back at Luca to see she’s pushing up from the bed. My eyes snap to Ezra.

“Do me a favor, and keep her in this room. No matter what she says or does, do not let her out.”

His gaze flicks to me and back to her. Luca apparently doesn’t appreciate the new guard I’ve assigned and steps toward us as if to leave.

One growl from Ezra and she backs off, my brows shooting up my head to see it.

What the fuck?

She’ll fight me, but one warning from this asshole and she cowers?

I glance between them, but then shrug it off to lead Gabriel to another room, the door shutting quietly behind us as he follows.

Wasting no time, I get to the point. “They’re trying to kill her.”

His eyes widen, arms crossing over his chest as he leans against the wall behind him. “And what makes you think this?”

“I just abducted her from her apartment after a car tried to run her over.”

He cocks a brow.

“And then I discovered her brakes were cut.”

Gabriel reaches up to rub his jaw, our stares locked because he knows exactly what I’m thinking.

“That’s how they killed her father,” he says. “You would think they’d have more imagination than to repeat the same old tricks.”

My grin isn’t friendly. “I guess if it works the first time, why not use it again?”

It was another fucking secret within the group, the truth about all the attempts our families had made to get to whatever it is Luca’s dad had against them.

Not sure how killing him accomplished anything, I guessed at the time it was to prevent him from going public.

I didn’t even find out about what they’d done until after he was already laying on a slab in some Georgia morgue, and it wasn’t too much later that they made their demands that I start back on Luca.

Scrubbing a hand down my face, I pace the floor.

“If she wanders around by herself, you and I both know she’s as good as dead. Which means she stays here until I can get the servers from her.”

Soft laughter shakes his shoulders.

“And how do you plan to accomplish that? Although this game between you two has been entertaining, you’re no closer to those files now than you were at Yale.”

I grin, my feet coming to a stop as I slip my hands in my pockets and glance up at him.

“It’s time for the gauntlet.”

The corner of his lip curls in response. “As if she’s not already crazy enough. But, I’m down. I already have Ivy ru

“We’re keeping her here,” I explain, “where she’s safe.”

He laughs. “That’s questionable. Especially with you prowling around.”

Shooting him a look, I ignore the subtle jab he took.

Yes, I want Luca, but acting on it would cause more complications than I need. There has to be a way to pull this off without getting myself trapped in what we do to her.

“We need a schedule between all the guys. I can’t be here all the time. Are they all downstairs?”

“Everyone except Shane and Damon.”

Why am I not fucking surprised? Those assholes are probably at a bar somewhere, starting fights for the fun of it.

“Whatever. We can split up the time between everyone who’s here now, and add the other two when they surface again.”

Walking to the door to go downstairs, Gabriel grabs my arm to stop me.

“How badly are we shaking her? You know rules need to be set in place so certain assholes don’t overstep their bounds.”

That’s the thing with the gauntlets most people don’t know. The goal has never been the fun we have chasing people down. It’s always been about what we do to their minds when we catch them.

I need the files.

It’s the only way to get my life back and finally shake the hold our families have on all of us.

Hating myself for what I know has to happen, I glance at him and give the only answer there is.

“There are no rules. The sooner she surrenders, the better.”

Pulling my arm away, I get a

Gabriel knows me too well, though. So much so that he asks the question I refuse to ask myself.

“You sure you want to do that? You know these guys. Without rules, they’ll do whatever the hell they want.”

Jerking my arm from his hold, I spin to face him fully.

“Why should I care?”

Green eyes pin mine.

“Because we both know you feel more for Luca than you’re willing to admit. And I’d hate to see you kill one of us when we push her boundaries too far. You almost ripped Shane’s head off the night of the party at Yale. And from what I saw, it was because you didn’t like him touching something that’s not his.”

“I told him to approach her.”

Gabriel grins. “Yeah, you did. But you never told him to kiss her. I saw how fast you moved when his mouth was inches from Luca’s.”

My fingers curl into my palms, the thought of any of the guys touching Luca driving me mad.

I don’t want to lay claim on her.

It’s dangerous to lay claim on her.

But, as usual, Gabriel is right to bring it up.

“Fine. One rule. Nothing sexual. If any of them thinks with their cocks, I’ll cut it off and slap them with it.”

Smiling at that, Gabriel follows me out of the room to head downstairs, his smooth voice a whisper at my back as he says, “It’s about time you admit what the rest of us have known all along.”