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He disconnected the call and tossed his phone down on the couch and then pushed a hand through his hair. “Lucian, Olivia, Cora—everyone’s safe. There were armed Triad enforcers on the roof who were waiting for their chance to send a message, but thanks to Sebastian, they never got the chance. They won’t be a problem any longer, according to Lucian, and the wedding is still happening tomorrow as planned.”
A silence hung over the group as everyone processed what Max had just said. Theo reached for one of the glass tumblers Max had set out and poured himself a drink, then took a healthy swallow.
“Okay, I need to know,” he said, setting his drink down and loosening his tie. “Just who the fuck is our brother?”
Theo and Lauren knew next to nothing. Kayla, Sebastian, Willa, and Max knew more, but Kayla wasn’t sure just how much everyone knew. Even what she knew was nebulous at best.
Max poured himself a drink, slugged it back in one, and then unbuttoned his cuffs and rolled up his sleeves. Then he sat down and made eye contact with each and every one of them.
“What I’m about to tell you does not leave this room. Understand?”
Everyone nodded. Willa stood. “I know all of this, so I’m going to make some tea. Anyone?”
Kayla nodded and Willa disappeared into the kitchen.
Max sighed. “Lucian is the head of an organization called the Kings of Hell’s Kitchen. They used to be tied to the organized crime families in the city, policing them, doing favors for them, sort of existing on the periphery. But that all changed two years ago when the Italian mafia kidnapped Olivia. Lucian decided then and there that they were going in a different direction, and instead of policing the criminals from within, they were going to take them down.”
“Take them down how?” asked Lauren. “I don’t understand.”
“Wait, Olivia was kidnapped?” asked Kayla, her eyebrows shooting up. “I never heard about that.”
Max chuckled, a smooth, dark sound. “Probably because everyone involved in kidnapping her is dead, so it didn’t exactly make headlines.” Then he turned his attention back to Lauren so he could answer her question. “They used to be a sort of neutral organization that settled disputes and kept the peace. Now, they hand out justice in a much more…direct form.”
“They’re vigilantes,” said Theo quietly, shaking his head. “Holy shit.”
Max nodded. “They are. They do the dirty work that law enforcement can’t or won’t do in the hopes of making the city a better, safer place.”
Kayla let out a little laugh, the last of the adrenaline leaving her system. “Wait. Lucian is rich and handsome and secretly fights crime…so, basically, he’s Batman?”
Max’s lips twitched. “Don’t ever call him that, but yeah. Sort of.”
“How do you know so much?” asked Sebastian. “I mean, I knew some of it because of how much he helped me over the years, but I had no idea about any of this vigilante stuff.”
Max swallowed. “Because I help them.”
“You’re out there fighting bad guys?” asked Theo, a note of incredulity in his voice, although Max was the biggest and strongest of all of them, so it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility.
He chuckled. “No. But I design software for them, help them get tech equipment.”
“He’s basically their personal IT guy,” said Willa with a soft smile, returning with two mugs of tea. Kayla accepted hers, wrapping her chilled fingers around the warm mug.
“Wow,” said Theo softly, shaking his head. He poured himself another drink and took a sip. “I’m just having a hell of a time getting my head around this. I thought…you know, I knew there was something there, but I assumed it was dark, criminal-type stuff that he didn’t want us to know about.”
Max tilted his head. “I think for a while it was.”
“So then what happened?”
“Olivia,” said Sebastian simply. “I think everyone in this room can appreciate how finding the person you’re meant to spend your life with changes everything.”
The person you’re meant to spend your life with.
Kayla rolled those words around in her mind as she sipped her tea. Her mind was reeling as it jumped back and forth between the home invasion in the past, and the present, where she was trying to wrap her mind around this new information about her boyfriend’s brother.
“…saved everyone,” Max was saying to Sebastian when she tuned back in, snapping herself out of her swirling thoughts. She sipped her tea and forced herself to focus on the conversation. “If you hadn’t gone up to the roof and seen the men, I don’t know what would’ve happened.”
A silence fell over the group as they all contemplated that. Lauren snuggled into Theo, pressing her face into his neck. Kayla tried and failed to name the feeling rising up inside her. It was a hollowness yawning inside her, a shakiness in her limbs, a sluggishness to her thoughts. It was overwhelming and oppressive and she felt the sudden urge to be alone.
Standing, she set her tea on the coffee table. “I’m sorry. I’m feeling…shaken. I think I need to lie down.” She turned and headed up the stairs, then closed the door to the guest room behind her. She didn’t bother to turn on any lights and laid down on the bed, letting the mattress and soft duvet cradle her. Tears pricked her eyes, and she let them come, watching the lights of the Manhattan skyline blur before her.
