Fraud (Antihero Inferno #2) - Lily White Page 0,129
lifelong opponent.
Gabriel
Tanner’s gaze shoots past me when he finally answers his damn door, suspicion rolling as he glances up, down, left and then right. I don’t know what the fuck he’s looking for, but it only pisses me off.
I’ve been standing here for ten minutes already banging on the wood, demanding he stop whatever he was doing to let me in.
Too angry to deal with his bullshit at the moment, I slam my palm against his chest and shove him inside.
“What the hell, Gabe? What’s your problem?”
Sliding past him, I head straight to the bar. A drink is probably the last thing I need right now, but it’s also the only thing that might calm me down.
Tanner follows at my heels, his expression tight with confusion. He waves a hand at Luca when she stands up from the couch to talk to me, silently telling her to let me work this out with a few shots of whiskey before we start this conversation.
Three slammed drinks later and I turn to find both of them staring at me quietly.
“Call the guys,” I say, my voice careful despite the rage simmering in my veins. “Family fucking meeting right the fuck now.”
Thankfully, Tanner doesn’t ask questions. He pulls his phone from his pocket and shoots off a text. Finishing that, he tosses the phone on the coffee table beside him and meets my stare.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on before finishing off that bottle?”
I glance at the bottle and back to him. But rather than tipping it to my mouth, I pour another drink and set both the bottle and the glass down.
“Governor Callahan has a recording of Ivy torching the pavilion.”
“The fuck?” Tanner’s eyes widen, his shoulders pulling taut. “For how long, and how did he get it?”
Slowly spinning the drink I still haven’t touched over the counter of his wet bar, I shake my head.
“No clue. Unfortunately when I pulled out my guitar to sing Kumbaya with the guy and tell each other all our secrets, he wasn’t into it. Do you really fucking thing he told me all of that?”
Tanner shakes his head and stands up from the couch. Pacing my direction, he stabs a hand through his hair. “So what the hell did he tell you?”
“That if I didn’t walk the fuck away and leave Ivy there, he would leak the tape and then arrest his own daughter to protect his interests.”
His pacing stops, his eyes locking to mine. “You’re joking.”
“Yeah, it’s my new stand-up routine. I’m sick of making millions as an attorney and have decided to hit the road for a world tour.”
Ignoring my bullshit, Tanner resumes pacing as Luca’s voice fills the space.
“Why did Ivy burn down a pavilion?”
“Because Gabriel set her up to do it in high school in order to trick her into asking me for a favor. I called in the price at the engagement party.”
Luca’s eyes snap to me. “Seriously? Again, I would expect that of Tanner because he’s already proven he’ll stoop that low, but you?”
Poor thing. I love Luca. She’s beautiful inside and out, but she’s deluding herself to think I’m part of this group in name only.
“They don’t call me Fraud for nothing, love. I led you to believe I’m not like them, just like I lead everybody to believe I’m someone I’m not. It’s not my fault you believed it.”
Her jaw drops and I smile. “You were always so cute, though, for trusting me.”
When I wink, her cheeks flash red, the reaction somehow shoving me away from a violent edge so that I can think more clearly.
“Okay, what is the statute of limitations on arson? Five years?”
Tanner’s already jumping on this, his legal knowledge and cunning mind racing to find answers as I grab my drink and swallow a third of it down.
“Five years, maybe,” I answer. “Plus, she was technically a minor when the incident happened.”
Tanner stops. “So he has nothing.”
“Except for the ability to ruin her reputation,” I remind him. “Who the hell is going to hire the woman who burned her father’s pavilion? Or for that matter accept her into our circles?”
“Our criminal circles?” he asks, his brow arching.
“You know what I mean, Tanner. This can’t get out, and if it does, I’m responsible.”
And that’s the part that pisses me off the most. Yes, I’d originally done it with the intent to destroy her, but that was back when I didn’t understand how I felt about Ivy. If this destroys her now,