orgasm down the drain, hoping Roman hadn’t made it back in time to hear me.
I quickly dried off, got dressed, and went down to the kitchen, pleased to find it empty. He was taking longer than I’d expected to grab muffins. I made myself a cup of coffee and debated whether I should go look for him when my phone pinged. I picked it up to find a text from Roman.
At the house, in your father’s office, need you to come over.
Dammit. So he had told him. I probably should’ve expected it. My father surrounded himself with men who were loyal and knew how to follow orders. I just hadn’t thought Roman was one of them. I didn’t realize how sure I’d been about that until the disappointment hit me. Well, I’d known at some point this would happen. I’d imagined how my father would take it, what he would say and do, a thousand times, and now it was time to find out. I was about to walk out the door when another text came through.
We found another letter. That’s all.
A breath I wasn’t aware I was holding whooshed out of me, followed by a wry chuckle. Just another threatening letter, that’s all. To someone who didn’t know about last night, that would seem like an odd thing to say, but to me, that told me all I needed to know. I hadn’t been wrong about Roman.
I made my way through the house to my father’s office. Roman, Fredrick, and Gerald, one of his guards, sat there. “Good morning, Father.”
“Malcolm,” he said with a nod towards the empty chair. “Gerald was telling us how one of the guards found this letter”—he pointed at the letter, then motioned to a black satin bag laying on the desk—“in this bag hanging on the gate this morning.”
“It was hard to see because it blended in with the black gate. There’s no telling how long it was there. It would’ve been impossible to see in the dark.”
“It wasn’t there at midnight last night, that’s when Trey and I came back in. So it had to be put there after that.”
“You and my son were out at midnight last night?” the Senator asked. I glanced at Roman and waited. If he would say anything, it would be now.
“Yes.” That was it. That was all he said. My father looked at him oddly, but let it go.
“What does this one say?” I asked. Using a pen, he pushed the letter across to me.
“Don’t touch it,” Roman cautioned. I nodded at him and leaned forward so I could read it.
A man who walks in the counsel of the wicked shall be deceived. Do not fool yourself. Choosing bad company will ruin a good man. He shall come to ruin. This is the will of God, that you may be sanctified, your sins turned to ashes, and your soul made pure again.
I am the vengeance of the Lord.
Roman
The blood drained from Trey’s face. He glanced over at me, and I could tell he was wondering the same thing I was. Had the guy seen him at the club? I needed to know if he had any other friends he hung out with or if he and Ash had been anywhere else together recently, but I didn’t want to ask him in front of his father.
“This guy sure seems hung up on the idea of purification by fire. I’m thinking it’s a religious reference versus an actual obsession with fire, but still, I’ll mention it to Felix so he can search his database to see if it gives him any leads.”
“Malcolm and Rebecca have always chosen their friends carefully. Their mother and I made sure of it,” the Senator insisted. “Maybe this is about people I’ve associated with in Washington. You know lobbyists and the like or other politicians.”
“Maybe,” I said. “I’d come over here to get something for breakfast for me and Trey when Fredrick caught me and told me about the letter, so I guess we should get on with that. If I hear anything from Felix, I’ll let you know, Senator.”
“Thank you, Roman. I appreciate you uprooting your life like this to stay here. I know it’s your job, but I want you to know I appreciate the sacrifice. I don’t know if you have a wife or girlfriend you’re neglecting to be here, but if so, please tell her she has my thanks.”
I was sure if I told him no—I didn’t currently have a