“What was that, dude?”
Florian is silent before he asks in a somber tone, “Was she really upset?”
“Yeah. She was devastated.”
“Then I did what I had to do to bring her back to me.”
I turn away from the phone, my back facing the island and the men trying to contain me. I can’t. Even though Florian is on the phone. I can’t.
“It was Angelica in the picture. You set the whole thing up?”
Florian sighs heavily into the phone. “What was I supposed to do? I knew Gus was going to that party. I knew Nai wasn’t. All’s fair in true love and war and this is both. Naomi is mine. She was always meant to be mine. I cannot let Gus Diamond have her by default.”
“And what about Gus? You could have killed him?”
Florian laughs. “I’m sure the baby is fine.”
“Were you using too?”
Florian hesitates for a second, and I can practically feel Casper’s anger at that. Finally, he replies with, “Nothing hard.”
“Florian—”
“I’m fine. I swear. It was just a little Molly. Nothing else.”
My teeth sink into my lip, so I don’t scream. So much for being clean. Once a liar, always a liar.
“I can’t believe you did this.”
“I love her. It’s not the same for Gus as it is for me. No way. But she wasn’t going to end it with him unless something big happened. So, I made something big happen. I can’t have her with him, Cas. I can’t. She’s ours. She belongs with us. Not him. Never him.” Florian’s voice rises with a shrill texture on the last word.
“What did you do to get him in this picture?”
“Angie slipped him some shit. I don’t even know what. He drank it willingly and when he went upstairs to take a leak, we followed him.”
“Did she fuck him?”
Florian makes some sort of strange noise into the phone. “No, man. Angie’s not like that.”
I roll my eyes at that, my fists clenching so tight I can feel the blood draining from them. No, she’s not like that—just a lovely girl who drugs someone without their knowledge.
“He was already half-passed out. Barely put up a fight when we took off his shirt. We snapped the pic and left.”
I shake my head violently. Gus. I yelled at him like a lioness. I didn’t even let him speak. I didn’t want to hear it…
“Naomi told me she was done with Gus.” I spin around and leap forward only to stop mid-launch. Casper’s hard eyes stop me dead in my tracks.
“Yeah?” Florian asks with so much hope.
“Yep. So, I think whatever you had Angie do worked.”
Florian laughs. Like loud and hard. Like it’s all just such a big joke and so very funny, and I want to strangle him.
“I talked her into meeting us at the studio Monday morning. Give her the weekend, but I think it’ll all work out the way it’s supposed to.”
“Fucking awesome. Shit, man. Thank you. I’m there. Yes. I’m so there.”
“Perfect. I’ll get her there by nine.”
“Great.”
“See you then.”
Casper disconnects the call, his eyes still locked on mine. “He’ll be there Monday morning at nine. I’m thinking we need to have something very special waiting for him.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Jasper
* * *
I’ve been sitting here, in my brother’s house, in my brother’s bedroom, staring at his sick as fuck body. His mouth has remnants of the activated charcoal that was poured into his gut and every now and then, his body twitches with spasms from whatever poison that woman gave him. I’ve been silent so long most would think I was a monk.
But not the people who surround me.
Gus passed out pretty quickly after he swallowed the pill I made him take.
Now I’m standing in his kitchen, unable to go.
Viola has been pacing up a storm. Her worried countenance is wearing a hole in Gus’ floor. Adalyn has been jumping on Gus’ couch, flipping herself upside down and screaming every time she does it. I tried to stop her. I tried to reel her in. But she doesn’t understand I brought her here to her uncle’s house when I should not have, so there you go.
“Mickey Mouse, Gus,” she yells, her voice light and airy, but the words?
She knows. She knows he’s not coming out of his bedroom to put Mickey Mouse on and watch it with her the way he always does. Gus is the best uncle. He loves Adalyn like she is his own and I trust him with my special daughter in a way I trust few others.
And yet…we’re here. Invading his home.
The doctor left an hour ago. He cleaned out Gus’ stomach. Checked him out and prodded him over and gave us stuff to sedate him. Gus was ready to rip the world apart to get to Naomi after their phone call and he was in no state to do that.
Keith left right after Gus got off the phone with her.
I haven’t stopped thinking it should have been me to go this time.
But I wasn’t there when he woke up in that bathroom. I wasn’t there at the party. I had nothing real to supply. Instead I’m stuck. Watching my wife pace and my daughter jump, and my mind is a motherfucking mess.
Gus. I can’t handle this.
He’s always been the strong one of the two of us. I’m the emotional bomb. He’s the solid brick wall that perpetually sustains the blow.
And then someone went and poisoned him.
“Mommy shark, du, du, did du. Mommy shark.” Adalyn kicks one of the cushions off the couch and then pounces on it. “Daddy shark, du, du, did du. Daddy shark.”
“Sweet girl, you’re wrecking Uncle Gus’ couch. Let’s pick that up.”
“No!” She clings tightly to the pillow. “Gus!”
I sigh. She’s a mess. Likely because she can sense we’re a mess and doesn’t know how to process that.
“We shouldn’t have brought her here. It’s not fair to her or Gus’ house. Why did we bring her?”
Viola’s eyes fly in my direction and I can tell nothing inside my wife’s head is fine.
“Because we didn’t think about it when we raced out of the house and jumped in the car.”
It’s true. When you hear your brother has been drugged and is sick as hell, you don’t think before you run. We piled in the car and that was that.
She blows out a heavy breath, her body sagging. “I can’t handle this.” Viola’s firm expression cracks like an egg and she falls apart before my eyes.
I take Vi into my arms, hold her close, and kiss her face.
“I want to kill the person who did this,” she whispers into me.
“Keith will do it for us.”
“What if she doesn’t forgive him?”
“She will. You forgave me when I was at my worst.”
Vi laughs, rubbing that same spot on her belly that she always seems to rub. “I did. And you were a super ass.”
I cup her jaw in my hand and I kiss her lips. These lips. There is nothing better than them.
“We’ll take Adalyn down to the beach or something. Get out of here and clear our heads. Gus doesn’t need—or want us—lurking in his house like this and Ady really shouldn’t be here. If Gus comes out of his room looking the way he does…” I trail off and Viola nods.