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Antony shoots me a questioning look. I give the slightest shake of my head. I can’t talk about the coffin. Not now. Not with that hardness in Eli’s eyes. I might be stripped bare, but I wouldn’t flay my own skin off in supplication. This story is as close to the truth as I’m willing to get.
“Daddy wanted me to take over his empire. He trained me from the day I was born to manage the vast underground networks he used for illicit trade. He taught me himself, and he would let me hide in the closet or under his desk when he held meetings with subordinates or enemies. I got my obsession with ancient Rome from him. But this knowledge came with a price. He couldn’t allow me to enroll in a normal school. He kept me shut away in the house, and when I attended events with him, it was always in elaborate disguises. Antony was one of the few friends I had who he allowed to see my real face.”
“Why?” Noah’s back is ramrod straight, his posture perfect. That’s Noah Marlowe for you, all buttoned up and perfectly put-together – a mask with perfect edges but made of glass that will shatter in an instant.
“Daddy knew that to be a woman in his world meant I’d become a pawn to be moved around the chessboard and sacrificed at will. Vultures would circle, trying to take my power and carve up our empire amongst themselves. He didn’t want that for me, so he kept me to himself so I’d become strong. Daddy barely let me leave the house – I didn’t have friends. Antony was the only person outside the house who I was allowed to talk to.”
I swallow again. “Daddy trained me to be a queen. On the chessboard, the queen is the ultimate weapon, but only because the player has to be prepared to sacrifice her if the reward was high enough. My eventual marriage would seal an alliance with another important crime family and allow me to hold on to our empire, and Daddy didn’t want to show me off on the market too soon. When the king was removed from the table, I knew I’d be collateral damage. The man who killed my parents wanted control of my father’s empire – they couldn’t yet marry me, and they couldn’t risk keeping me alive.”
“You sound like you know who took out your parents?”
I nod. “His name’s Brutus. He’s my uncle, and he was my father’s tribune – his lieutenant, second in command. But he and Daddy disagreed on certain aspects of the family business. Brutus wanted to get out of the antiquities trade and move into human trafficking – there’s more money in it and a bigger local client base. Daddy wouldn’t hear of it – it went against his fucked-up moral code. Next thing, my parents end up dead and Brutus is the new Imperator of the August empire. It doesn’t take Eli’s Sherlock Holmes orgasm face to put the pieces together.”
Antony shakes his head at me, warning me that I’m saying too much. But I can’t. I’m falling to pieces under the intensity of Noah’s curiosity and Gabriel’s storm-filled silence and Eli’s rage.
“When they were killed, I didn’t know what to do or where to go. I just knew I had to get away from my crumbling family before my uncle came for me. So I went to Antony, who’s always looked after me. Antony owns a fight club called The Colosseum in Tartarus Oaks that brings in a lot of money for the three crime families of Emerald Beach, so he’ll always be safe. He showed me a newspaper article about the disappearance of the Malloy family – a mother, father, and their blonde-haired, blue-eyed daughter who looked uncannily like me.”
Antony moves from the door to the chair opposite the sofa, flopping down with his huge feet hanging over the end. He flips open his jacket, letting the guys see the gun strapped there. I notice Noah staring at him with a weird expression on his face, almost like he’s trying to work something out.
My cousin strokes the weapon like a lover. “I knew we could use Claudia’s resemblance to this Valley girl to our advantage. I discovered Malloy Manor was unoccupied. A little digging revealed no relatives would be making a claim on the place. Dear Howard was the black sheep of the family, and there was a belief from media and authorities that he was involved in something shady—”
“He was,” Noah rasps, his fists clenching at his sides. “He released supplements into the market without adequate testing. He killed people.”
Antony nods. “Of course he did. He’s a rich asshole with no morals. But as your court loss attests, his crimes were perfectly legal. The authorities couldn’t get anything to stick to Howard Malloy, and you can’t put a man away for being a rich asshole with no morals or all of Harrington Hills would be behind bars. But you don’t build a house with bullet-resistant glass and the highest spec security system unless you expect to be invaded, and Howard’s family knew that. The Malloys are wealthy enough – they don’t need the trouble if the cops found anything untoward. A few quick calls to some of my associates around the country ensured they weren’t planning to take possession of the property, although they’re still scrapping over the money held in Malloy’s investments. That left the house free for us to claim.”
