Filthy Lies (Blackstone Dynasty 2)

Motherfucking hellstorm. The implosion of text alerts, voicemails, and urgent tags were almost comical at first as we watched the phones blowup. We looked at each other. We stared at our phones again as if they must be demonically possessed. I was hesitant to pick up the fuckin' thing.

Winter was the brave one.

She went first to a string of texts from her sister. Her voice grew shallow and her skin became pale as she read. Something was terribly wrong.

"What the fuck has happ—"

"Oh, no…no…no. Willow says Janice attacked Brooke at the ball with a champagne glass. She cut Caleb too—oh my God—that crazy fucking bitch went psycho killer on my brother and Brooke. They're at Mass Gen. Brooke's had surgery…and oh my, James"–she made a wide O with her mouth–"Brooke is seven weeks pregnant."

What the fuck?!

And so Enzo drove us to the hospital where we made a big fucking entrance—still wearing our finery from the ball of course—for nearly every single person we hoped to avoid for a few more hours.

Even so, it was a non-issue, because we were still in shock about Janice. After Winter and I left the party, apparently Janice got into it with Caleb and Brooke, becoming so unhinged she used a broken glass to slash and stab them both. Brooke got the worst of it to her abdomen but on the side, while Caleb's neck wound was more superficial. But fuuuck. Janice Thorndike, super-model-turned-psycho-beast queen was locked in a padded room being restrained while our loved ones were in the hospital from her savage attack during a charity gala. The news media would have a field day playing off this story. For fucking decades.

Winter held on to my hand in a death grip. We hadn't spoken much about it yet, but we would as soon as we had a minute. We'd spent the remaining time in the car on our phones getting updates. Winter talked to Willow, and I got through to Vic to let everyone know we were on our way. The cat was now out of the bag about Winter and me. Everyone knew we'd spent the night together, so we were no longer a secret. It was one less thing to have to deal with in my view. And fuck if I care. I love the woman by my side and will do anything for her. So, they can all finally fucking know how much I feel for her.

I thought back on our own crazy encounter with Janice at the ball, wondering if I could have done something different to prevent her from staging a Hitchcock film noir scene at a formal fucking charity event. Probably not, but I still felt horrible for Caleb and Brooke being on the receiving end of such trauma. Brooke had been through too much already, and Caleb would be wrecked by guilt at this happening to her because of his crazy ex-girlfriend. I felt really fucking bad for them both. Seven weeks pregnant too. Damn. I hoped for the best and prepared for the worst. That was what we could do right now. And all of this madness had happened within the span of the few hours, while Winter and I were at my house in Sherborn fucking for the first time. With our phones off the grid. Unreachable.

The guilt just kept piling up like shit.

Lucas Blackstone added his share to the guilt-shit pile as soon as we came into the private waiting area attached to the surgical suite.

"Nice of you to stop by and check in," he sneered. "We were just hours away from filing a missing person's report with the cops, Winter." He was pissed, and probably all at me. "Willow and Roger left about fifteen minutes ago. They are exhausted from a long night of waiting for news on Brooke and trying to find you."

"I'm so sorry, Lucas, but we had our phones turned off until just a little while ago. We didn't know…any of this happened. "Where is Caleb? How is Brooke? Can I see—"

"Why was your phone off? Nobody knew where you were! You could've been dying in a ditch somewhere from a road accident—God—who the fuck knows. So fucking irresponsible of you both—"

"I am sorry, okay?! It's not our fault Janice attacked and hurt Brooke last night. I was with James and we left the party. We turned off our phones, so we could have time away for one single fucking night." Winter could hold her own, but I also saw that she felt badly for causing extra worry for her family.

Lucas scoffed at her and nodded his head dramatically. "Fucking is the operative word all right." He pointed at her shoulder where the hickey showed through her hair. "Classy, sister dear, real fucking classy. Not so cool to be out getting your freak on with him while the rest of us are wondering if you're still breathing."

"You are being such an asshole right now. Didn't you ever take a night off from the rest of the world, Lucas?" Winter gave her brother as good as she got.

"Yes, he has," I answered for him. "Many nights I'd bet. He's not any different than the rest of us." I chose my words carefully for him, trying to keep my temper in check. "You are upsetting your sister for no good reason. Enough with the guilt trip you're putting on her."

"I cannot deal with you up in my face right now, Lucas. I'm going to find Caleb, and I'm seeing Brooke if they'll let me." She dismissed her brother with a middle-finger salute and left the room. She is magnificent. I had observed this trait in her before. Winter didn't waste her time on pointless shit. She'd come here to the hospital for a purpose, and she would see it done.

"So you—" Lucas turned his hostility on me. I knew what he was imagining. He was picturing his little sister tied to a rack in a room somewhere to be flogged, and gagged, and fucked by me. I wouldn't bother explaining to him that it was nothing like that with her, but strangely, I wanted to.

"I'm pretty fuckin' sure she doesn't need your permission for who she's with, and you need to chill. Winter's done nothing wrong. She's here for Caleb and Brooke right now, not you."

"So, please, the next time you go off for a night of fucking my little sister, could you leave us a number where you can be reached? You know, in case of a serious emergency or something fucking important like—"

"Get off my dick, you pretentious fucker—"

"Shut the fuck up, both of you." Thankfully, Caleb found us at the moment shit was starting to get real and put a stop to the nonsense. "You're in a hospital for fuck's sake." Lucas and I both turned, ready to take the ass chewing we definitely deserved. "You, Lucas, sit there, and James, there." He pointed us to our respective corners before pulling up a chair for himself in between us. He sat facing the back of the seat, folded his arms over the top and rested his chin down. The exhaustion in his face showed how long the night had been for him. He had a large bandage at his throat and hospital johnny for a shirt. "I want you to listen and not talk. Just listen to me. Can you do that?" He pegged us both with angry, weary eyes. I couldn't even imagine what he was feeling right now. If that were Winter attacked by Janice, I would want the bitch dead. Especially if she were carrying my baby. Fuck.

I nodded.

"None of this crap matters. None of it. It's all distracting bullshit to take you away from what's really important. There will be some immediate changes happening. Read that as, I am taking Brooke away the moment she is cleared to travel. So very far away from this shitstorm of drama, to give her a chance at some peace for once. She's been through so much…and I can't allow even one more bad thing to happen—"

Caleb's voice broke, but we all knew what he was going to say. He couldn't allow for Brooke to be hurt again by anyone. He would make certain it never happened even if he had to take her away somewhere secret to do it. I knew my friend well and understood where his head was at with this. Add in the fact she was pregnant, and he was going to be a father? Yeah, he needed a breather to get a handle on his emotions. I don't know how he wasn't passed out flat on the floor to be honest, but he scrubbed his face with his hands and continued, "We'll see you back here in a month, maybe longer. Lucas, that means you're the man who signs the checks at BGE in my absence. You might need to buy some suits and stay in the city during the week. You can use my office and sleep at my place if you want. I don't give a fuck."

As that information settled in for Lucas to digest, he turned to me. "James, you're going to be heading up everything of a legal nature, including keeping me apprised of the proceedings against the sadistic cunt responsible for this whole fucking nightmare. I know you'll have our best interests in mind." He knows he doesn't even have to ask.

"Whatever you need, Caleb, you have it," I said.