“I already lost my mum,” he whispered, his voice hoarse and broken.
“I know. We won’t let her get away with this, West. I promise you,” I vowed.
He pulled me closer to him, holding me tightly. “Thanks,” he mumbled into my neck
.
“Let’s go through the rest of the files so we can work out what we’re dealing with here.”
“Okay.” Blowing out a breath, he released me, composing himself, before returning his attention to the computer. I glanced over at Caiden, who was watching his brother. As my gaze held his, I watched the emotions play out on his face, as much as he tried to hide them.
Scanning through the other files, we found copies of the same information that had been in the paper file. There were a couple of additional photos, taken in the Crown and Anchor, when my mother had been meeting with Petr. Neither gave us any more detail—just my mother, sitting there, deep in discussion. Petr’s hand hadn’t been in either image, so I guessed that my dad had concentrated on the one image that showed him. I was glad he had, though—without that, we’d have no idea who she’d been meeting with.
The final file in the list had the same date as the text my dad had sent me, the night he’d died.
I steeled myself as Weston opened it, Caiden holding me tightly, reassuring me.
There were a few seconds of silence, then…
“Voice memo. My reasoning for visiting Alstone today was to obtain further evidence on Christine’s misdeeds. With Winter safely away at university, I believe it is the right time to step up my investigation. She’s a strong, independent woman, but I need to shield her from this. She cannot get involved.” He coughed, before continuing. “I managed to persuade Christine to meet me, and I confronted her. All along, I’ve been concerned that I was wrong, that she’d somehow got herself mixed up with the wrong kinds of people. I offered to help her, to hide her away…” His voice grew hoarse, and I wiped away the tears that were falling down my cheeks. Even after everything, after all the evidence stacked against her, my dad still wanted to see the best in her. He’d still loved her.
I listened as he cleared his throat, then began speaking again, his voice growing quieter. “She denied everything. Said I was deluded, a fantasist spouting lies, and walked out on me. I need…I need to warn Winter to stay away from her. If my ex-wife truly is mixed up in this whole business out of choice, then I need to keep my daughter far away.”
The recording ended, and the room fell silent, all of us lost in our own thoughts. Once again, the pain and heartbreak of my dad’s loss hit me, and I curled into Caiden, feeling so lost and helpless. Why did he have to die? Why was my mother like this? How could we even hope to stop her?
“Stop the negative thoughts. We won’t let her get away with this. She’ll pay for what she did.” Caiden’s resolute voice pierced through my dark thoughts, and I looked up to find all of the Four with the same determined expressions on their faces, glancing between one another.
He was right. “I fucking love you guys,” I said, sitting up straight and wiping my eyes. “No more tears.”
“That’s my girl.” Caiden kissed the top of my head, and Cassius held out his hand in a fist.
“You have to do it.” He winked at me, and I stretched out my own fist to his, lightly bumping knuckles with him and smiling, despite myself.
I wasn’t alone. I had my family right here, and together we were going to make Christine Cavendish pay.
FIVE
I woke with a heavy arm slung over me, and I wriggled backwards against a completely naked Caiden. “Morning,” I mumbled sleepily. He didn’t reply but kissed my bare shoulder, trailing his hand up to caress my breasts, swirling his fingers around my nipples until they stiffened, grinding his hardness against me.
“I love you in my bed.” His voice was all husky from sleep. “How are you feeling this morning, after all the shit that happened last night?” I could hardly concentrate on his words as he kissed his way up to my ear and licked across the shell.
“I’m okay,” I managed to say, arching back against him.
“Good.” He flipped me onto my back, and I hooked my legs around him as he thrust into me, setting a slow, lazy rhythm. As he kissed down my neck, I ran my nails down his back and he shivered, his muscles flexing under my hands as he increased the pace. We moved together, harder and faster, until I was gasping his name and shattering around him.
“My favourite way to wake up.” I reached up, pulling his head down to kiss him and feeling him smile against my lips.
“Mine too. Shower?” He tugged me out of bed, and I followed him into the bathroom, where he turned on the water and proceeded to take advantage of the fact we were both naked and wet.
“What’s the plan today?” Perching on a stool at the kitchen island a little later, I sipped my coffee, blowing across it to cool it slightly. I’d been hoping to question Lena a bit more, but apparently Cassius had driven her home first thing in the morning, before I’d even woken up.
“I’ve been thinking, a lot. Christine has a vested interest in this De Witt deal going through, doesn’t she? Since it sounds like her aim is to take over Alstone Holdings. For that reason, I think we’re safe to assume that she won’t act until after that goes through.” Weston’s words were directed at us all, but his focus was locked on his brother’s.
“I agree. And…fuck. I don’t want to do this.” Caiden’s voice was reluctant, the words spilling from his mouth unwillingly as he pulled an expression of distaste. “But I think we need to get Granville involved.”
“What?” My gaze swung to him in shock. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. Look, I don’t know what the fuck is going on and how the Hydes and Granvilles play into all this. But from everything Granville said, and Hyde’s behaviour at New Year’s”—at that his jaw clenched tightly, and he gripped his knife as if he was imagining stabbing it through Joseph’s neck—“I feel like it has to be connected, somehow. Granville is our weak link.” He met my gaze, his steely. “Your weak link. He cares about you. It’s time we took advantage of that.”