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“No body,” Caius fills in. “But the water was high in that storm. He was probably washed out to sea. I just got back from checking the lighthouse and the perimeter. Nothing.”
“Well, that’s not a fall anyone can survive. Do you still think your little wife is harmless after she stabbed you and murdered Thiago Avery?” she asks me.
“Christ. She didn’t murder anyone. How would Madelena murder a man Thiago’s size? Think.” I tap my skull.
“You’re very defensive. I’m just trying to help. And besides, I’m worried about you,” she says.
“Well, no need. I’m fine.” I push a hand into my hair. “I’m going to bed. I’ll arrange for someone to move Madelena’s and my things out of the apartment. There’s not much.”
My mother studies me, then turns her gaze to Caius. “What do you think of moving out?”
Caius shrugs a shoulder. “You and I never really liked this house much anyway, right?”
“That’s true.” She swallows her drink and sets the glass on the mantle. “But it’s late to make this decision now. I’m going to bed, and we’ll discuss it tomorrow.” She turns to walk out of the room.
“Decision’s been made,” I say in no uncertain terms. “You’ll start packing tomorrow and be out by the end of the week.”
She stops, glances back at me, expression unreadable. She then turns to Caius and gives him a smile. “Guess it’s you and me again, kiddo.”
He smiles that charming smile of his. “You and me.”
6
SANTOS
My mother is put out over being asked to move, even though she’s had designers to the apartment to refurnish it entirely to her liking. I love my mother, but I also know her. Evelyn Thomas came from nothing. She had Caius when she was in her late teens and scraped by working any job she could find to support herself, her baby, and her parents, whom she never speaks of. As far as I know, they died years ago.
When my father met her, Caius was still a baby. He was smitten upon first sight, and I understand. My mother is a very beautiful woman. But she is also a woman comfortable with manipulating every situation to best serve her wants and needs, and she is incredibly protective of her first-born son.
I get it and hold no grudge against my brother. The two of them are bonded in a way she and I will never be. I had a father who loved me from day one. My father adopted Caius because he wanted my mother. I believe she loves me, but when my father set Caius aside and cut him out of his will, things changed, and I understand the ferocity of her instinct to protect him.
These last few days that she is at the house instructing the staff on her packing, she makes sure to show me how much of a sacrifice she is making for the comfort of myself and my wife, the enemy.
I go along with it because it’s temporary and it’s easier this way. Besides, I have more important things to deal with at the moment.
Val and I pull up to the gates of the Avery property along the edge of town late in the afternoon two days after the incident at the lighthouse. There has been no contact from Thiago. That message I sent still sits undelivered in outer space somewhere. Two more calls to Addy have turned nothing up.
Val slows the car as we pull up to the gates. The security cameras on either pillar zoom in on our faces, and I’m surprised when the gates ease open before we have to announce ourselves to the two armed soldiers approaching from the guardhouse. We drive toward the entrance of the opulent home while I take in the grounds, seeing in my periphery the closing of the gates and the two men standing just outside of the guardhouse watching, automatic rifles slung over their shoulders.
The house itself is a French style stone structure. It is beautiful, certainly, and I imagine the interior to be just as luxurious as ours. I’m sure Bea Avery wouldn’t have accepted anything less than the very best. They can afford it. The Commander was a very wealthy man—the kind of wealth one can only acquire in the line of work he was in. The line of work my family is in.
We are all criminals, no matter how we try to scrub the blood from our hands.
“Wait here for me. I shouldn’t be too long,” I tell Val once he pulls the SUV to a stop.
“You sure?” he asks, peering to look toward the front entrance, the door of which has just been opened.
“I’ll be fine,” I say, watching Camilla and her creepy brother step outside.
I climb out and take note of the armed guards at the door, who step forward as I climb the stairs.
“Search him,” Camilla orders.
“That’s not necessary. I’m unarmed.”
“We don’t believe you,” she says, folding her arms across her chest like she always used to do because she’s still a fucking brat.
Before I have a chance to respond, Bea Avery appears. She’s wearing a black dress, and her long blond hair is loose down her back. She’s still attractive, but she must be aware that her daughter’s beauty has surpassed her own.
