Cruel Lies (Lies 4)

You’re one to talk. Langston looks to Phoenix, and my smile wavers. I’ve committed the same sin. If I was a better woman, I’d let Phoenix take a swing at me too.

Zeke and Siren leave. And then it’s just us and Phoenix.

There’s a heaviness in the air between us, threatening to choke me if someone doesn’t talk soon. I’m sure Phoenix knows what happened between Langston and me. Either because he told her or she’s smart enough to figure it out. I just don’t know what she’s going to do about it.

I don’t know what Langston is going to do about it.

I don’t know what I’m going to do about it.

Phoenix yawns and then stands. “I’m going to bed. You coming, Langston?”

“Not yet,” he says, meeting her gaze.

Not yet—those words hurt us both. Phoenix because he isn’t following after her. And me because his words insinuate that he will eventually.

Her jaw ticks in disapproval, but she doesn’t tell him off. I don’t understand all the ins and outs of their marriage, but if she’s married to Langston, she must know that she can’t control him. He’s a wild killer, and as much as he says he quit working for Kai—he’s loyal to a fault. He’ll be back to taking orders in no time.

“She can sleep in the guest bedroom in the basement,” Phoenix says, not addressing me even though I’m sitting right next to Langston.

I want to snap back that Langston is hers. Even though I fucked him, there is no way he’ll leave her. Not when it’s the only way to keep both of his children together. Even if I am one of their biological mothers, it doesn’t matter. Even if I meet Atlas, it doesn’t mean he’s mine. I haven’t been in his life in years. I haven’t proven worthy of being a mother. I will never prove worthy. She’ll always win.

I don’t say any of that, though. I just watch silently as she walks inside the beach house.

I don’t think about how she has two houses, while I have none. I can no longer afford my apartment in New York now that Langston stole everything from me. And I no longer care about reclaiming what was stolen. I have one mission, one goal—to protect my son.

I suspect Langston’s reason for going after the treasure is the same as mine. For once, we are on the same side.

“We should talk,” Langston says once the night air settles and the surge of our electricity resumes between us. I try to forget about how good it feels to kiss him, to have him plunging inside me.

We have a lot to talk about, but all my body wants to do is feel the thrill of Langston exploring my body.

“We should,” I say, not being the one to start the conversation. If I start talking, I’ll end up kissing him, and now that we are once again safe, I refuse to become the mistress.

His hand twitches against the fabric of the couch we are both sitting on. Moments ago we were united against our common enemies—friends who betrayed us. Now I don’t know what we are. In the very least, we’re sinners who stepped into a fire about to consume us both.

“We should go to Peru. We should find the treasure. Then we can decide what to do—use it or destroy it. We have to stop our enemies from attacking us; there is too much at stake,” he says.

He means Atlas and Rose. We can’t have people coming to attack us for a treasure that we don’t even have. We have to put a stop to it.

“I agree.”

“Good, I’ll see if Beckett wants to watch the kids. He’s surprisingly good at it.”

“You trust him after what he did?”

“He’s the only one I trust. He didn’t plan to have us kidnapped. He just went along with it.”

I nod. It’s not really my place to question the safety of my child, not when I haven’t been in my child’s life since he was born.

“And then I will book a flight for the three of us,” he continues.

“The three of us?”

Langston swallows hard, like he doesn’t want to have to state the obvious, but I’m not going to make this easy on him. “Phoenix has to come.”

“Why?”

“Because the letter says only a Dunn who is married can seek the treasure. Last I checked, you aren’t married.”