Vincent stood in the doorway with his laptop open in his arm. He took in my grumpy and disheveled appearance with wide eyes. “Sorry, your door was open. I thought you were awake. I can come back,” he said sheepishly and took a step backwards.
“You might as well join the party, Vin. I have a feeling I’m up for the day,” I grumbled. Vincent nodded and made his way for the couch while I eyed the coffee mug in Asher’s hand. “Is that for me?”
Asher held out the mug. Thank fuck. I took the mug from him and took a sip. It was just how I liked it. I assumed Dean had prepared it. I’d been training him for the past couple of days on how to make me the perfect cup of coffee. If I was going to make it through the day without falling over, I was going to need about ten refills.
Both Vincent and Asher watched as I took five more sips, then sighed. “What’s going on, Vin? Did you find anything?”
He shook his head. “No storage units, containers, or lockers registered to Samuel, Dylan, or any close relation. But I decided to broaden the search on our storage theory. Like a home safe. A really high-tech home safe.” He grinned like a cat who'd caught the canary.
“You found something?” I asked and clambered out of bed, careful not to spill my coffee. I made my way over to sit next to him. Asher followed and took a seat in the chair. I caught Vincent staring at my bare thighs. My shirt only went to mid-thigh. He cleared his throat and looked down at his computer with rosy cheeks.
“Yeah. Just over two years ago, Samuel hired a personal security contractor to set up and update security systems in pretty much every property owned by the family. Businesses, warehouses, homes, your house included.” I nodded to show him I was following. “The contractor your uncle hired is famous for his state-of-the-art panic rooms and home safes.” My brows rose, finally seeing where this was going. “I was able to track down an invoice emailed to your uncle. It didn’t specify what was done exactly, but it did list parts ordered, labor, and a broken-down cost list associated with each property.”
“Did anything stand out?”
“Two properties. Your uncle’s house and a warehouse off of Stone Street. The cost and work done was astronomical compared to everywhere else.”
My stomach sank. “The warehouse off of Stone Street just before the highway?”
Vincent’s brows shot up. “Yeah. Have you been there recently? Seen anything out of the ordinary?”
I shook my head. I hadn’t been to that warehouse in seven years. I released a shuddering breath and set my now empty mug on the coffee table. “Can you send me that invoice to look over?” I asked. He nodded. “Good work, Vin.” I stood tiredly. “I’m going to get ready for the day and pass everything you’ve found to Stefan.”
“Speaking of Stefan,” Vincent started. “He signed all the checks to that contractor.”
I sighed. “I’m sure he’s going to be thrilled to find out he footed the bill so my uncle and cousin could steal from him.” Today was going to suck. I could already tell.
Stefan was out of the house until almost dinner time. Alone in his study, we went over what Vincent found. I supplied him the invoice with my uncle’s address and the warehouse address highlighted. After reviewing it, he frustratedly tossed the invoice on his desk and slumped back into his chair. He did nothing to hide the mixture of pissed off and possibly hurt he was feeling as he stared off into space.
Crap, now I felt like an insensitive ass. I’d been so determined to prove my uncle was guilty, I didn’t stop for a minute to think of how his betrayal might be affecting Stefan. Even though Samuel was a dick, he was still Stefan’s brother.
I stood from my chair. His eyes caught my movement and followed me as I made my way around his desk. He swiveled his chair to the side, reading my intentions. I took a seat in his lap and hugged him. “I’m sorry, Daddy,” I whispered. His body was tense at first. He slowly relaxed, then tightened his arms around me.
Stefan and I left his study together around dinner time. We ran into Asher in the foyer. He was waiting on Dean and Vincent as they made their way down the staircase.
I held back with them while Stefan continued on towards the dining room. “I don’t plan on going anywhere for the rest of the night if you guys want to take off?” I said. Dean and Asher took me at my word and both left, leaving Vincent and I alone. He fiddled nervously with the hem on one of his sleeves. He was invited to dine with us tonight before one of Stefan’s goons drove him back home after. Up until tonight, we’d been taking all our meals in the sanctuary of my room. Sadly, our partnership was coming to an end and it was time to rejoin civilization. At least for me it was. I slung an arm over his shoulders, hoping to provide comfort. “You can sit by me.”
Entering the dining room, we were greeted with a feminine giggle. My steps faltered. Stefan was seated at the table, wearing a frown as he stared across the room at the couple standing by the liquor hutch. Except it wasn’t a couple, or they shouldn’t be, because Jamie was mine, not Angela’s. By the body language alone, they could have fooled me.
There was very little space between them as his hand was rested intimately on her hip. They were smiling as they talked in hushed tones. The way they looked at each other made it seem like the rest of the world didn’t exist. Jamie reached out to grab a lock of her golden hair, twisting it around his finger as he leaned in to kiss her cheek. When she blushed, something in me fractured, sending all the pain straight to my heart.
I went dark. I not only let my darkness surface, I relinquished everything to it. My will. My sanity.
I stormed towards Skank Barbie, fisted my hand around her beautiful golden hair, and yanked her backwards to the floor. She let out an ear piercing shriek. Still holding her hair, I straddled her stomach on the floor and just started swinging. I delivered closed fisted punch after punch. I barely registered my knuckles splitting, but I definitely felt her nose crunch. It gave me a fucking high. It made me wonder what else I could crush. I released her hair to wrap both hands around her neck and squeezed until the muscles in my arms shook.
“Maura, that’s enough,” I heard Stefan say. I ignored him. “Alright, Jameson. You may intervene.”
Arms wrapped around my waist and ripped me off of her. No! I kicked and struggled. I dug my nails into the arms around me, drawing a hiss from my captor.
Stefan stepped into my line of sight, blocking my view of Skank Barbie, who I thought looked a lot better with a bloody face. “Take a deep breath,” he ordered.
I didn’t want to listen to him. I wanted to kill her. Bleed her dry as I watched her pain and fear. So I fought by kicking and hitting. My captor grunted when I landed a kick to his shin and my hand smacked flesh behind me.
“Maura!” Stefan roared, startling me. “Regain control.”
I didn’t want my control back. Be it a split psyche or a split soul, regardless, my other half was doing what it was created for. To protect me from what I couldn’t handle. I didn’t want to face the reality that another man had betrayed me. Except this wasn’t just another man. This was Jamie. The last person I’d ever assumed would hurt me. I trusted him more than anyone. I love—no. I wouldn’t say it and I’d never admit it. There was only one thing in common between my relationship with Tom and what I'd had with Jamie. Me. I was the reason they'd left me. If Jamie could do this to me, it proved it.