Flawless Prize

JULIET

I rush to my phone,and quickly call him. “Pick up, pick up,” I chant, anxious.

But the phone clicks to voicemail.

“This is Caleb Sterling—”

Fuck.

I write him a text. ‘Where are you?’

But even as I click to send, I already know the answer.

I make another call, this time to Logan. It’s rings and rings, but just when I think it’ll go to voicemail, he answers, voice groggy. “Juliet? What’s wrong?”

He must’ve been asleep. Glancing at the clock, I realize it’s after two. No wonder. “Sorry… I just… I woke up, and Caleb’s gone. I think he might’ve gone to see Nero.”

There’s a pause, and I wonder how much he already knows. “Listen to me, Juliet. You need to stay out of it.”

“What are you talking about?” I demand. “This is serious. Caleb can’t go face the guy alone!”

“It’s none of your business.”

“How can you say that?” I cry. “Everything about Caleb is my business now!”

“This is between the two of them. It’s about pride and honor,” Logan warns me. “Don’t get in the middle of things.”

“You know as well as I do that Nero’s honor usually comes with a body count.” I retort. “You can sit around and let Caleb get himself killed, but I won’t.”

I hang up, furious. I don’t understand it, why Caleb would go rushing off in the middle of the night to confront the guy. But his judgment has always been clouded when it comes to Nero—to the debt his father owed, and everything the company was built on.

I have to stop him. But how?

I pace, thinking back desperately over all my research. Back before I knew what the fraud and blackmail was really about. Something was going on there.

The answer is right in front of me, if only I could see it.

I look around the room, but there’s nothing here to help me, just sleek furniture and high-tech stereo equipment; a few books on the shelves, framed photos on the wall.

No hints of the dark history Sterling Cross has been hiding.

I move to the office, and rifle through the drawers. It’s still a mess from the struggle with Olivia, but I ignore the bloodstain on the rug, and focus on Caleb’s things instead. Papers, business contracts—

Wait.

Buried under the mess is a framed photo of his parents and the Crosses, taken years ago. It’s like the print Caleb had in his office, but this one must have been a different shot, because in addition to Jacob and Annette Sterling, there’s another man in the frame.

Roman Barretti.

I shiver. I can see the resemblance to Nero, even though his father is smiling in the frame, arms around Caleb’s parents. Celebrating their deal, I guess. No wonder Caleb kept this print out of sight from the world.

But it’s the necklace that Annette is wearing that stands out to me.

It’s the beautiful daisy necklace that I wore before. I’d know it anywhere. Caleb had said it was a family heirloom.

And it had been inscribed with the word, Petal… The same name that those love letters were addressed to. Her pet name from her secret lover, the affair she hid until the end.

I loosen the back of the frame, and check the writing on the back.