“It’s only a year older,” I say, brow creasing, taking a sip of my scalding coffee with a shrug.
Jude grins at me. “See. This is why I fucking love you.”
I don’t see but I’m not in the mood to try to understand. “Did you speak to your aunt, Tatiana?” I ask Lorcan, rolling my eyes at Jude.
“Not yet, we’re treading lightly. Tatiana is summering in Turin with the family. We’re going to fly out there after all this is over and speak to her,” Lorcan says, moving his food around his plate, not looking at me. He hasn’t all morning and has been in a mood ever since he came back from the hospital.
“And Ophelia?” I asked them to look into the name of the other woman who possibly had a child to this Ed Savino too, seven years before their Aunt, but I didn’t tell them why.
Lorcan frowns as he answers me. “Quinn found one Ophelia Valle in the southeast who used to attend Sacred Heart of all places. She died in a house fire over twenty years ago according to the obits.” Finally, he looks at me, his frown deepening. “Who is she again? And why do we care?”
I clutch at the necklace in my pocket. “No reason yet. Just see if she can locate a photograph.” If the woman in the pendant is Ophelia, then I’m going to hazard a guess she’s Dante’s mother.
“It must get so tiring, keeping fucking secrets all the time,” Lorcan snipes at me. But I really don’t have time for his tantrums, so I’ll just have to ride this one out.
“What the fuck are we doing about Dino?” Jude asks, reading the room and changing the topic.
Good boy.
“I’m going to go through with the wedding,” I say taking a sip of my coffee.
Jude’s brows raise.
Even Lorcan looks surprised until he shutters his gaze. “Are you now?” he counters, sitting back in his chair.
“Oh, don’t be jealous,” I scowl.
“Sweetheart, If you’re marrying anyone, it’s not fucking Sinner,” he drawls.
I cock a brow at him. Jude looks like he wants to say something too so I talk quickly. “I said…I’m going through with the wedding but I’m not marrying him. It’s the only way to make certain you’re all with me at my father’s estate when I take him out.”
When they say nothing and just look at me, I add, “I’ll do a deal with Adrien to call off the hit on Gordan Duke in return for my compliance. He’ll think he’s won, and that’s when we’ll do it.”
Fucking silence.
I slit my eyes at both of them. This is why I don’t tell them things. They just get annoyed. “I’m telling you instead of leaving you in the dark like I usually do because I need both of you to help me,” I say, trying to convince them one last time. I shoot a look at Lor. “I’m trusting you to not throw a tantrum.” I switch my gaze to Jude. “And I’m meaner than you and older, so for fucking once, just do as I ask.”
There’s the sound of the coffee machine finishing its daily rinse, and then nothing but the birds outside after that. Jude and Lor are just staring at me.
For fuck’s sake.
Why is this so damn hard?
I shake my head, totally fucking done. “Or I can just do it myself and you can both get fucked.” I’m really not in the mood today.
“Fine,” says Lorcan after burning me to the ground with his shitty glare. “We’ll help. Just give the fucking order,” he says getting to his feet. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a ton of work to get through.”
As he walks out of the open-plan kitchen and dining room, I close my eyes. There’s an annoying pulsing just behind my left eye. All this boy drama is giving me a headache.
“He’s just going through some things,” I hear Jude say.
I snap my eyes open and look directly at the blond jock whose twinkling, hazel eyes seem to be mocking me. “Tell me what things, because I can’t take his moody shit anymore.”
Jude shrugs. “His grandfather nearly died. He just found out his ex-girlfriend, Kat, is also his cousin. And his dad, Ed Savino, is one sick, nasty motherfucker. They call him barbaric don, for christ’s sake. Saskia is having a paddy about her age. And you are keeping secrets again.”
Right. “He doesn’t like not knowing everything.”
Jude snorts a laugh. “You’re clueless and that’s what I love about you, but Lor doesn’t give a shit about that. He’s more worried about being in the dark because you think you don’t need us but you do. Every fucking night, you need us. And now, you’re talking about selling yourself so you can get close enough to your father to kill him?” His brows raise as does his voice. “He has a hard time getting his head around putting you in danger, without ever getting a say in the matter. We both do.”