At ten p.m., Alex entered the lobby of the Mills House Hotel and took off his leather jacket. The crystal chandeliers, silk upholstered furniture, and thick floor rugs told him this wasn’t a jeans-and-boots kind of place. It wasn’t his kind of place.
A uniformed man hurried over, exuding earnestness and polished perfection. “May I help you, sir?”
“I’m meeting someone in the Best Friend Lounge.”
The bellboy pointed to the right of the split staircase. “Around the corner.” He stared at Alex’s motorcycle jacket. “Sir, would you like me—”
“No, thanks.” Alex found his way to the corridor and straightened his shoulders. He’d yet to see Isabel or the Pirate’s Grille. While he was committed to this meeting with his brother, he wasn’t going to hold up his end of the bargain if she didn’t show.
He entered the tiniest lounge he’d ever seen. The bar took up most of the length of the far wall and small tables were placed in the open spaces. A jazz trio played in the front corner. Low lighting, partitions, and couches gave the space an intimate feel.
He found Marcellus at the bar drinking a club soda. “I’m here.”
“And Isabel?”
“She will come.” Marcellus waved toward the back corner behind a partition. “My lord awaits.”
Great. Alex headed over, wishing he were back in solitary at Leedsville. He stopped when he got to the table. He wasn’t going to sit until his brother stood.
Aidan put down his drink and rose. He wore pressed black wool slacks and a blue dress shirt with a matching silk tie. His dark hair was longer than Alex’s and styled with a cut that had to cost a ton of money.
Aidan’s brown eyes glinted. He sat and waited for Alex to do the same. A waiter appeared with a cold ginger ale, placed it on the table, and left.
“I preordered it for you,” Aidan said.
Alex sipped it, savoring the sweetness. One of the things he and his two older brothers had in common was that they rarely drank alcohol. Shitty childhood memories and all that. “Why’d you take Emilie Tremaine?”
“Why do you want me to meet with Isabel Rutledge?”
“Isabel stole the Pirate’s Grille from Allison. In exchange for a meeting with you, she will give the Pirate’s Grille to me. That way Allison and Zack can get on with the impossible mission you’ve tasked them with.” While he waited for a reply, he sipped his soda.
“Isabel can’t be trusted.”
“I’m not stupid.”
“Alex.” Aidan was now staring at his club soda with lime. “I want you to leave Charleston with me.”
“Why?”
“I want to take you to Italy. I have a place there, a safe haven I’ve set up for my warriors.”
“Fianna rehab?”
Aidan glanced at Alex, but he wasn’t laughing. “I can give you refuge, all the money you’d ever need. You can work or lie around reading and sketching.”
“Again, why?”
“You’re in danger here.”
“The time for saving me has passed, Brother. Next you’re going to tell me your decision to make sure I was convicted of a murder I didn’t commit was for my own safety.”
Aidan’s glance bounced around the room. “It was.”
“You know what I think?” Alex leaned forward to whisper, “Your fake concern, your fake promises coming from fake guilt are bullshit.”
Aidan grabbed Alex’s wrist and pulled him in even closer. “If you stay with Kells and his men, things will get hot.”
“Things are always hot.” Alex yanked his arm out of his brother’s grasp. “All this, the manipulations, the bribery, the threats, all the Fianna nonsense is for one reason: power. You want to stay in power because you like power.”
“You don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”
“Why is that? Because I’m the stupid younger brother? The one who can always be counted on to fuck up? The one who’s self-destructive, antisocial, and violent? Who the hell do you think made me that way? And while you’re thinking, remember this: out of all of us, I’m the only one who had the balls to go after Remiel even though I knew the consequences.”
Aidan’s eyes narrowed. “Remiel knows you’re free and will come after you.”
That deserved a giant duh. “Tell me, Brother. When did the Fianna start targeting women? I don’t mean evil cows like Isabel, but women like Emilie. I thought those were the ones you were supposed to protect? Or have things changed since I’ve been gone?”
“You don’t understand the consequences, Alex.”
“No? Then why don’t you tell me? Because I don’t see the honor in terrorizing a woman who’s caused you no harm.”
“She’s leverage I need to get what I want.”
“You mean Henry Avery’s treasure? You don’t need money.”
“I don’t want to spend it. I want to destroy it. If Remiel finds that treasure first, I’ll have to trade Emilie for the treasure.”
Alex sat back and took a breath. He’d not seen that move coming. “Remiel is a soulless bastard. He’ll torture and kill her. You don’t even know if he’d trade the treasure for her.”
“Remiel will trade if it means one of Kells’s men, like Zack, will suffer. But”—Aidan waved to the waiter who brought another club soda—“I’d prefer to take the treasure out of play.”
Alex sipped his soda. What Aidan said was true—Remiel could so easily kill Alex or Kells or any of Kells’s men, but that would take the fun out of things. Remiel was a sadist. He’d rather cause continuous suffering than actually murder the men he hated. The same men he held responsible for his own tragic life. “Stuart was indebted to you, but why put that on Allison? Why don’t you have your men find the treasure?”
