The downstairs contained three studies, a library, the main kitchen, the butler’s kitchen, a formal dining room, a sunroom, and a ballroom. The library was my favorite part. The house itself was over eight thousand square feet. So of course, I couldn't find the man when his hour and a half was up.
There were intercoms located all over the place, but I didn't think he would answer. It was only after a fruitless search for about fifteen minutes that I remembered our phones were tethered. I could find him using that.
When the locator on my phone started pointing me in a direction I hadn’t looked, I realized he was at the front of the house. I frowned when I was led to the small doorway just to the right of the grand entrance. I'd always assumed it was a closet. Though it was an odd location for a closet, tucked away in a shadowed corner behind a decorative column.
When I open the door, I noted the elevator and realized there was another floor below, and my stomach twisted around itself into a massive knot. I knew what was down here. That was where the Elite met. It was where my brother had died.
There was a part of me that wanted to flee, to run back upstairs and lock myself in the bedroom, to try and forget that ten years ago, Toby had been down there. And he never walked out.
But that wasn’t who I was. I stepped into the elevator. It closed behind me automatically, and there were no buttons to push, nothing to do. It just started its descent. After several long seconds, the elevator stopped and the door opened again. The light was dim down there, but I instantly noticed that instead of the plush tapestry, paintings and modern decor of the living quarters above, the floor and the walls were stone. I almost expected fiery torches to be poking out of the walls, but no, there were bronze light fixtures mounted every five feet or so.
I followed the little dot on my phone, each step making my gut churn. Several rooms were located along the hallway, but I ignored them until I came to the one my phone indicated Bridge was located in. The door was open and led into a massive round room. In the center was a lifted stone platform and something that looked like a stone ottoman. All along the walls, there was staggered seating like those in an amphitheater. In one of the seats, sat my husband, and in his hand was a bottle of scotch.
“What? No glass? And here I thought you were civilized.”
He whipped his head around. “You're not supposed to be here.”
“Oh, I figured, what with all the stone and the secret password kind of shit. This must be where you all were initiated.”
He shook his head. “Three doors down. This is where we received our tattoos and rings.”
I couldn't ignore the chill that skipped over my arms, and I rubbed them to warm myself. “What are you doing down here?”
“Oh you know, just rethinking all my life choices. How many were mine? How many were made before I was even born? The choices I had to make for survival and what it's cost me. You know, esoteric shit like that.”
I winced as I watched him take another swig of scotch. “Aren’t you going to share?”
His gaze narrowed at me. “You'll have to come over here and claim it.”
A tingle of excitement started low in my core, rushing through my veins and warming up every part of me. I knew that look on his face. ”You sure that's a good idea? It's forbidden for me to be here.”
“If I, the bastard son of a lord, has the right to be here, then you definitely have the right. You are just as entitled as I am. Sadly, both our fathers are assholes. There should be female members in the Elite. But let's get rid of the current scum before Ben makes those rule changes, shall we?”
If I went over there, I knew what would happen. He was going to bend me over one of the many flat surfaces and fuck me. Because he hoped that would take away some of the burn and the pain he was going through. And it would take away a little, but he needed to talk to me. This sex would only be better after he talked to me.
I approached him slowly, but I stayed out of arms reach. “Can you show me where Toby died?”
His eyes went wide. “You don't want to see that.”
“I do, actually. When I said goodbye to him, I didn't really have a good notion of where he'd been, what had happened. All I knew was that he wasn't there anymore, and then we were putting a casket in the ground. I didn't connect it with something that was real. Part of my brain disconnected, and for a long time I could pretend that it wasn't real, that he was still just away at school or something. I think I need to see it. Will you show me?”
He swallowed hard, but he put down the scotch and pushed to his feet. When he nodded, I could see that there were tears burning his eyes. “I don't think this is a good idea, Ems.”
“You once told me you would give me anything I needed. Will you?”
Swallowing hard, he nodded and then took my hand. The stone was cold against my bare feet, but Bridge’s body was warm. As he wrapped his much larger hand around mine, I leaned into him, taking the comfort he offered. We turned right, heading further down the hall and passing two more doors until we reached a third. There was a keypad lock on the outside, and he keyed in the eleven-digit code.
The door gave way with a suction sound. Dim light illuminated the room. Like the other room we’d just left, there was seating around the sides but higher up. And instead of the elevated platform in the center, this one was depressed, like a sunken living room in a midcentury modern home. There were ten coffins lined up around it. The room looked like it had been used for centuries.
I swallowed hard. “Which one?”
“Emma, you don't need to know that.”
I tugged my hand free. “Tell me which one. Show me.” This was a recipe for disaster. Did I really need to know? Did I really need to sit in this place and see where my brother died? I wished I could explain it, the compulsion. Almost as if none of it had been real until this very moment. All the work that I had done to avenge my brother didn't truly coalesce until right then.
Bridge took my hand and held it tight. Almost too tight. Like the juncture where fingers connected was holding our very souls together. Step by step he walked me toward one of the coffins to the right. “Ben was right next to him. He was the first one to see. I'm so sorry Emma.”
I wasn't sure what to feel. The rage was ever present. The overwhelming urge to throw something, to trash this place, to take it all to the ground was permanently simmering under my skin at all times. I expected an overwhelming wash of grief, but that's not what this was. It was like sudden clarity. Like something had washed away the stain of what had happened in this room with my conviction that Middleton and any of the men who had helped him hide his crimes would pay for this. And I would be responsible for that justice. I knew it as I stood here holding my husband's hand and saying goodbye to my brother properly. I was going to make him pay.
“Do you know, Toby didn't even care about the advantages the Elite could give him or how he could provide for mum and me. He mostly just wanted to be with his mates. He thought it was some cool fraternity that you guys were in, and that's what was so exciting for him.”
Bridge nodded. “He was a good lad. Smart, so freaking smart. Really funny. Dry wit, you know?”
“Oh, I know. It runs in the family.”
Bridge rolled his eyes. “I'm sorry I didn't bring you down to say goodbye earlier. I don't know. I guess I thought it would be too hard. I didn't want to traumatize you all over again.”