AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I let her go and sniff. “I’m sorry. Really, though, thank you.”
“Girl, you know I’d do anything for you. You’re my favorite human,” she says with a laugh and walks back out of the bathroom. In the kitchen, we find all the guys, including Cole, who returned with sandwiches from the corner deli.
“Food,” Nyx exclaims, punching Cole on the arm. “Thanks,” she says, snatching up two sandwiches and walking over to where Leo is seated in the living room watching television.
I sit down on a stool next to Lucian at the kitchen island, and Cole hands me a turkey sandwich and a can of cola. “Thank you,” I say, unable to meet his eyes. I eat in silence, listening to others talk, enjoying the quiet contentment for as long as it’ll last.
Laughter echoes from the other side of the apartment. With a hand on my best friend’s lower back, Leo leads Nyx in the direction of our little group, hanging around the kitchen island. “Cole, I do believe I just solved your little problem,” Leo says, his eyes soft as he smiles down at Nyx. Is that? It is … there’s a blush darkening her normally rosy cheeks.
“What are you talking about, Leo?” Cole asks, putting his sandwich down and brushing his fingers off with a napkin.
“Do you know what it is Nicole here does for a living?”
Nicole, she never lets anyone call her Nicole. I smile at my best friend, catch on to what’s going on here, though she doesn’t see my knowing gaze with her eyes fixed on Leo at her side.
“Enlighten me.”
“She’s a fixer.”
Cole’s assessing gaze rakes over Nyx, and my hackles start to rise. Lucian places a quelling hand on my shoulder. “Down, girl,” he whispers in my ear.
“A fixer from Jersey. I’m not sure that’ll help me here. I mean no offense, Nicole, but your contacts won’t help me here.”
“First, no offense taken. Second, you’re a dick,” Nyx states blandly, and I bite my lips to keep the snort from escaping. “You don’t know shit about me, just assume a small-town girl has no contacts in a big city. Little do you know, I make it my business to know all the big fish in a pond, in all cities around the world, not just the state I reside in. I have more contacts in more countries than you can dream of. Now, if you don’t want my help, that’s fine. But continue to get my girl wrapped in your shit, and you’ll find out what it’s like to have me coming after you instead.”
“Drop that mic, girl,” I say, and everyone in the room except Cole laughs. The man in question turns on his stool and looks at me, one brow raised. “What? She told you. You’d be stupid to dismiss her so quickly.”
Cole huffs out a breath and turns back to Nyx and Leo. “All right, what would you suggest?”
Nyx’s gaze shifts to me, and, too soon, everyone is staring at me. “We use Devy.”
“I’ve already been down that road. It’s a dead end.” I gape at Cole for his choice of words, a knife slicing through my heart. Not ten minutes ago, he was pressing me against the wall, professing his feelings for me, and now he’s calling me a dead end.
“Devy, I can smell the wheels turning. Stop it,” Nyx chastises me before returning to Cole. “The reason that road was a dead end for you is because you were assuming her family history ran with Black and Smith. You didn’t have your facts straight.”
“What?” Cole’s brows pinch together as he glances between me and Nyx.
“Tell him,” Nyx tells me.
“My mother changed her name. I’m a Cromwell.”
“Fuck, as in Cromwell and Rothschild? You mean you’re the sole heir to the dynasty?” Cole’s gaze snaps back to Nyx, who is sporting a shit eating grin. “Fuck. Okay, you’re hired.”
Blackmailer
A deep seeded anger, one rooted in years of pain and resentment, colors my vision as I read the texts pouring in from my little spy.
AJ
Said he was hanging with the guys today, didn’t say they would be at her place.
Need to increase the pressure on her to keep him at a distance.
ME
Deal with him. I have someone else in play to deal with our little thing.
AJ
