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He didn’t know about this unsent email, but she could have said something that tipped him off. Maybe she confronted him about her suspicions, and he… and he…
I’ll kill him.
Claudia’s hand clamps on my shoulder, reminding me that I can’t go postal in the middle of this party, that we’ve got a job right now and that needs to be done before I eviscerate John Marlowe and choke him with his own intestines.
Grace coughs into her hand, her whole body racked with pain. She wipes her mouth on the back of her hand. “Noah, you look ready to murder him. Please, don’t touch him. It’s not your job to take care of this. It’s my job to look after you, to get justice for my sister. I sent everything I found to my old boss at the paper. The article comes out tomorrow. And then… I don’t know what will happen. Your father will know I was the one who did it. He will know what I suspect him of. Things will get ugly, Noah. I’m afraid I’ve blown up your life, but—”
“He’ll pay.” I can’t help the grim smile that tugs at my lips. “You’re going to burn his entire career to dust, everything he’s worked for. And it’s exactly what he deserves.”
As much as I want to feel my father’s life slip through my fingers, what Grace has done is even more satisfying. John Marlowe got involved with a crook and killed his own son, then put my mother through the pain of a sham trial before killing her to cover up his crimes. He made me believe she abandoned me, that I was so unloveable that she’d rather die than carry on without Felix. And all to save his precious reputation, to keep his illicit activities out of the press.
And now, the tough-on-organized-crime senator will reap what he’s fucking sown.
He’s done for. He’s hung himself by his own noose.
Only when he’s reached absolute rock bottom, when he’s died a thousand deaths in the media for the evil he’s done, will I kill him for real.
“Veritas liberabit vos,” Claws whispers, reverting back to her father’s Latin lessons. “The truth will set you free.”
“I needed you to know,” Grace whispers, her hand curling around my arm. Her skin feels too hot. It’s sheened in sweat despite the cool air in the club. “I wanted you to hear it from me. Your father will fight back with everything he has, and I couldn’t stand it if you thought I wanted to hurt you after everything you’ve been through.”
I gather her in my arms. She’s skin and bones, a shadow of the bubbly, vivacious Grace I remember. “I’d never believe that. You’ve been more of a parent to me in four years than he ever was.”
“Are you safe?” Claudia asks Grace. “You shouldn’t be anywhere near him when this story breaks. Come to Malloy Manor.”
“That’s sweet, but I have a plan. I need to go home with him tonight, or he’ll suspect something is up,” Grace says. “But you know how heavily he sleeps, Noah. I’ll be long gone by the time he wakes up. Old newspaper friends in New York are helping to hide me. I’ve got it all worked out. I’ll call you as soon as I can.”
I hold her tighter, never wanting to let her go. I want to insist that she comes with us instead. We have Tiberius, and Antony, and all of Claudia’s other soldiers. We can protect her. But she’s right, she’s probably better all the way across the country.
“We should get back out there,” Grace says, pulling back abruptly and smoothing down her dress. “I don’t want him to see me talking to you, in case he thinks you have anything to do with it.”
He’s going to think that anyway. But I don’t know if it matters. John Marlowe is going down.
Grace leaves first, stumbling over the lip of the paneling. A hard lump forms in my throat as I watch her go.
Claudia turns to me, icicle eyes blazing with blue flame. “You okay? If you want to, we can skip the trial by public opinion, and I get Antony and Tiberius to kidnap him for a little personal revenge.”
Yes. My fingers curl into her soft skin, imagining digging into his neck, squeezing the life from his despicable lungs. “No. Grace is right. The media will do it for us, and it will be all the more enjoyable watching him brought down in public. When that story breaks, his career is over. He’ll go to jail, and they won’t be kind to him in there.”
“That’s my dark prince talking. Can you go back out to the party?” she asks. “Can you smile and shake hands with his sycophants and do what we came here to do, or do I need to get you home?”
“I can do it.” I’m here for her. We need to get the information out of Daphne to have something to bargain with, so we can get Claudia out of this fucking marriage.
“Good.” Claws holds up her phone. “Because Gabriel has got her in position. We’ve got work to do, and I want you by my side. I don’t know if any of the others have the stomach for this.”
I hold out my arm for her – outwardly, I’m the perfect gentlemen, but inside my beastly heart races at the thought of what’s to come. “After you, Mackenzie Malloy.”
Claudia rolls her eyes as we step out of the hidden room and push our way through the coats. Back in the club, the press of bodies is even more intense than before. I spy my father in the far corner, smiling broadly as he chats to Chad’s parents. No one notices as we slip through a door into a short hallway leading to a single elevator.
Our feet sink into thick burgundy carpet. A large man who makes Tiberius look like a teddy bear guards the elevator, arms folded and frown directed at me. His eyes widen when he sees who’s on my arm – every crook in this city recognizes Claudia August.
Claudia smiles at the operator. “Gabriel Fallen came this way with two women. Which room are they in?”
“I gave them fourteen, ma’am.” The man pulls open the elevator cage for us and presses a key into her hands. “Have a good night.”
“I intend to.” Claudia’s smile could melt butter.
We exit the elevator three floors up into another plushly-carpeted hallway. Gold-flecked wallpaper and gilded portraits adorn the walls. From behind the row of closed doors come moans and cries.
