Page 67 of Pucked Around and Found Out

“Stop. We aren’t doing this.” Her words lack heat, she knows it and so do I.

I draw back and look down at her. When I see tears gathering in her eyes, I bite back my growl and push off her. I pace around my damaged room, trying to center myself. When I see her gaze dart toward the open door, I scowl, then kick it shut and flick the lock.

“Talk, now!” I demand as I continue to pace. If I stop I’m worried what I’ll do.

She sits up and crosses her legs under herself then begins thumbing the USB. “Why don’t you just take it and read it for yourself?”

I lean against the wall and stare at her, looking innocent and pure. She’s a light in my darkness. She’s not just fighting for herself or her own freedom, she’s fighting to give the child inside her a better life. I slide down the wall and bend my knees, resting my arms on top of them.

“I want to hear it from you,” I utter.

“Why?” she presses.

I harden my features as I look at her. “You won’t lie to me.” My admission shocks her but she recovers quickly.

“A USB can’t lie, Xaden⁠—”

“Just fucking tell me!” I snap.

She rolls her eyes and her defiance only serves to keep my blood rushing south to my aching cock. “Fiona helped broker the deal between our fathers. She knew Lorenzo had the manpower and my father didn’t. What my father did have was the reach Lorenzo didn’t. She manipulated them into forming a partnership so they could expand into Hollow Hills⁠—”

“What the fuck does that town have to do with any of this?”

“I’m getting there!” she hisses. I shoot her a look of warning that she chooses to ignore like the little brat she is. “This goes back a few years and it involves the Saints, the Filthy Few, the Denver Kings and most of all, The Butcher himself.” Her revelation has me intrigued. “Alexander Denver was framed for murders he didn’t commit.”

I snort. “Everyone knows he is a killer.”

“Yes, except no one has ever been able to prove it. There were never any bodies found.”

“He went to prison for murdering those girls,” I state.

“He never touched those girls. He was framed.” My brows raise in surprise. “Deputy Director Fiona Williams was working her way up the food chain back then. She needed a big case to secure her promotion and what better case than nailing the infamous Butcher.”

“She framed him?”

Toren nods. “She sure did, with the help of Nova’s stepfather.”

“How’d he get out?”

“Vivian Tempest made a friend in the most unlikely person. She vowed to set Alex free if he helped her. Vivian’s team was able to prove Alex didn’t commit those murders. Fiona had a stain against her name after that, she needed to redeem herself so she set her sights on the Saints. Problem was, Vivian was now the lordess of the Saints and she wouldn’t be so easily manipulated like the former lord.”

I’m absorbed by everything she is saying. “Vivian took down the Saints. Fiona tried to pose as a friend and get her to turn on her brother and his friends, but she never did. She gave up the crooked fuckers in the Saints but never gave Fiona what she truly wanted.”

“The Butcher,” I state.

She nods. “She has been trying to find a way to nail Alex. She’s tried going after the Denver Kings and the Filthy Few, but she’s a fool. Alex handed everything over to Carnage and the others and has no ties to the Kings anymore. He gave up that life to be with Tate. He’s moved on but Fiona hasn’t.”

“That bitch did all of this over a fucking grudge because some guy who got out of prison?”

He smiles but it’s dark. “Not just some guy, Alex is a lot more than that to Fiona.”

My brows draw in as I mull over her words for a minute then it hits me. “He butchered someone she cared about.”

“Ding ding ding,” she singsongs. “Our dear Fiona had a brother that was an addict and liked to rape women when he was high. Alex was the one to stop him.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

TOREN