Sins, Lies & Spies (Black Brothers #2) (10 page)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Knox

“Fuck.” I curled my fingers around the steering wheel until my knuckles whitened. I wanted to hit something. I needed to calm down before I drove home or my car would end up wrapped around a tree.

I fell for her game.

I lost myself in her kiss.

I got sucked into her dark, soulful eyes.

She played me.

“Dammit,” I yelled, pounding my hand against the steering wheel.

I knew Trinity had secrets, but it never crossed my mind that she could be Benton’s secret half-sister. That not so little revelation screwed up my entire plan. I’d already given her too much information. I had no doubt she’d spend the next half hour spilling everything to Benton. She’d blow my cover. She’d compromise my investigation. And if I didn’t walk away from her for good, I knew my life would never be the same.

A little voice inside my head whispered that maybe I wanted things in my life to change. I’d spent my entire life avoiding commitment and believing Archer was the only person I could trust. It made me feel safe. If I avoided romantic entanglements, I could keep my life on track.

Every time things took a turn for the worst, Archer had my back, but now he had Langley. I knew Archer would always be there for me, but it wasn’t the same. I didn’t begrudge her. She loved my brother, and he loved her. She melted his icy reserve, and I’d never seen him so happy. Watching them made me consider maybe I wanted more than a string of casual flings.

I rubbed my hand down the side of my face, trying to shake off the thought, when a scream pierced the air. Fear surged through my veins. A thud of pain shot through my heart. Without a second thought, I jumped out of my car, not even bothering to fully close the door behind me.

My feet pounded against the pavement. The space between Trinity’s townhome and me seemed like a mile instead of twenty feet. When I reached the top of the steps, I ripped my gun from the holster strapped to my ankle and kicked the door open.

The minute I stepped foot inside her townhome, Trinity wrapped her body around mine. I circled one arm around her waist, shoving her behind me, my gun pointed into the dimly lit interior.

“Look, Knox,” she said, her voice shaky and her body trembling. Tears streamed down her face.

I scanned the room, and my blood turned into ice. “What the hell,” I hissed, my hands clenching into tight fists. An ochre colored cat with a brown tipped tail dangled from a rope strung from the kitchen light fixture. Who the fuck did sick shit like that? “That’s your cat, isn’t it?” I asked, struggling to keep my voice calm when I wanted to tear apart the person responsible for this.

“Yes. Well, kind of.” Her eyes drifted shut, and a visible tremor ran through her body. “It’s Max. I found him when I moved to D.C. He kept coming around my place, and eventually he became mine by default.”

“Did you touch anything?”

“No.” She buried her head in my chest. “I flipped on the light switch next to the front door and tossed my purse on the sofa. That’s it.” A fractured breath tumbled from her lips. “Somebody killed my cat. What kind of person does that? Why would you hurt a harmless animal?”

“I don’t know, babe.” I swallowed hard. “Why don’t you go sit in my car? I’m going to take a look around, and I’ll meet you outside in a few minutes.” She didn’t need to see this. She shouldn’t have to deal with this shit.

“No.” Her lips pursed into a tight line. She stepped away from me and my hand slid from her waist. “I’d rather stay here with you. I don’t want to be alone.”

I heaved out a breath and shoved my gun into the holster at my ankle. “Fine, but stay right here, and don’t touch anything.”

Not waiting for her answer, I stalked through the living room, pausing in front of the small round kitchen table. A sweet yet rancid smell coated my nostrils. Breathing through my mouth, I popped open the switchblade on my key chain and raised my arm to cut down her cat. Spotting a folded white piece of paper on the table, I paused mid-reach. Instead, I lowered my hand and flipped open the paper with the tip of my blade. I saw a typewritten note in all caps:

SILENCE IS GOLDEN. SOME SECRETS ARE WORTH KILLING FOR. WHO WILL BE NEXT? WILL YOU LOSE FAITH?

I read the note over and over. My throat dried up, and my hands trembled. Cursing under my breath, I backpedaled a few steps.

“What’s it say?” Trinity said, her voice low and hushed.

My lips curled with distaste. “That some secrets are worth killing for.”

Her face paled, and she swayed. “Oh my God. Do you think—” Her voice faded, and her chin dipped, resting against her chest.

“Do you trust Benton?”

“Yes.” Her head jerked up. “He wouldn’t do this. It doesn’t make any sense. He found me. He helped me move closer to him. Maybe Miles.” She shook her head. “No. I can’t see him doing this either. Besides, both of them were at the party. Neither of them would’ve had the opportunity.”

