Page 64 of Hostile Saint

Dagger grinned, too. “Right under a nose, where no one is looking.”

“Umm,” I raised a hand, “why didn’t my uncle come and get me?” No one answered, so I turned to the one I knew wouldn’t fail me. “Lynx?”

Lynx’s mischievous grin faded. “The only reason I would sacrifice one of my family members is to save the majority.” He looked back at the phone. “Justice?”

I could hear fingers typing away as she said, “On it.” Click. Click. Click… “Ooh, there was a recent divorce. Wife, two kids, all back to wife’s home country of Switzerland.”

“How recent?”

“Only months before Tate and Lacey’s marriage and Mr. Young got the house into Tate’s name.”

“Jesus,” sighed Lynx. “He even shipped his family out of the country? Who was he afraid of?”

Justice sneered, “Whoever it was, the fact that he died only days before you found Tate is way too coincidental.”

Lynx’s eyes slid shut. “They found out.”

“Wait!” I asked, my nerves suddenly on fire. “How did he die?”

“Home burglary gone wrong, according to this report.”

Dagger, paling as if already knowing the implications, said, “We don’t believe it’s an accident.”

“What?” I asked. “Are you saying that an uncle I just found out I even had, has not only passed, but he was murdered because of me? And after all his sacrifices, I almost died anyway?”

The room suddenly got hot and humid. Every set of eyes looked everywhere but at me. Maybe the truth was too morbid to speak out loud, so they kept in their thoughts that, by the expressions of disgust, were making them ill.

“Fine. All this may explain why my brothers had been so determined to end my life, and possibly Lacey’s since they knew she was next to get the house, but then why were her own brothers ready to take her down, too? This all feels so… meaningless—” Devious brown eyes from gruesome memories suddenly had my skin crawling.

Lynx’s voice lowered, “What is it, kid?”

I fought my souring stomach. “Jarod and Jake,” I swallowed bile, “both have brown eyes.” It was one thing to put me through Hell, but a whole other to involve my Lace.

“Who?” asked Justice. She hadn’t been asked to research Lace yet.

I fought to not vomit. “Lace’s brothers. Their eyes don’t match your gene theory. Brown. Her mother’s; hazel. Her dad’s; blue.”

As Lynx stared at me, a weighted silence hung in the air. It was finally broken when he slammed the bottom of a fist to the table. “There! There is the connection. I don’t know what it is, but it’s there. Justice?”

“You got it, bro. Just need some of the info on Lacey.”

My heart picked up pace. “Uh, she never had a driver’s permit or license. Her brothers convinced her mom she didn’t need one. I can tell you her address and birthdate and anything else I know.”

“Got it. Okay, I will dig up what I can. Before I go, anything else you want to discuss about the house? Like selling it out from underneath those assholes?”

“The question is,” Dagger said, “do we rattle that cage?”

Again, I was confused, but Lynx added, “That’s what I was thinking. I prefer to let things lay where they are until I know what we’re up against. My gut says there is more to learn.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Telling Lies

The next day, I tried to sleep in but heard male voices talking. Since the topic was me, I felt it was only right to get up and do anything I could to help this growing debacle. Vice’s back was to me as he sat on a stool, facing the kitchen, asking Lynx and Dagger a question when I walked into the living room. “Doesn’t that marriage certificate make it legal for him to claim his wife? Get her out of Serenity?”

Sipping his coffee, Lynx noticed me. Swallowing, he lifted his cup. “Mornin’, Pup.”

I took a stool next to Vice. “Good morning. Is he right? Could I get her out?”