Page 16 of Midnight Salvation

Lucas didn’t stop until Phil was nothing more than a mass of mangled flesh. I had gained and lost a brother in a day.

I stood to stare down at the mess on the floor. “I’ll give you Dad’s new London address. Mum would kill me if that arrived at the family home and left a stain on the floor.”

Lucas stared at me for several seconds before he threw back his head and laughed. “I always thought Jordan was the psychopath and you were the quiet one. I’m re-evaluating my opinions.”

I shrugged and handed him his jacket. “I told you before that my main concern is Lucrezia. I wasn’t lying.”

“I can see that.” His predatory gaze fell on me. “She chose well in her husband. Lucrezia was always the daughter I worried most about.”

He didn’t need to anymore. I already had my estate agent searching for the right property to make into a family home. He had my list of requirements because I didn’t like change, so this would be our forever home.

Lucas shoved his tie in his pocket and calmly walked to the sink at the other side of the room to wash the blood off his hands. He rolled his sleeves down again and put his coat on. “I want to show you around the rest of the base while we’re here.”

He led and I followed, admiring some of the artwork along the way as he introduced me to some of his tech wizards that allowed his reach to scan across the globe. The world got smaller every day with advances in technology. Unfortunately, scientists still hadn’t found the asshole gene or they might have been able to cure Dad of his affliction and make him into a pleasant person.

The set-up was impressive, the vast wealth of knowledge behind these doors staggering. Lucas had been accumulating information on the Council and the members sitting on it for years.

A guy in his early twenties came racing into the room. “Sir, there is an urgent call for you.”

Lucas sighed and followed him from the room, leaving me among the archives that were still in paper form. I paced around for a few moments bored, then I looked Dad up, followed by Xavier’s family, finally lifting the file out on Jordan’s family. There was a reason that his grandfather had eradicated all the information on his family, and it was staring up at me in black and white.

I’d been too engrossed and hadn’t heard Lucas return.

He stood beside me, staring at the file in my hands. “You are family now,” he said in a deep tone. “Jordan can never know the truth behind his parents’ deaths. The Council ordered a hit and the shit hit the fan before any of us could stop it. If he knew, then he would murder every single man on the Council and watch as he burned them on a pyre.”

“He’s entitled to know where he came from. His grandfather refused to speak of his parents. All he has is one tattered photo of his mum.”

Lucas’ hand felt heavy on my shoulder. “We cannot change the past and Jordan would want revenge. This knowledge would torment him and his soul is already in turmoil.”

I handed him the folder that contained the secrets to Jordan’s past. “He’ll never forgive you if you don’t tell him. You are the father he never knew and he’ll see it as a betrayal.”

Lucas nodded. “It’s a risk I’m willing to take. There are too many variables on this board at the moment. I will make you a promise—when the time is right, I will give Jordan this file and he can make his own decisions.”

It was information from a bygone time when we had been too young to know what was happening. Maybe Lucas was right since he lived through it and knew everything. All I understood was Jordan’s pain. I watched him struggle as a teenager to find his identity when he had no clue where he came from. He even used his grandfather’s last name because his entire past had been locked away. Nothing intrigued Jordan more than a mystery.

I hoped I was wrong, but when these secrets emerged, everyone would need to take cover because the collateral damage would have far-reaching ramifications and a high death count.

***

Chapter Six

Lucrezia

Cassandra always waited until the guys had disappeared to sort through all the pieces of paper and clues left behind by her dad and uncle. She knew Xavier worried, but what she didn’t know was that Ash was my husband and there were no secrets between us. We chatted in the darkness, debating ideas about what it all meant. It was the reason I was happy to share my thoughts with the others and not feel silly.

I was an artist, not a legal expert like Cassandra and Megan.

The relevant clues had been removed from the artefacts that Cassandra had brought back from her family home. The earth globe and model of the moon now sat in the library, her family bible and photograph albums on a shelf with photographs of her family.

I had always considered Tuscany home, and for the first time in my life I wanted more. Living here, and seeing the life that Xavier had created for his family made me want that too with Ash. In the future I wanted children and that meant somewhere for them to feel safe and loved.

The table at the back of the safe room had bits of paper and small objects that had been collected from Cassandra’s safety deposit boxes and her old family home. Inside the world globe had been a map with areas marked on it in different colours. The moon sphere had housed an old photographic film that Xavier had had printed by a private photographer. He’d stayed with him the entire time so that nothing was destroyed or taken. The orb of the constellations had hidden a list of names, addresses, and account numbers. Dates were written beside them. The metal box in the safe had contained a book that consisted of pages dedicated to every member of the Council. Cassandra’s dad had written down snippets of conversations, atrocities they had been involved in, and anything he could unearth about their family. He had been keeping a record of them for years.

All that had been inputted into spreadsheets and had made harrowing reading. This Council that my family had sat on for generations saw themselves as being above the law, creating their own rules to live by.

Some of the names were of people who had vanished from the face of the earth, others were cartel leaders who had been ousted. It was a list of people who had been strategically removed to consolidate the Council’s power or allow them to take over a certain field by placing their person of choice into a position.

The world was shaped by greedy men who had a vision, and anything that stood in their way was destroyed.

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