My gut told me whoever killed her cat and left the note wasn’t messing around, and despite what Trinity said, I had no intention of ruling out Benton or Miles. Both of them had an interest in keeping Trinity’s connection to Benton a secret. Benton likely wanted to protect his family’s reputation and his political career. Miles needed the information as leverage to control Benton’s votes in the House of Representatives. I peered around her townhome, looking for more clues. I’d only been inside her place once, but everything appeared to be undisturbed except the cat and the note.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I moved to the front door. I needed to think before I acted. I needed evidence, even though my irrational side wanted to put Miles and Benton in a room together and beat the shit out of them until the truth came out. One of them was responsible for this.

“Where are you going?” Trinity asked, her voice sounding lost.

“To make some calls.”

Her heels clicked across the floor, and she tugged on the back of my suit jacket. “Don’t call the police.”

I spun around. “Why not?” I didn’t have any intention of involving the police, but I wanted to know her rationale.

Her neck tensed in defiance. “They’ll ask me questions about my past. Unless I lie, I’ll have to reveal my connection to Derrick, and I promised him I wouldn’t do it. I gave him my word. I shouldn’t have told you either.”

“I think it’s obvious your connection to his family is the reason he’s being blackmailed.” I shoved my phone back into my pocket. “Why do you want to protect this secret? Why does either of you care if people know you’re related? Richard Benton is dead. He’s been dead for three months or more. Nobody will give a shit that he had an affair over two decades ago.”

Her gaze skittered around the room, and she swallowed. “Derrick wants to protect his mother. She doesn’t know about me, and according to him, she’s in poor heath.”

I scoffed. “That’s bullshit. Darcey Benton is not sick. Barring an accident, she’ll live well into her nineties. She sits on countless boards. She attends charity events every week. She’s an avid tennis player. She’s in great health.”

She stared blankly at the wall for a second, then shrugged. “Maybe you’re right. But he doesn’t need speculation about me to derail his career, and his family doesn’t need their name dragged through the mud over something that happened so long ago.”

“Great. I understand why Derrick wants you to keep your relationship secret, which, by the way, is a strong motive for him to threaten you.” She held up her hand, but I kept talking, ignoring her. She wanted to protect Derrick, but I didn’t like it. He wasn’t telling her everything. “And yet, you didn’t give me one reason why you cared about keeping your connection secret.”

She fisted her hands and her lips thinned in frustration. “I care because Derrick is my brother, and it’s what he wants. He’s been good to me. He sought me out and encouraged me to move to D.C. He helped me financially when I had nothing.” She chewed on her lower lip. “And I don’t want anyone to pry into my family or my past. They’ll splash my ugly history on the cover of a bunch of magazines. They’ll make my mom look like trash. They’ll make light of my uncle’s criminal history. And Faith…she doesn’t need to deal with the gossip. She finally has a life.”

I stiffened. “Faith? Who’s Faith?”

She sighed softly. “My younger sister. She goes to college in Texas near my hometown. Why?”

I groaned. This was worse than I thought. Her sister’s name likely popped up in my investigation of Trinity, but I hadn’t committed it to memory. “I think the rest of the note threatened your sister.”

Her hand fluttered to the base of her neck. “What do you mean?”

“It said ‘Who’s next? Will you lose Faith?’ The words were in all caps. I didn’t realize it referred to a person. I thought it was a bunch of cryptic bullshit.”

She gasped as she dropped onto the sofa. “No. No. No,” she sobbed over and over again. “I can’t let anything happen to Faith. She doesn’t have anything to do with this. She’s innocent. I need to protect her. She’s worked so hard…”

I hunkered down in front of her and pushed back the wisp of hair that had fallen out of her braid. With puffy eyes and red cheeks, she was still one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen. “I’ll send some friends over here to dust for fingerprints and look around. I’ll have them clean this up. Do you have somewhere to stay tonight?”

She attempted to wipe the tears from her face. Instead, she managed to smear her mascara halfway down her face. “You can drop me off at The Lux. It’s a bar on 9
th
,” she muttered through frozen lips.

I frowned. “I know what it is, but I’m not dumping you at some bar.”

Her chest jerked up and down rapidly. “My friend owns the place. I’ll wait in her office until closing. Then I’ll go home with her. She won’t mind.”

“No.” I rubbed my hands up and down her thighs. I didn’t want her to be alone even if it were only for a couple of hours. “That won’t work. You’re staying with me tonight.”

Having her in my space wasn’t a good idea. Without a question, if I welcomed her into my home, she’d suck me into a potentially deadly tangled web of lies. That didn’t stop me from making the offer. Every cell in my body lit up with the need to protect her.

Her body softened, and she leaned into me, resting her head on the top of my shoulder. Her braid slipped around my back. “You don’t have to do that. I know you don’t want anything to do with me.”

“I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t mean it.”

“Are you sure?” She lifted her tear stained face. Her coffee-hued eyes glimmered in the dim lighting. “I could go to a hotel or I could stay here.”