“How do you figure that?” Noah sounds genuinely interested.
“Squatter’s rights,” Antony drawls.
“What the fuck is that shit?” Eli splutters.
“In the state of California, if a squatter occupies a property for five years and the owners don’t return to evict them, they’re legally allowed to take possession of the property.”
“Antony was a law student,” I say. And soon he’ll get to be again. My cousin dangles his leg over the end of the sofa. I notice a bloodstain on the cuff of his jeans, no doubt from his time at the club. Brutus forced him to quit school to run the club, and Antony needed Brutus to trust him, so he obeyed. I can’t wait to get him out of there before he’s forced deeper into the family business. “He knows all about it.”
“That’s complete bullshit.” Eli’s hands ball into fists. “You can’t just take Mackenzie’s house.”
“Why not? She’s not using it. I’ve been here four years. I have to wait until I’m eighteen to apply for ownership, but since I ran away close to my thirteenth birthday, I don’t have long to wait now. It’s a crazy idea – hiding in plain sight – but it’s worked for four years. I had to get a shitty job at a diner and Antony dropped out of school to work for the August family so we could pay the property taxes. We sold a few of the antiques when we got desperate, but we didn’t want to risk anyone following up on their provenance. The city doesn’t give a shit about the house as long as they get their money. A few kids have scaled the fences, and I get the odd reporter snapping pictures or opportunistic thief consumed by a lust for shiny things. But I just wander past the windows in a white nightgown and stare them down, and they run away pretty fast. It’s easy to hide when the world thinks you’re a ghost.”
I dare a glance at Eli and see he’s pale as a ghost himself. I remember him from years ago, his soft fingers curled around the iron gate as he peered inside. I thought he was just another journalist intrigued by the story of the disappearing Malloys, but he was here to protect me, just like he promised.
No, not to protect you. You’re not her, and Eli owes you nothing.
I fooled myself into believing Eli cared about me. In my weakness, I forgot I was wearing the mask of Mackenzie Malloy. Eli’s fire still burns bright for her, and there’s no room for anyone else in those baby blue eyes.
I turn back to the other two. I can see the cogs turning in Noah’s head as he puts all the pieces into place – all the weird clues I’ve laid over the last few weeks that he hadn’t wanted to fit together. Gabriel finishes his drink and reaches for another, and my fallen angel’s true heart sinks into oblivion as the alcohol takes over.
I can’t see what Eli’s thinking anymore because I won’t look at him. If I look I will crumble.
I suck in a breath and continue. “This isn’t about turning Malloy Manor into the seat of my criminal empire. We’re doing this so we can get out of the family – Antony and I. And Queen Boudica. She had such a shitty start to life, I want to give her everything. They’re my family and I’ll do anything to protect them.”
“Then why are you at school?” Noah asks. I know he’s thinking about all the tutoring he’d done with me, realizing why I couldn’t write an essay to save my ass. “Why are you so determined to stay there if it puts you in danger?”
“One of the neighbors heard me playing music because, for all of Howard Malloy’s security measures, he didn’t install sound dampening around the media room. Sound travels down the valley to the neighbors, who called the police on me. An officer came to the door and I… I knew what I had to do. I pretended to be her. It worked too well. The cop believed me, but he wanted to check up on me and get me in trouble for being a minor living alone. He demanded to know what school I went to, and I said the first name I could think of – Stonehurst Prep. Now I have to keep up the charade that I’m Mackenzie, so I have to go to school.” I shrug. “The rest you know.”
“Won’t the fact that you pretended to be another person put a stain in your claim for the property?” Noah asks. He doesn’t sound angry any longer, more like he’s excited to put the puzzle together.
That’s usually Eli’s role in the group – he’s the one who has to solve everyone’s problems. But Eli won’t be able to think his way out of the mess I’ve made of his life, and Noah is fucked-up enough that maybe, if he tries hard enough, he can sink to my level.