“Stuart was the last person to have the witch’s examination’s appendix. He hid it because he was trying to protect her. In the process, he put her in even more danger.”
“And Zack? Marcellus called him a coward.”
“Zack is a coward.” Aidan took a drink. “If you don’t believe me, ask his team that are still in prison.”
Alex looked away. He’d heard rumors in prison about Zack’s team being in the field without him. But Alex had served with Zack and knew the truth. Zack would never abandon his men. He must’ve had a damn good reason for not leading his team that night. “I’m not going to Italy with you.”
Aidan took Alex’s arm. “Please, Little Brother. Rein in your self-destructive tendencies and listen to reason.”
Alex finished his soda and watched the ice melt. “I like my self-destructive tendencies.”
Aidan sighed and stood. “Horatio is waiting.”
Alex noticed another warrior in the shadows and stood. “Where are we going?”
“Zack will want proof his sister is safe.” Aidan gripped Alex’s shoulder. “Horatio will take you to Emilie.”
Alex pulled away from his brother. “And Isabel? If you agree to meet with her, she’ll give me what I want.”
“I’ve already issued an invitation.” Aidan raised an eyebrow. “That means I doubt you’ll get what you want from her.”
Undermined by his brother again. Why was Alex not surprised? “Thanks.”
Had Aidan caught the sarcasm?
Aidan shoved his hands in his pants pockets. “Isabel has good reason not to trust the Fianna.”
“What happened to her when she was seventeen had nothing to do with you.”
“It’s not about me. Since the man who attacked her when she was a teenager went unprosecuted and eventually became a warrior—”
“A warrior you beat in the gauntlet.”
“She distrusts everything about the brotherhood. I don’t blame her for that.”
Since Alex didn’t blame her either, he followed Horatio and left his brother—hopefully for good.
* * *
An hour later, Isabel stood in the courtyard of the Mills House Hotel, yet couldn’t make herself enter. If she did—no, once she did—Remiel would see it as a betrayal and her life would be forfeit. If she entered that hotel, she’d be at the mercy of the Fianna. Something she’d promised herself would never happen again.
Her phone rang and she moved closer to the center fountain, away from milling guests. “Yes?”
“We have a problem,” Clayborne said. “The Fianna took one of my men from Hezekiah Usher’s office.”
She sat on the edge of the fountain, appreciating the cool mist on her back. The sunset had done nothing to alleviate the day’s humidity. “What?”
“Yep. And from what I can tell, he’s still alive. That means one thing.”
“If the Fianna haven’t killed him, he’s talking.” She raised her face to the night sky. “He knows nothing.”
“He knows the location of the work site.”
The place where they were digging for the treasure. She flexed her free hand and closed her eyes. “You need to find him and take care of this.”
“You’re fucking crazy. My crew and I are not going up against Fianna warriors. They’ll slaughter us.”
As usual, the men in her life were cowards. “Any idea where they’re holding him?”
“No.”
She straightened her shoulders, opened her eyes, and glanced around to make sure no warriors were present. She needed to find that treasure ASAP. “Any leads on the witch’s examination’s appendix?”
“Yes. I’m checking a solid lead now. Meet me in thirty minutes. Our usual place.”
Isabel shut her phone and stared at the hotel entrance again. If she went in, she’d be at the mercy of the Fianna for the rest of her life. If she left, she still had a chance to find the treasure and reassure Remiel of her loyalty. If she did that—if she could buy herself a bit more time—she could escape both the Prince and Remiel and be free of them all. Forever.
And she could keep and sell the Pirate’s Grille that she’d promised Alex.
Shoving her phone in her purse, she left the courtyard, and the Fianna, behind.
Thirty minutes later, Isabel used her family’s key to enter Saint Philip’s east churchyard. The key was one of the benefits of having generations of family members buried there. With her cell phone light, she made her way to her family’s raised mausoleum topped with an angel statue. A few minutes later, she heard Clayborne’s whistle and saw him approach with a penlight.
“Well?” she asked when he stopped a foot away.
Clayborne crossed his arms over his chest. Even in the dim light, she noticed his bruised knuckles. “Nothing.”
The blood rushed to her heart and she felt light-headed. What had she done? She’d walked away from a parlay with the Prince because Clayborne had made promises? She stumbled back and sat on a raised tomb. “Please tell me you know how to the find the appendix.”
He rocked back on his heels. “Nope.”
She closed her eyes and reminded herself that she still had the Pirate’s Grille. She still had the work site. She still had more than Allison did. And she really didn’t need the appendix. It was just another layer of protection. Especially since, so far, they hadn’t found the treasure.
She opened her eyes, stood, and smoothed her skirt. “We need to find your lover. If she gave the witch’s examination to Stuart, she may know where he hid the appendix.”
“She’s disappeared.”
“She didn’t disappear. She was disappeared. On purpose. By the Fianna.” Isabel took out her phone again and dug into her encrypted photo file. When she found an image of the warrior, she held it up for him to see. “Find Horatio and follow him. Maybe he’ll lead you to your lover.”