All Hail - J. Bree Page 0,81
play it coy, always extracting information, “Atticus could have brought you the Wolf if you wanted him to, why go through me?”
Amanda’s head cocks to one side. “Could he? He always told his father that she sided with the Jackal. If he lied, well… Randy would be most displeased.”
I glance over my shoulder at her, covering for him because I always will. My loyalty has always been unshakable. “Alliances change and evolve. When did you last ask him? She might be more favorable now that the Jackal’s been dealt with.”
She tilts her head and nods, staring at Atticus as we all step out of the elevator with a hunger that pisses me off even if he ignores it entirely. Why is she looking at him like that if she’s very clearly in bed with his disgusting father and, very possibly, his brother too?
Finally, she moves away from us both and back through the front door, smiling at Luca even while he stares her down in that very Mounty way he has.
I wonder where he came from?
Atticus grabs my arm while I’m distracted and walks me down the front steps, cursing under his breath about the entire night but I personally thought it went well.
I have a lot of leads to chase up now.
"Why did the girl at the front door upset you?"
He frowns when Aodhan pulls my Bentley up to the curb. "She was new. They usually keep the girls in the back rooms until they've been broken in. I wasn't expecting someone still terrified at what's going on to be right there at the front door.”
I open my mouth to reply but he leans down to open the door for me, snarling at Aodhan, “Take Avery home and make sure she stays there. This is no fucking place for someone like her.”
When he shuts the door behind me, I watch him get smaller in the mirror and wonder exactly when we stopped respecting each other at the very least.
Chapter Twenty-One
Atticus
The Mounts Bay Juvenile Detention Facility is highly overcrowded and underfunded.
It makes my job for the day much easier, not that I would ever tell Avery that, she looks at me like I’ve hung the moon when I pick her and Ash up to head over to meet this mobster cousin of hers.
I’ve known about him all along.
Alice had told Mother about him. Just once, she slipped up and mentioned him without meaning to and the horror on her face when she realized her mistake is still so clear in my mind that I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. Mother hadn’t ever told Father about it, she enjoyed having that little card up her sleeve, but I know exactly why Alice was so horrified.
There were too many monsters in her world, lying in wait for an opportunity to strike, and the little O’Cronin boy was born with a target on his back.
Avery is calm and steady when she climbs into the back of the limousine but Ash is in a foul mood. He barely spares me a glance, sitting close to her side and ignoring me the entire trip over. To anyone else he would look like an entitled rich brat but I know everything that goes on in the Beaumont manor.
I notice the stiff way he’s moving and I’d bet every last dollar of the fortune I’ve amassed so far that he’s covered in bruises.
The weight of the timeline I’m being forced into lies heavy over my shoulders but to strike too soon is to risk everything. If I pull them out of that house and Joseph Beaumont starts using his resources to come after us? He’s old money, older than the Crawfords and even older than this country. His reach goes beyond that of the institution of the Twelve and I can’t just rush into it.
If Ash dies at his brother’s hands, I will bear some of the responsibility.
Avery would never forgive me and I know I’d never forgive myself.
“Can he leave with us today?”
I look over at Avery and find her with her phone out, like always. She’s cunning and calculating, all of the intellect of her father but none of the psychopathic tendencies. “You can meet him and see if he’s open to your help. If everything goes well, we can get him out by the end of the week.”
Ash scoffs and Avery tenses, her eyes sharp as she shoots him a look. He ignores me still as he speaks only to his twin. “What