Lancelot (The Theriot Family 3)

Corbin chattered about the house and how great it was and all the design plans he’d come up with—how he’d had time for so much planning I wasn’t sure—I would have assumed Beau had worn him out. At least Corbin’s constant babbling kept things from feeling awkward on the drive to Remington’s house.

When we got there, Remington’s fiancé, Henri, was sitting on Remington’s lap in their favorite reading chair. He started to jump up, but Remington kept an arm around his waist and drew him in for a kiss before releasing him.

“You don’t have to leave,” I said. “I don’t mind talking in front of you.” Over the last few months, Henri seemed to have gotten quite comfortable around the family, but I knew inviting him to be part of our business discussion would piss Remington off. Henri was a lot stronger than he looked, but Remy preferred to treat him like a princess who needed protection at all times.

Remy glared, but Henri smiled at me. “Thank you, but I’ve got to leave for class.”

Henri had gone back to school to finish up a design degree, and Remy was super proud of him for it.

“See you later.” Henri grabbed his backpack and headed for the door.

“What about Dax?” I asked. “Shouldn’t he be here?”

“He’s at Beau’s shop,” Corbin said.

Dax preferred riding a motorcycle to driving a car, and he’d never shown a particular interest in mechanics. “Why?”

“Sam is visiting her family this week.”

I stared at my younger brother, not understanding what that had to do with anything. Dax had never filled in for Sam before. I doubted he knew a tenth of what she did about cars. “I know, but everyone else is there, right?”

Corbin glanced at Remington and then down at his hands. “Dax is feeling protective. He’s still not convinced someone from Travis’s past isn’t going to resurface.”

“Wait. He’s there because of Travis?” How had I missed that?

Remington huffed. “Don’t worry about that now. You said you wanted an explanation, so sit down and listen.”

I gave Remington a mock salute. “Yes, commander.”

“You’ve already fucked things up today. Do you really want to make it worse?”

Corbin’s eyes widened. “What did you do?”

I punched my younger brother’s arm. “Don’t look so fucking excited.”

“I’m just glad it’s not me this time.”

“Don’t worry,” Remington said. “I’m sure it will be your turn again soon.”

Corbin flipped him off as the two of us crossed the hall to the living room. We knew the rules. Remy’s library was for relaxing, not for business.

We took our seats, but several seconds passed without Remington saying anything.

“Are you going to tell us, or are you expecting us to guess?” As soon as I spoke, Tony looked up from the treat he was eating on Corbin’s lap and glared at Remy.

Remy pointed a finger at him. “Don’t you start.”

Tony told him off, then returned to his snack.

“Does he have to be here?” Remy asked.

I just raised my brows in response.

“If you two weren’t so codependent, you might have gotten the information we need.”

“If the librarian wasn’t such a prick, he would have enjoyed meeting Tony and would have seen that my baby wasn’t going to cause any trouble.”

“Hold on,” Corbin said. “You took Tony into a library? What the fuck?”

I started to speak, but Remington held up a hand. “Let me start from the beginning.”

Neither of us protested, so he continued. “A few days ago, a necklace was stolen from the Musée de Tresors.”

Corbin nodded. “I saw that, but what does it have to do with us?”

“See?” I gestured toward Corbin. “That’s what I said. We don’t do jewel theft.”

“Are we branching out?” Corbin looked like an excited puppy. “Can we do, like, an Ocean’s Eleven thing and break into a vault and—”

“No.” Remington looked ready to kill us both.

“He’s no fun,” Corbin told Tony.

Remy banged a hand down on a side table. “This is serious.” Corbin and I both straightened in our chairs. “Normally, if I heard someone had stolen a necklace, I wouldn’t worry about it, but this piece was valued at thirty million.”

Corbin whistled. “Are we going to let someone operate in our territory and reap that kind of benefit?”

“That depends on who it was,” I said.

Remington inclined his head toward me. “Yes, it does, and in this case, rumors reached me saying the theft was orchestrated by Valentino Carlotti.”

“Fuck.” Corbin’s mouth dropped open.

Valentino’s branch of the Carlotti family operated out of Houston. His grandmother had insisted her husband move her to a warmer climate, so they left New York and established a new line of the family business in Texas. They’d been growing more powerful over the last few years. Valentino was ruthless. It was rumored he’d shot his own brother through the heart for betraying the family by sharing a secret with his girlfriend. He treated those who worked for him as completely expendable, and he was known for toying with his enemies. We did not need the Carlottis in our territory, but we also didn’t want a war with them.