Fraud

Gabriel

Jase is a smart man to back down.

As soon as he stormed forward, I rounded Ivy’s side, ready and able to kick his ass if he said the wrong thing or even attempted to lay a hand on her.

It was instinct for me to do so. To protect her. To lay claim on a woman that no other man will touch unless he wants to deal with me for it.

Without thought, I’d stepped forward as a wall Jase would have to break through to get to the person he was after.

Ivy is mine.

Always has been.

Since the day we met.

Unfortunately for the Inferno, that means there’s another woman capable of coming between us.

Another woman worth fighting over.

We rarely throw punches over any woman, not that we don’t throw them for other reasons. But if it is over a woman, that means she’s stripped one of us bare.

I didn’t mean to show the truth in that, but Jase left me with no choice. And when I glance over at Ta

It’s surprising. I’ll admit that. But then, that’s what best friends are for. And if anybody would understand what I’m doing right now, it’s him.

He just went through it with Luca.

Ta

Ivy stares over at Jase, hesitation in her expression because she has no idea what she just said to us. The room is perfectly quiet, the tension so thick we’re drowning in it.

Interestingly, it’s Ezra who breaks the silence, the deep sound of his laughter slicing right through it before he says what I’m sure many of us are thinking. The man of few words perfectly vocalizes the truth of our situation.

“Holy shit. This keeps getting better and fucking better. What the hell is going to happen next? We’ll all find out that Everly has a secret evil twin? Or no, I’ve got it. That Luca’s father isn’t really dead?”

Luca flinches at that, and Ta

“Not fu

Gri

Apparently, Ezra’s not the only one enjoying this. Without saying a word, Shane stands from the couch where he’s sitting to cross the room en route to the kitchen. All our stares follow him as he disappears inside then reappears a second later with a bag of popcorn in hand.

I roll my eyes when he drops back down on the couch next to Sawyer, opens the bag and grabs a handful.

Ignoring him, Ta

“I know I’m the last person you want to talk to right now, Ivy, but I don’t think you have any clue what you just admitted. So we’re going to need for you to start at the begi

Satisfied that Ta

It’s a little surprising to see him back down even that much, and I think it has everything to do with his understanding that I just dragged Ivy into the family.

Even if she doesn’t know it.

And even if I’m not willing to openly admit it yet.

You can say a million things about Ta

Ivy steps closer to me, her back against my chest, her body tense. I place my hands on her hips because I can’t stop myself from claiming them. Touching her is becoming second nature, something so natural that I don’t even realize I’m doing it.

I’m not sure what to think when her body relaxes to feel that small contact.

“I’m not really sure what I heard. It was just one conversation, and I only heard one side of it. I just happen to remember those names.”

“Something made you remember them,” I say. “What was it?”

She shakes her head, clearly torn about what she knows.

“My father didn’t murder anybody.”

My fingers squeeze her hips.

“We’re not saying he did. But there’s more to this than his death, and you apparently know something about it.”

Stepping away just far enough to turn to look at me, Ivy’s blue eyes meet mine.

It’s obvious she’s torn between her loyalty to her father and her desire to appease us. I can’t understand it, can’t sympathize. I have no loyalty to my family and have every intention to destroy them.

I’m not sure how to bridge the gap between what she feels for her family and what I feel for mine. But I have one idea.

Not wanting to admit in front of everybody what Ivy knows, I suspect it’ll be the final push she needs to give us this information. So I do it anyway.

Locking my gaze with hers, my voice is soft when I admit, “What you know might help us get revenge on our fathers. We’re not after your dad. We’re after something Jerry has that we want.”

Ivy flinches at that, her thoughts undoubtedly going to what she saw the night of the party at my house, and to the little boy with bruised eyes.

Anger and hatred are clear in her face, not at me, but at the men she witnessed abuse me.

“This will ruin your dads?”

I nod, loving how she spit out the last word like it was filth.

Her lips pull into a scowl before slowly tipping up into a conspiratorial smirk.

“Why didn’t you tell me that to begin with? It would have saved us a lot of trouble.”

She turns back to Ta

“Okay, so like I said, I only heard part of the conversation. I was walking down the hall outside his office, and he was talking to some guy named Jerry. At first, they were talking about that girl, Everly, I mentioned. Apparently, she was at Yale for a specific reason, but then had to leave. I didn’t hear why, but from what my dad was saying, it was bad.”

We all glance at Jase to see his jaw is locked and he’s glaring at Ivy. And while I assume everyone in this room thinks Jase is the only bad thing that Everly was ru

Mainly because that reason was me.

Everly was how I got a message to Luca’s father that his life was threatened. That message also included the warning that he needed to get Luca away from Yale immediately.

It was stupid of me to do, and went against my loyalty to what Ta

We only knew our fathers wanted her under control.

I made a judgment call because I didn’t want someone like Luca hurt by our families’ bullshit. Unfortunately, Ta

Ta

“What was so bad about that for you to worry about telling us?”

Ivy sighs. “I haven’t gotten to that part yet.”

“Great,” Jase growls. “Any fucking day now would be helpful.”

Ivy shoots her gaze to Jase.

“Shouldn’t you be off getting your herpes treated or something, Lust? Shut the hell up, and let me get to it.”