“This isn’t a game, Jones. This is serious. Someone is threatening you. You shouldn’t be alone.”

I dragged my thumb across her lower lip. She looked fragile, staring at me trustingly with lips that looked so fucking kissable. Damn her for being so pretty. So perfect. She made me want things I didn’t think were possible.

“I want you to stay with me.” I gave in to the insanity twisting in my chest and brushed a kiss across her forehead, knowing I shouldn’t, knowing I was making a big mistake, but I couldn’t walk away from her. Not now. Just like that, my decision was made.

“Okay, Knox.” She nodded. “But just for tonight.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Trinity

I should’ve argued with Knox, but I didn’t have the energy. I wanted to get away from my house, and agreeing to stay with him for the night was the fastest way to make it happen.

“I need to make some calls,” Knox said, squeezing my thigh. “Wait here.”

My stomach rolling in nonstop waves, I nodded absently, unable to do anything except stare at Max. I loved that cat. The first morning after I moved into this place, I found Max purring outside my front door. I had tried to get him to go away, but he was stubborn, and he had refused to leave. After a week of him waking me up every morning, I left a bowl of water for him outside my front door. After another week, I added a bowl of food. By the end of the month, Max became my roommate. Now, he’d ended up dead just because he trusted me.

A sob bubbled out of my mouth.

I couldn’t take this.

Oh God. Oh God.

How the hell did this happen?

What did I do to deserve this?

I felt like someone had reached inside my chest and squeezed my heart. My rapid-fire breaths echoed in my ears. The edges of my vision blurred then narrowed to a pinprick. My fingers tingled like a thousand ants were crawling inside of my veins. Sweat beaded on my forehead. The lump in my throat tripled in size. Shit. I was having a full-blown panic attack. While they’d been a common occurrence when I moved to D.C., I hadn’t experienced one in over a year.

I needed to ground myself in the moment to stop it. I closed my eyes, concentrating on taking slow even breaths. Then I rubbed my hands back and forth on the soft velvet sofa cushions, focusing on the way the plush strands brushed underneath my fingertips. I listened to the deep rumble of Knox’s voice as he talked on the phone.

“Trinity.” Knox’s hands pressed into my shoulders. “Are you okay?”

My fingernails dug into the sofa. “No,” I rasped, the word sticking in my throat. “Not even close.”

He laced his fingers through mine and yanked me to my feet. “Let’s wait outside. The fresh air will make you feel better.”

“I’m open to anything,” I mumbled, following him out of the door. “I’m losing my mind and my heart feels like it’s going to explode inside my chest.”

He pulled me into an embrace, tucking my head underneath his chin. Relief seeped through my veins, warming me from the inside out. “It’ll be okay. We’ll find out who did this.”

His hand moved up and down my back in slow, even strokes. I should’ve walked away from him. This was wrong. He didn’t want me in his life. He didn’t want anything to do with me. I should’ve felt the same way. But it felt right to have him soothe me. Comfort me. I didn’t want to move away. I wanted him to hold me tighter, prop me up, and support me.

I melted into him, tuning out the world around me. With every brush of his hand, my heart slowed, and my breathing calmed. All I wanted was to move closer to him, crawl inside him, feel him, and be with him. My intuition told me he’d keep me safe. He’d keep my sister safe. I could trust him. I needed to trust someone. I couldn’t do this alone, and I wanted him in my corner.

I lifted my head. His gaze was bluer, deeper and more intense than ever before. “I…” The words wouldn’t come.

“Shh. You don’t need to say anything,” he said, his deep, smoky voice dropping low. “We’ll figure this out before anything happens to you or Faith.”

“Thank for helping me,” I whispered, finally managing to get the words out of my mouth.

The corners of his mouth tipped upward, and he nodded. “You’re welcome, Jones.”

On impulse, I rose up onto my toes and pressed a kiss against his lips. I wanted to know what it’d feel like to kiss him without any pretenses.

No Miles lurking around the corner.

No need to hide my gun.

Nothing.

Just us.

Just one kiss.

He didn’t respond for a heart-cleaving moment, and rejection twisted my insides. I eased backward, but just as quickly one of his hands clamped around my wrist and the other around my waist.

He shook his head, his eyes heavy-lidded. The silhouette of his midnight lashes shaded the sharp angles of his cheekbones. He looked delicious. “Don’t stop now,” he said, his voice husky. A shiver zipped down my spine

“I…” And there went my ability to speak again.

Pulling me against him, he ducked his head, and before I registered his intent, his lips were on my mouth again. He skimmed his lips over mine.

Once.

My eyes fluttered closed.

Twice.

I moaned softly.

Three times.

My hands curled into the lapels of his jacket.

Then, he stopped.

