Page 14 of The Devil's Embrace

Well, that was a lie.

It was because Nero’s mother had been in the process of running for mayor of the city—again—and her squeaky-clean public image had outshone his. When she’d called for justice, cried on camera, and demanded he pay for what he’d done to her son, the world had wept for her.

Hell, even Cal had felt the power of her speeches. His guilt had tripled every time he accidentally heard one on the radio or TV.

Really, with the kind of power she’d wielded, he should have gone to prison, no matter what reasons he may or may not have had for slamming into her kid. No matter the fact he’d gotten testimony from a renowned doctor in his favor. He was gearing himself up for that end, in fact, when by some twist of fate, the report on his hovercar had come back indicating there was a problem with his pedals.

The courts and Nero’s mom turned their attention to the company that’d made the car, but the damage to Cal’s reputation was already done.

Case in point, the way Amory Paige had been staring at him from across the table ever since he’d entered the room. Despite his good guy persona, Cal hadn’t had any real friends—that was why it was so easy for them all to turn on him. He’d been friendly with everyone, but close with none, and that line in the sand had cost him everything. This was no different. He and Amory had maybe spoken a handful of times in the past; she’d been in the same graduating class.

She’d witnessed his whole fall from grace.

Had she been close with Nero back then?

Was she still?

Did she blame Calix?

Cal looked over and met her gaze before replying to Troya, “It wasn’t for free.”

He’d kept his voice down, but she’d caught what he was saying. Amory gave no reaction, however. Making it impossible to tell if she knew about last night’s plans, let alone guess if she’d been a part of them.

It didn’t matter.

Nero had to have been the one to send Heathe. After the incident, he’d been shipped off planet for intensive physical therapy in the hopes the diagnosis could be overturned. With how advanced technology was, everyone had been certain with the type of coin his family had, they’d find a way to get him mobile again in no time.

Last Calix had heard, they were still looking.

He shouldn’t be thinking about this now. After last night, surely he was the talk of the town again, anyway. It didn’t matter why she was staring him down—whether it was for what had happened eight years ago or eighteen hours ago.

Calix needed to focus. The second this case was done, he could finally be free of it all.

“That’s what I told everyone at the reunion,” Troya surprised him by saying then. “That it had to have been a group of guys that got the jump on you.”

He sent him a questioning look, knowing better than to assume that was done out of the goodness of his partner’s heart.

“We may be trying to keep a low profile now,” Troya explained, “but it’ll be all over the news before long. Everyone and their grandmother will know why we’re really here, and the last thing I need is for them to doubt our capabilities because you got jumped your first night back on planet.” He sent him a sideways glance and then added, “And, actually, we both know you’re not that easy to take down.”

Calix had been drugged, but he didn’t bother pointing that out now. Instead, he chose to make them both even more uncomfortable by stating the obvious. “That almost sounded like you complimenting me just now.”

“I think you’re a dick with a not so secret death wish,” Troya stated. “But that also makes you hella good at your job.”

“Something to share with the class, boys?” Amory called them out, loud enough to cut off Bruce and catch the attention of the other three officers in the room with them.

“Show some respect,” Bruce snapped. “They’re I.P.F. agents.”

“They’re taking over our case after all of the hard work we’ve already put into it.” She glared between the two of them. “It’s funny, I don’t remember you as being the lazy type, Valimir. What? Can’t do your own legwork anymore? Have to come here and steal—”

“If you’d been capable of solving this,” Troya cut her off, settling back in his seat with a roll of his icy blue eyes, “you would have already. That’s why the case was handed over.”

Before she could say something biting back, Calix opted to attempt smoothing things over. They were going to have to work together on this whether they liked it or not, and he’d prefer if they at least pretended to get along in the interim.

“Similar murders have been logged on other planets in a neighboring galaxy,” Calix said, keeping his voice as friendly as possible with the woman openly glaring at him. “There’s a pattern, and that pattern led us here.” He tapped his finger to the linoleum table top. “We all want this killer brought to justice.”

She snorted. “Funny, coming from you.”

“Great,” Troya grumbled. “Looks like another one of your fans from back in your glory days.”

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