Page 63 of The Viper
"Working," she repeated, her tone saying she knew there was more.
I met her eyes. "Yeah."
She held my gaze for a beat, then nodded slowly. She didn't press, which I was grateful for. Maybe she sensed I wasn't ready. Or maybe she was mulling over our relationship.
Is that what this was? A relationship?
The thought hit me sideways, unexpected. We'd fucked—more than once, intense enough to leave marks—but was that a relationship? She was known all over the world, her face on billboards and magazine covers, her life dissected by millions of strangers. My life was known to maybe a dozen people on earth, and that's how I liked it. How the hell could we come together? It was impossible.
Deep down, I knew it. But sitting there beside her, watching the way the light caught her hair, I couldn't make myself care.
I stepped out and moved around to open her door. She slid out, adjusting her sunglasses even though the sun was nearly gone, and looked up at the mansion with something like awe.
Noah met us at the door before we could knock, dressed in dark jeans and a black shirt, sleeves rolled to his elbows. His eyebrows rose when he saw us. "Lucas. Ms. Montgomery. Wasn't expecting you."
"Change of plans," I said.
His expression shifted, reading something in my tone. "Come in."
We followed him through the grand entrance, all marble floors and chandeliers. Lexi's heels clicked against the stone, echoing in the space, and I caught her glancing around—at the sweeping staircase, the oil paintings, the details that screamed money and secrets.
Halfway down the hall, we passed a glass enclosure—a sleek terrarium with soft light and carefully arranged branches. Inside, a black viper coiled lazily, its scales gleaming. Its tongue flicked once, tasting the air. Lexi slowed just long enough to notice it, her breath catching almost imperceptibly. Neither of us asked. We just kept walking.
"This is incredible," she murmured.
Noah smiled faintly. "It has its moments. So, what’s up?"
I laid it out as we walked—the drone at the Kiawah house. The black SUV at the café, two men inside who hadn't moved the whole time we were there. "Could be press," I said. "But it felt wrong. Too patient."
Part of me wondered if the SUV had been Dominion Hall—Noah's people keeping tabs, making sure I stayed on mission. But Noah's eyes met mine, and he shook his head slightly, reading my mind.
"Wasn't us," he said. "I'd tell you, if it was."
We moved into a sitting room off the main hall—leather chairs, dark wood, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the harbor. A butler appeared from nowhere, silent as a ghost, and handed Noah a tablet before disappearing again.
Noah glanced at the screen, his jaw tightening. He grunted and passed it to me without a word.
I looked down. A tabloid website filled the screen, the headline in bold caps:LILA MONTGOMERY'S MYSTERY MAN REVEALED? Actress & Hunky Bodyguard Tour $7M Love Nest on Kiawah Island!
Below it, a photo. Lexi and me at the house, standing in front of the glass doors. We weren't kissing, but the body language was unmistakable—my hand at her back, her leaning into me slightly, both of us looking at each other instead of the view. It looked intimate. It looked real.
Fuck.
"What is it?" Lexi asked, stepping closer.
I handed her the tablet. She stared at the photo, her face going pale, then flushing. "Oh, my God."
"The drone," I said quietly.
"Hannah's going to flip," she said, her voice tight. "And Franklin?—"
Her phone rang, cutting her off. She pulled it from her bag, glanced at the screen, and closed her eyes. "Speak of the devil. It's Hannah."
She held up the phone like evidence. I nodded.
"I need to take this," she said, already moving toward the windows for privacy.
Noah and I watched her go, her voice rising as she answered. "Hannah, I know, just let me?—"