My eyes popped open. “Can you do that again?”

With twitching lips, he tugged me against his chest. “Later,” he whispered next to my ear, deep and with so much promise I thought I’d spontaneously combust. “Right now, I need to talk to these guys, and then we’ll leave.”

I peeked over his shoulder and saw three men standing on the sidewalk with their backs turned to us. Heat rushed up my neck. “Oh, okay.” I glanced at his car. “I’ll wait in the car.”

***

With our hands threaded together, he guided me into the elevator of his building. He asked me a few questions about Derrick and Miles during the car ride here, but for the most part, we sat together in silence.

“We should know something in a few days,” he said.

I nodded, watching the white number on the screen as it ticked upward like a countdown to something. Whether it’d be good or bad, I couldn’t say. The fingers of my free hand plucked nervously at the hem of my dress. When the elevator dinged and the doors glided open, the air punched out of my lungs. I reminded myself I was in control and nothing would happen I didn’t want.

We walked out of elevator and Knox froze mid-stride. He released my hand, and I missed the heat. The comfort.

I glanced at him, then in front of us and my heart stumbled inside my chest. A woman with long blonde hair stood next to his door. She instantly sized me up as competition. I didn’t wait for her judgment. I looked away. I didn’t need a mirror to realize I looked like a mess. Without a doubt, I had mascara smeared down my face. Half of my hair had escaped my braid. My dress was hopelessly wrinkled.

“Brenna, why are you here?” Knox snapped, his jaw tightening.

Her gaze drifted back and forth between Knox and me. “I wanted to talk. I hated the way things ended last time.”

He jammed his key into the door, the vein in the side of his neck pulsing. “We’ve already talked, Brenna. There’s nothing left to say. I understand your point of view, and I’m pretty sure you understand mine.”

Slowly, she shook her head from side to side. “I wanted to apologize about pushing for more.”

Knox pushed the door open. “Is that all?”

Her hands glided up and down her legs. “Um.”

Knox braced his hand on the doorjamb and cocked his head toward me. “Because, in case you didn’t notice, I have company.”

Her hands fluttered to her chest, then she clasped them behind her back. “Are you seeing her now?”

I didn’t want to hear his answer regardless of what he said. Our relationship consisted of an unpredictable mix of hostility and desire, and I needed to get away from both of them before the uncomfortable feeling coiling in my gut motivated me to do or say something I’d regret. I dipped under his outstretched arm, darted into his shadowy apartment and flipped on the light switch.

“Knox, I’m going to sleep. It’s been a long day. We can talk later.” The words scraped like shrapnel across my tongue.

He frowned. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” I answered. My voice was stiff, my smile stiffer.

Clearly, Knox was free to do what he wanted with whomever he wanted. Yet, a small part of me wanted to demand he follow me inside. Resisting the urge, I tried to close the door before he could object. He had other ideas. With the palm of his hand, he kept it propped open. In one seamless move, he bent his head and brushed his mouth warmly against mine in a brief kiss.

“I’ll only be a few minutes,” he said as he closed door, leaving me stunned and more than a little confused.

My feelings for him simultaneously frightened and excited me. A small reckless part of me wanted to seize the moment and take whatever Knox offered, even if it only lasted for one night. The logical part of me knew I needed more time to sort out my attraction to him. If Knox were standing in front of me, I had no doubt the reckless side of me would win, but he wasn’t and logic won, which meant I couldn’t waste a second.

I needed to be asleep by the time Knox returned or at least in a position where I could feign sleep. I ran down the hall and snagged a shirt from his closet. In the hall bathroom, I changed my clothes and finger brushed my teeth while studying my reflection in the mirror. I was a wreck. All semblance of color had disappeared from my face. My makeup made my eyes look like black holes. To top it off, I felt physically ill. Sighing, I scrubbed my face with soap and water and settled onto the living room sofa. I curled in a ball on my side, pulled a throw blanket over my legs and closed my eyes.

By the time I heard the door open twenty minutes later, my heartbeat had slowed, and my eyelids were heavy. His leather-soled shoes shuffled over the hardwood floor, and even with my eyes closed, I could feel him standing at the foot of the sofa, staring at me. I was more aware of him than I’d ever been of another person in my life. It went beyond the remedial training Miles provided me.

He leaned forward, his face moving closer to mine. My heart lurched with panic, swelling and pressing against my lungs, making it hard to suck in air. I curled my hands into fists underneath the blanket. It took all of my willpower not to open my eyes. I wanted this day to end before I compounded the damage to my already turbulent life.

Please don’t touch me.

I need to be alone tonight.

I need to think.

As though he heard my unspoken thoughts, he released a weary sigh and walked away. I didn’t move a single muscle until I heard the telltale click of the bedroom door.