Page 25 of Stolen Sun

“The fuck?” He asks, looking from her to me.

“Zander, Leah. Leah, Zander,” I introduce them as I sit down.

“Now that we’re all comfortable. Leah, I’d like to explain that I’m not really interested in the who-fucked-who drama. Let’s back up to the night Nate brought in Conner Anderson. What were they arguing about?” I ask.

“Oh, I think about his wife,” she answers, still fucking Zander with her eyes.

Zander takes a seat in the chair beside me and prompts her, “Go on.”

“Let’s play a little game, shall we?” She announces, walking over to us.

I narrow my eyes at her in response.

“It’ll be fun! Since I can’t touch you,” she says, looking at me then turning to Zander, “maybe you can play with me?”

I scoff and wait for Zander to respond.

“Color me curious. What do you have in mind?” He asks.

“For every answer I give that he likes,” she says, pointing to me. “I get a reward from you," she declares and takes a step closer to him.

“Tempting, but your pleasure doesn’t interest me,” he responds.

She pouts and looks between us.

“The only game to play here is to tell us everything you fucking know about Nate Williams and Conner Anderson. Like I said before, I will pay well for the information. If you hold back, we’ll know.” I pull the knife out of my pocket and walk up to her. Touching the tip to her exposed chest, I whisper, “If we decide you’re not telling us everything, I have permission from Isaiah to cut it out of you.”

Her lips part at a sudden intake of breath. Finally, I have her attention. Zander asks the next question as I walk back to my seat.

“This time let’s hear every detail you remember, hm? Now, what were Nate and Conner arguing about?”

“Mr. Conner was pushing Nate to get his wife pregnant. They needed an heir. They never said for what. Nate said he was working on it. He argued with Mr. Conner that their agreement had been marriage right out of college, not kids. He said they had plenty of time left. Mr. Conner insisted it had to be donesoon then left. Nate told Veronica he had made a deal with the devil then told her to take his mind off things.”

“Any other conversations pertaining to his wife or Conner Anderson?” I ask.

She looks down and replies in a much lower voice, “Yes. He confided in Veronica months after that. Apparently, he had been replacing his wife’s birth control pills with placebos for a while. He really did want to get her pregnant, but he didn’t want her father to know how long he had been trying to do it.

Then one night he asked Veronica to help him by having her IUD removed to have his baby. By then, she was so in love with him that she would do almost anything he asked of her. He told Veronica that his wife couldn’t get pregnant, but they could all three share the baby. I tried to talk her out of it, tried to explain to her that she could end up pregnant by another member. She did it anyway.”

“Fuck,” Zander hisses.

I nod. “Thank you, Leah. Now, here’s what happens next. You’re going to continue to work at Cordeliers as usual. As far as Jeff knows, I’ve made a deal with Isaiah to use your services privately in exchange for something he needed. You will come here any time I call. I want to know everything you see or hear pertaining to Conner Anderson or his daughter, Noel.”

Standing, I stalk toward her and grab her by the chin. “Keep your mouth shut and your ears open.”

Her nod is subtle, which assures me she understands I will act on my promise to cut her if needed. Satisfied with the agreement, I walk to the door and look at Zander.

“Give her a burner and take her back in a few hours. Make sure she looks like she’s been thoroughly fucked. She needs to keep up appearances.”

He nods, and I shove the door open to the southern July heat.

Chapter eight

Noel

Seeing Declan at the cemetery yesterday caught me completely off guard. I knew his mother had died when he was young, but I’ve never seen him there in all the times I’ve been in the last six months. In some morbidly weird way, I felt obligated to tell Nate about Declan. Oddly enough, it felt like I had been caught cheating when I saw Declan on my way out from essentially breaking up with my dead husband.

He barely spoke, letting his dad do most of the talking. Then he made it clear he noticed I took off my ring. Since the exchange felt loaded, I’m feeling a little awkward about our lunch plans today. I keep checking the time on my phone, halfway expecting him to cancel based on the assumption that I may not be over Nate.

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