Page 144 of The Best of Us

“The League.” At the sound of Constantine’s voice finishing his brother’s suspicion, I abruptly turned to see him standing at the living room entrance, a pained expression crossing his face.

Colin pulled free of my hold and rushed to him, wrapping his arms around his father, smashing his cheek against his dad’s hard body.

Constantine tipped his head to the side to meet my gaze, and then he flicked his wrist, a silent request to join them.

I sidestepped Alessandro and joined in on their embrace, standing quietly together with Colin sheltered between us.

We were a family. Together now. And not anyone, not adamnone, could break us apart.

Chapter47

Constantine

“I’ll be fine,”I promised Juliette. “We have to work together to figure this out. I have no choice.”

Would it be awkward to get on FaceTime with her brother and the man who hated me? Yeah, but what choice did I have? Carter Dominick would have to deal with it, just like I would. We were all officially mixed up in this with Colin’s girlfriend binding us together.

“I’ll go talk to Easton. Give me a few minutes.” She squeezed my hand, then left the room.

I quietly signaled to my mother to go with her, not wanting Juliette to be alone. Ever again, in fact. And definitely not until this situation was officially just another skeleton in my closet. Although, I’d racked up quite a few more bodies tonight.

“We’ll get Lennon back,” I told Colin when he peered at me with a distraught expression. “Someone’s gone through extraordinary lengths hoping to get their hands on this device, and they can’t back down now. They realize their only way out is to see this thing through to the end. They have no choice but to try. Keyword:try.”

His gaze shot around the room to my family, still hanging out like protective shadows. “Is Daniel still alive, or was he just a means to an end, too?” he asked in a shaky voice. “If he’s obsessed with her, and if he sets a hand on her, so help me.” His fingers curled into his palms, fisting at his sides as his jaw strained.

I really wanted to tell him Daniel was dead and nowhere near Lennon, but I didn’t want to lie to him. Because my gut told me that animal was still out there. “Whoever Daniel’s been talking to is more than likely the one pulling the strings. There’s no way Daniel could pull any of this off on his own.”

The man-child had pissed his pants when Hudson strung him up last week. Nah, he didn’t have the balls to go up against us, not on his own.

“Someone else forced Jamie to meet with the Sicilians in an attempt to execute their plan to use you as leverage for the cyber wallet,” Hudson spoke up, standing next to me.

“Lennon trusted Daniel,” Colin snarled. “When we first met, she said he was like another brother, promising me he was a good guy and not to worry.” He dropped a few F bombs that I ignored. “I should never have trusted him.” Hetsked, nostrils flaring, ready to go to war himself. “Daniel must really hate that he was the one who accidentally brought Lennon into my life.”

“What do you mean?” I asked as Izzy came up alongside Hudson, her curiosity piqued as well.

Colin glanced at the three of us standing opposite him, then focused squarely on me. “He was the one who told her about the chat room on the app to help her deal with her parent issues. Well, lack of them. He used it himself since his dad hadn’t been in his life.”

“His dad’s not listed on his birth certificate,” Izzy spoke up, keeping her tone soft. “No records of him. Do you know anything about his father? Did Lennon share anything since they had a friendship?”

Colin puffed out his cheeks, then let the breath go as he nodded. “His dad reached out to him around Christmastime. I guess he had an affair and wanted to keep Daniel a secret. His wife had passed away, though, so they began talking. From what Lennon shared, they haven’t met in person yet.”

“This can’t be a coincidence,” Izzy said. “What if Daniel’s father is League?”

Colin shook his head. “No, his dad’s not Irish.”

“You don’t have to be Irish. The League is all over Europe and Asia.” I tipped my head Dad’s way. “Your grandfather was part of The League in Italy. Sebastian’s sort of in charge of it all now, but that’s more of a recent development.”

“Think of it like a president over governors.” I supposed Izzy was trying to simplify this for Colin’s sake, but it was far more complicated than that. “They used to be more of a ‘Knights of the Round Table’ kind of organization, but it’s safe to say you could consider Sebastian the king.”

“Unofficially,” my father said at the tail end of a cough.

Colin raised his hand, and my dad cracked a smile at his sudden politeness in asking permission to speak.

I smirked and nodded the OK to talk.

“I’m only sixteen, so you know, forgive me, but this League-Alliance cyber wallet bullshit sounds like a ‘Thanos trying to get theInfinity Stones’ situation. In this case, let’s call Sebastian Iron Man and The League theAvengers. Are you suggesting someone on theAvengerswants to overthrow Iron Man, and they can do it if they have this wallet thingy?” Talking with his hands, Colin did a three-sixty, looking around at all of us.

At least he was calmer now, and he didn’t seem to hate me for being unable to save Lennon tonight. My heart could only handle so much.

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