Chapter 110

Did I know about Nicholas’s past? I thought I did.

A tiny voice whispered in my head, Maybe not as well as you think.

No, I couldn’t let Julian sow doubt inside of me. No matter what he thought, there had to be a logical explanation for whatever happened. Nicholas wasn’t the type to just steal people’s girlfriends.

Perhaps Nicholas dated someone Julian liked, and Julian was just jealous. I wouldn’t suggest that to him, however.

Even now, pain shone in his eyes, even with the smile that returned to his lips. He’d clearly been hurt by whatever happened, no matter how much he tried to hide it.

Because of this, I didn’t want to ask him any more questions, or even bring it up at all. Maybe he was right. Maybe all I was doing was kicking the hornet’s nest. Sometimes the past was meant to stay in the past.

It hurt that the brothers couldn’t move beyond it, but who was I to try to brute force that into happening?

I lifted a hand and placed it on Julian’s shoulder. He glanced at it, eyes widening slightly.

“I’m sorry for your heartache,” I said. “Whatever the cause.”

He continued looking at my hand. His smile wavered again. “Do you mean that?”

“Of course, I do,” I said. “I care about you.”

Suddenly, he pulled me into a hug. His arms wrapped around my waist, and his head lowered into the nook between my neck and shoulder.

His hands on me were gentle, placed respectfully on the small of my back.

He was surprisingly tender. Until this moment, I always thought he flirted and teased with me just for the entertainment. Maybe that was part of it, sure. Yet when he acted like this, I felt like maybe he did like me, even if just a little.

Emboldened by that thought, I reached my own arms up and wrapped them around his neck.

He stepped further into me, pressing his chest to mine.

“Julian…”

“Please, let me, Piper. Just for a minute more.”

“Alright.”

So for a long moment, we held each other in the quiet of the parlor and didn’t say a word.

I wondered how long it had been since Julian received a good and honest hug, one that didn’t have to mean anything or lead to anything. One he could share with someone who truly just wanted him to be himself.

Julian had his flaws, certainly, but we all did. He’d only ever done his best for me despite his teasing. How could I not be grateful? How could I not like him for the person he was?

Our moment was interrupted by someone loudly clearing his throat.

I turned my head and saw Nicholas in the entryway. My heart jumped up into my throat and I lowered my arms from Julian’s shoulders.

Julian, it seemed, didn’t have to look to know who it was. “You always seem to find the worst moments to intrude upon, brother.”

“I didn’t come here to intrude,” Nicholas said, though his voice was stiff, unnatural, like he was trying hard to stifle his anger.

Julian sighed. Though he finally lifted his head from my shoulder. “What did you come here for, then?”

Nicholas closed the parlor door behind him and walked further into the room. “I wanted to discuss the next steps we should take to find Piper’s sister.”

I turned from Julian in a flash and walked toward Nicholas. The line of my thinking had halted and abruptly shifted. I’d do anything to find my sister, and to discover the truth behind her involvement in the underground organization.

“Do you have an idea?” I asked, as hope filled my heart.

His face fell a little, looking at me. “I’m sorry, Piper. Not really. But if we put our heads together –”

“If we just ask Julian, is what you mean to say,” Julian cut in. He sauntered closer and cast Nicholas a dagger-sharp glare. “Since I’m the only one with an evil-enough brain required for truly investigating the underground.”

“You aren’t evil,” I said at once.

Julian’s gaze softened somewhat looking at me. “Thank you, dear. But what I mean, is that I’m the one who can think like them. Scheme like them. You two are too innocent and pure.”

Nicholas straightened. “I’m perfectly capable of strategizing their movements.”

“Oh? Then you know where they’re hiding and what their plans are?” Julian laughed. “What a relief! I thought this might be much more difficult than all that.”

“Julian,” I scolded, but he ignored me now.

“Someone as high and mighty as you, brother, has no idea what it’s like to slither around in the dark.” Julian’s voice chilled, icy. “The people we are dealing with have no concept of right and wrong. They only know selfishness. They’ll push anyone aside for their gains.”

I worried my bottom lip. I didn’t want to tell Nicholas that I agreed with Julian. Nicholas was a beacon of light and good, always abiding by the rules. I couldn’t imagine him lowering himself enough to even imagine himself a member of the underground.

Julian, however, loved his schemes. He always seemed to be playing some kind of game, and was easily ten steps ahead of me at any point.

“You would know more about using people,” Nicholas said.

“And you would know about selfishness, but that alone hardly helps us here,” Julian replied.

Quickly, I sidestepped, coming directly between them and blocking their sight of one another.

“That’s enough,” I said. “This argument gets us nothing. We need to keep our heads together,” I said to Nicholas. To Julian, I added, “We need to place our differences aside. That’s the only way we might stand a chance finding them and stopping them.”

Nicholas sighed. “She’s right.”

Julian snapped, “Of course, she’s right. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

His hurt was fresh, like a scab that had fallen off too soon. His heart was bleeding all over the place and it made lash out.

“Julian, please.”

Since he was the one who could strategize the best out of us three, I needed him to keep his head clear and focused. We were depending on that. I tried to convey all of that in those two little words.

He lowered his head, looking properly shamed for a moment. When he lifted it again, his eyes were clearer. He nodded at me, and I knew he finally meant business.

I stepped back so we could all see each other once more.

“Protecting Elva will always be my primary focus,” I said. “But after that, I’m desperate to find out my sister’s level of involvement in the organization. She could be voluntarily involved. She could be there against her will. If she needs saving, I want to save her.”

“We will save her,” Nicholas said, and I drew comfort from his reassurance.

“We’ll find out the truth,” Julian said, and that sounded like a promise too.

I was grateful for them both.

“The problem is, we aren’t even certain where to start,” Nicholas said.

“See? This is what I meant, Nicholas. You have no imagination,” Julian said. Before I could scold him again, he quickly moved on. “We have a lead. A miserable oaf who I wish we could avoid, but who has too many entanglements to this whole thing to be innocent.”

I dreaded the name I knew I was about to hear.

Julian glanced at me and winced, as if in apology. Then he said it.

“Our dear Uncle Terry.”