EVIL VILLAIN (The Royal Court #3) - Rebel Hart Page 0,64
my tippy-toes to kiss him on his cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you.”
With one last quick hug, I gathered my keys and phone and left.
Avery said she’d come back and get me, but it was still early and I didn’t want to bother her. I took a cab home instead. When I got inside, everyone was sitting around in the living room, apart from Sicily, who I assumed was upstairs.
“Hey,” Avery greeted as I walked in. “I told you I'd come back for you.”
“I know, but I wanted some alone time. The conversation with my parents did not go as I expected it to.” I flopped down onto one of the couches next to Avery.
“Did they take it really hard or something?” Alistair asked.
I looked across the room to where Nathan was sitting on the ground in front of Nikita. “Turns out, your dad handpicked me to be your trophy.”
The statement sucked the energy out of the room. “What?” Nathan said. “I picked you. To hurt Deon.”
I chuckled. “That's what he let you believe. I'm not sure why, but Connor wanted to hurt Deon long before you did. Maybe because of what his mom did? He promoted my dad and moved us near Deon, then he told my dad before Deon got arrested that he was unsafe, and that they needed to keep me away from him. Even his mom. Then not long after Deon went to prison, he promoted my dad again, and moved us out here to be near you.”
“You think Connor had something to do with Deon going to prison to begin with?” Colette asked.
Nathan sighed. “I’ve been thinking that could be the case for a while, but if he met and picked you out before that, he had something premeditated for long before I got mad and wanted to get my revenge on Deon.”
“Jeez,” Kyle said. “How long has Connor been manipulating all of our lives?”
“Since before birth,” Nathan hissed. “And I played right into it.”
“You didn't know,” Nikita and I said in unison.
Colette leaned forward. “Yeah. Besides, you couldn’t have—”
“Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!” All of our heads turned at the sudden exclamation, followed by the pounding of feet down the stairs. Sicily jumped down into the living room, skipping until he was dead center in the group, and then he started to dance. “I’m good. I’m so good,” he sang. “I’m good. OH! Who’s good?”
He pointed at Brayden, who apprehensively said, “Uh, Sicily?”
Sicily did a pelvic thrust. “That’s right! It’s Sicily! I am so good.”
“Hey, Mr. Good?” I asked. “Why are you so good?”
“I’m glad you asked, gorgeous.” He held up a piece of paper. “I found Deon.”
I jumped up. “What?!”
“Are you serious?” Nathan asked.
“Yeah!” Sicily yelped. “He’s in Maine!” We all stared at him blankly. “What?” he asked.
I walked over to Sicily and punched him in the arm. “We already knew he was in fucking Maine!”
Sicily rubbed his arm, beyond used to my tendency to swing when I got annoyed. “You didn’t let me finish.”
I backed away from him a little bit. “You have five minutes.”
“Alright, so. Anisa and Cobalt brought me the phone of the two guys we captured—cakewalk to break, by the way—I found messages from some people who had captured him at some point, but he got away,” Sicily said. “The places they were discussing are near a handful of the pings from when Deon was calling you and Nathan, meaning he started in that area and stayed in that area. About an hour from here, near the prison. At first I was afraid that the calls may have stopped because he went back to prison, but I searched the database, and he’s not listed. More than likely that means…”
“He visited,” I finished.
“Exactly,” Sicily said. “So I’m thinking he might have made a plan to go there and get some help and then ditched his phone.”
“Venom,” I said.
Sicily nodded. “That’s what I’m thinking. So technically, I don’t know exactly where he is, but I’m guessing he does.”
“Who?” Nathan asked.
“There was a guy who took Deon under his wing when he was locked up and made sure he got his education so that he could rejoin high school when he got out,” I explained.
Sicily nodded. “Deon told me Venom was like a dad to him. I hate that it took all of this for me to realize it, but if Deon needed help and he couldn’t come back here for it, he’d go there for sure.”