Page 34 of His Queen

Alexius slams his car door, the morning breeze ruffling through his impeccably styled hair.

“I don’t get it,” I start as he stomps across the gravel. “We’re identical twins. We’re basically two walking wet dreams, but I can never get my hair to fall the way yours does.”

“Yulie’s dead,” he bites out, ignoring my comment.

“I know that. And I knew thatbeforeyou did because I actually answered my phone while you were fucking around. Pun intended.”

“Get off my ass, Nicoli.”

“Jesus, you’re tense for someone who just had sex,” I remark, following him inside. “Does that mean you didn’t finish the job? Because we will not be able to deal with this clusterfuck and your blue-balls attitude today.”

Maximo heads our way, the creak of his leather jacket ricocheting off the walls and through the empty halls. This place is always eerily quiet in the morning. Today it’s even worse, our uneven footsteps echoing off the marble floors. Everything about this place feels unnatural in silence.

“What the fuck happened?” Alexius barks.

Maximo places his hands on his waist, straightening his shoulders. “We were doing an early morning search of the girls’ rooms when we found her.”

“Do we know how she died?” I ask, stepping closer.

“We can’t be sure. But we found this in her room.” He holds out a small bag of white powder.

I raise my brows, disbelief flashing through me. “Cocaine?”

“Yup.”

“Fuck me,” Alexius curses under his breath while running a palm down his face, the color draining from his cheeks.

“Goddammit!” I exclaim. “I knew it was fucking nose candy on Vera’s face last night.”

“How?” Alexius asks simply. “How did it get in here?”

Maximo shrugs, his lips drawn in a thin line. “I’m not sure. But I have our guys looking into it right now.”

“We need to talk to Vera. I bet she has some answers.” I brush past him, but before I can head up the stairs, Maximo’s voice stops me.

“She’s not here.”

I pause, spinning back around to face him. “What?”

“Vera. She’s not here.”

“What do you mean she’s not here? Where is she?”

“She left.”

“She left? You’re saying that like she just stepped out for a grocery run. What do you mean she left?”

“She wasn’t in her room this morning, so we checked the security cameras. She left.”

“With who?”

Lines form on Maximo’s forehead, his gaze cutting from Alexius to me. “You’re not going to like it.”

“I’m already not liking it.”

“I think you need to see the footage.” He hands me his phone, and Alexius steps in next to me as I press play on the screen.

It’s last night’s footage of me and Alexius with Anthony Winslow. “What are we looking at?”

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