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Chapter Twelve – Giselle
I sent Luca out for some stuff—shampoo, the toothpaste I liked, and a few other things I’d need. I told him I had a meeting at lunch with someone, though I didn’t specify who, and he begrudgingly dropped me off at the restaurant I told him to. I was really meeting her a few blocks down, but I didn’t want him to know that. As far as I was concerned, I could meet up with Shay, tell her what I had to tell her, and then be back at the restaurant before Luca was done shopping. He was supposed to send me a text when he was finishing up.
I wore black leggings, paired with a white shirt. I’d gone with my black gloves, leaving my ring at the suite. My hair was in a messy bun, wrapped up loosely, though a few tendrils had come out, blown around by the wind coursing through the streets of Cypress.
Shay had asked to meet at the same club the Black Hand heirs always seemed to hang out at, which was fine with me. It was in the middle of downtown, so the sidewalks were busy. Not that I would be safe, but at least there would be witnesses if something happened. Zander had tried to meet me here, but it was a conversation I wanted to have with her myself.Plus, that pretty ivory gun was hidden, tucked away where I could get to it if I needed it.
The club was closed, but the front door was open, and I strolled in, finding the place lit up a hell of a lot more than it was at night. There was also not a soul to be seen, except for Jett behind the bar, mixing himself something to drink. I could tell it was Jett, because his face held stubble and his hair was a bit longer.
“Jett?” I said, walking up to him. “Where’s Shay?”
“She’s up top, with Dex,” he answered. “Want anything to drink? It’s on the house.” He chuckled, like he’d just made a joke or something.
“I’m good.” With that, I went to the metal stairs that led up to the second floor of the club, finding Shay in one of the booths. Dex was with her, his arm wrapped around her shoulders, his body leaning into hers as he whispered something in her ear. Whatever it was caused her to laugh and smack him on the chest, and he seemed rather pleased with himself.
Shay spotted me, and she pushed Dex off her. As I walked up, I heard her say, “Give us some space.”
Dex said, “Sure,” a picture-perfect mirror of his brother downstairs, except his square jaw was freshly shaven and he wore much better clothes. He was obviously auditioning to take over once his father stepped down from the Hand.
Only that wouldn’t be happening.
He went down the stairs, but not before he gave me a nod of his head. Once he left, it was just Shay and I, and I was slow in sitting down in the booth across from her. They were rounded booths, a half-circle between us.
Shay leaned her head back, her brown hair wavy, tumbling past her shoulders. Her lips wore her signature red lipstick, her dark eyes done up in an expert smoky look. She was gorgeous, and she had the confidence to match. I didn’t blame any of the guys for needing her so badly they had to share. I just didn’t see myself in half the same light.
“Zander told me there was something you wanted to talk to me about,” Shay started. “Let me say something, first. I heard you got married. Not sure if congratulations are in order or not. I’m guessing not.”
“You’re right. It’s not a marriage I wanted.”
“Hmm.” Shay let out a sigh. “I’d probably be in your shoes, if my entire family wasn’t murdered. Hard to feel sorry for you, though, because yours wasn’t.” So blunt; she never did hold anything back.
“I’m not asking for pity. I didn’t tell Zander to arrange this meeting so you could feel sorry for me. There’s something you need to know, something I heard last night that involves you and quite a few of your… boyfriends.” Still odd calling them that.
That got her attention. “What are you talking about?”
“Rocco Moretti and my father have been getting together and planning something. At first, I didn’t know what it was. I was too busy trying to think about who shot me, but… but now I’m starting to wonder if I was shot just to give me something else to focus on while they schemed.”
“Get to the point.”
And so I did. “Years ago, before either of us was born, a certain Atticus Jameson had an affair with a married woman. That woman was Nixon’s mother.” As I explained, Shay’s face darkened, and I could tell she knew where this was going. “My father knows Nixon is Atticus’s son, and therefore a Jameson. Rocco knows it, too. They’re going to make it public, and when they do, two positions will open on the Hand because everyone will know Nixon isn’t a true Hawke.”
Shay leaned forward, laying her arms on the table between us. “How did they find out? Atticus doesn’t go around advertising that.”
“I don’t know.”
There was a moment of silence before she asked, “Why come to me and tell me? You’re a Moretti now, aren’t you? You have ties to both your father and Rocco now, so don’t you have just as much to gain from this?”
“Rocco is a sick, twisted fuck, and the only thing he deserves is to have his dick sawed off and fed to him, and then a bullet in his head. And as for my father… he’s just as bad, if not worse. If he’s willing to sell me out, to marry me off without telling me—if he’s willing to bring in a new woman into his life and have a son, start a new family, act as if I don’t exist—he deserves the same. I am done playing their games, Shay. I don’t care who gets on the Hand, but fuck, don’t let it be them. Figure something out, accept anyone else—” I stopped when Shay started to laugh.
Yes, she laughed at me.
“I didn’t know you had all that emotion in you,” Shay said, the smile slow to fall off her face. “But I get it. In this line of work, most men aren’t worth shit. I got lucky. I’ll tell Atticus to be cautious when it comes to your father and Rocco, but there’s nothing we can do to stop them from going public with it. The Palmers don’t know about Nix, and they’ll demand him to be Atticus’s heir once they have the proof. Like you said, it’ll open up another spot on the Hand. That doesn’t mean the spots will automatically go to Miguel and Rocco.”
“If there’s anything else you’re trying to hide, I’d find a way to cover it up,” I warned her. “Rocco said they’re on the trail of something else, and knowing my father, he won’t stop until he uncovers it—and from what it sounded like, it’s even bigger than this. Big enough that they’re both confident it’ll get the Palmers to side with them over Atticus.”
Something changed in Shay’s eyes. They turned cold, calculating, and for just a split second, I saw the girl who’d come to Cypress with revenge in her heart. But then it was gone, covered up, masked. “Is there anything else?”
“No, that’s it.”
