Page 21 of Midnight Salvation

I believed him, because this was the only place where I saw the man behind the mask. He trusted me enough to let me inside his shell with him.

A storm gathered inside this house, the lightning flashing in anger and the thunder the sound of raised voices. I had thought we were safe here, but now I saw that we were cornered with no escape routes. Terror began to pulse through my body with every beat of my heart. Our enemies were gathering and there was nowhere for me to hide.

***

Chapter Seven

Ash

Xavier should fucking know better than to keep us out of the loop. For years, the three of us were all we had—a family forged from mutual hatred of the life we had inherited.

I’d left Lucrezia packing in our room because I needed her distracted. I had clothes in London and I could buy her whatever we needed. When I got off the phone with her earlier, I had dialled into a conference call with the guys so that I could discuss my theories with both of them.

Jordan was easy to track since he smoked when he was angry or stressed.

“Need to talk?” I asked as I came to a stop beside him in the garden.

“Nope. I need to punch something, but I’m sure Cas would protest if I broke her husband’s nose.”

I shrugged. “He had his reasons.” Jordan gave me a sharp look. “I’m not saying that I approve of them, but what matters is sorting this out so we can move on.”

“How was Rome?” Jordan asked, stubbing out his cigarette with his shoe.

“Enlightening,” I replied. “Lucas has been a busy man. It was only when Lucrezia mentioned the symbols earlier that everything started to slot into place.”

“How so?”

“Cassandra’s father was an accountant. Astronomy and astrology are all about numbers. It would have made sense to hide his secrets behind a mathematical equation.” I clasped his shoulder. “When this latest threat is dealt with, we need to talk.”

Jordan needed to know the truth about his parents’ deaths. We were all entitled to know where we came from and who created us. He took a deep breath and nodded.

“Another problem for another day?”

“Something like that,” I replied.

We both headed back into the house. Xavier sat at the counter in the kitchen while Cassandra and her ex-secretary and pseudo Mum Sasha were making dinner for everyone. He stared at both of us for several moments before I nodded toward the room we’d claimed as an office.

Jordan was the hothead of our group, but when my temper was aroused, then it burned hotter than the fires of Hell. Considering that his actions had put my wife at risk meant that I was barely holding my shit together right now.

Anger pulsed inside me with a primitive force that demanded to escape. I softly closed the door when the three of us were inside, my hand rested on the frame.

“What the fuck have you done?” Jordan demanded. “We were supposed to be in this together and now we find that you’ve been treating us like puppets.”

Xavier sighed and trailed his fingers through his hair. “It wasn’t like that. Some of the shit in those boxes are a timebomb waiting to go off.”

Just like my temper.

He didn’t have time to react when I spun around and pinned him to the wall by the throat. “Did you know?” I demanded. “Did you sit there and fucking know who these men were?”

“Ash!” Jordan barked out behind me.

Xavier tried to peel my hand off his throat.

“You’ve been in that place in Rome before. There is no fucking way that you didn’t put two and two together and not get four.”

“What the fuck is going on?” Jordan demanded.

“The zodiac brotherhood, that’s what I’m talking about. Twelve men who decided they could change the world. Twelve men who stood in opposition of the Council.”

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