: Chapter 35

“I know what it means, Mason, just get it done.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I want all the paperwork complete by the fifth. We go live on the sixth.”

“Okay, West. I’ll have it pushed through.”

“Thank you.” Sighing, I hang up. Merging three media companies into one conglomerate is turning out to be a way bigger headache than I anticipated.

“You okay there, buddy? You need a little relief?” Zeke asks with a wicked grin. He’s so much more relaxed now that Lily’s in our life. Whatever happened between them the night before last changed them both. I saw the wound over her ribcage, so I know he cut her, and it seems like it brought them closer together.

I should get her over here and make her work from my office all day every day. Have her at my disposal so she can offer me some of that relief Zeke’s hinting at whenever the fuck I like.

Instead, I arch an eyebrow at Zeke. “Are you offering?”

He tilts his head, his eyes roaming over my body. “I could give you something, but probably not what you’re looking for right now.”

“Mr. Archer.” My secretary’s voice fills the room via the intercom on my desk. “You have a visitor.”

I check my watch. I’m not expecting anyone, but my heart rate kicks up a notch. Please be Lily. I press the button to answer. “Who is it?”

“A Ms. Reid.”

“Oh, fuck no,” Zeke grumbles.

“Bree Reid?”

“Yes, sir.”

I take my finger off the button so Zeke and I can speak privately. “What the fuck is she doing here?”

“Fuck knows. But I don’t want to see her,” Zeke says, his lip curled in disgust. “She’s fucking loco.”

I glance between him and the phone on my desk. Curiosity wins out. “Send her in.”

Zeke groans and mumbles something unintelligible under his breath.

“Oh, stop your fucking grumbling.”

Bree walks into my office in a cloud of perfume clutching a Hermès bag over her arm. I offer her a seat, which she accepts, throwing Zeke a look dripping with disdain as she settles in the chair. He glowers at her in return.

“What can I do for you, Bree?” I ask, forcing a smile.

“Actually.” She crosses her legs, and her short skirt rides up, exposing the top of her stockings. I focus on her face. “I’m here about what I can do for you.”

Interest piqued, I lean forward, steepling my hands under my chin. “And what’s that?”

“I’m kind of surprised you don’t already know this to be honest. You must be getting rusty, Ezekiel.” She throws a glance his way, and her fake laugh drips sarcasm and contempt.

He snarls. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

She glances at her manicured fingernails. “You usually check out the women you experiment with, don’t you?”

My temper flares. “Is this about Lily?”

“Yes. Well, if that’s even her real name.”

Zeke leans forward now too, his dark eyes shooting daggers at Bree. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about how an orphan from Brooklyn can afford to go to one of the most prestigious colleges in New York.”

I frown. “She had a scholarship.”

Bree shakes her head. “Did she though? Because the organization that paid her tuition dissolved as soon as she graduated, and it only ever funded one student—Lily Sloane. What kind of scholarship does that?

“She never had a job, either. Not the entire time we were there. Someone was funding her lifestyle, paying her bills. She used to sneak off to meet him sometimes. I caught a glimpse of him once. Young. Handsome. Rich. She couldn’t keep her hands off him.”

I snarl. Bree always had a jealous streak, and that’s all this is. It has to be. “How the fuck do you know any of this?”

“I followed her on one of her little excursions once. I was curious about what she was up to, and I was the sorority house president. I had access to information that other people didn’t.”

“Weren’t you screwing the dean too?” Zeke asks, his tone dripping with contempt.

She smirks. “See, you did such good homework on me, Ezekiel.”

I scrub a hand through my hair as questions with no answers race around my head. “Why are you even telling us this? Why do you care if Lily has some mysterious benefactor?”

“Because I care about Xander, and I would never want to see his name dragged through the mud.”

My frown deepens. “Why would it be?”

She rolls her eyes, making it seem like Zeke and I are missing something important. It pisses me off more than I care to admit that she might know something about our girl that we don’t.

“Lily is writing an article, yes? One that’s she’s finally able to get published after two years of trying?”

“So?”

“It’s no coincidence that she’s writing it for the magazine that Jensen Michaels still owns, and that she just happened to meet you all at the same time she came up with this new exclusive article that’s going to be her big break?”

The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. “You’re saying she’s writing this article about us?”

She lifts one shoulder and glances back down at her manicured nails. “An exposé, to take the three of you down from the inside. What better way to do that than from your bed, West?”

“You’re fucking lying,” Zeke growls.

“Am I? My company does some of their PR. I hear things. And you know I was out with her a couple of weeks ago, don’t you?” She directs her attention back to me. “She was waving your credit card in people’s faces, offering to buy anyone who would listen a bottle of Dom at your expense. She was bragging about how she had you three wrapped around her little finger.”

“No.” I shake my head. That sounds nothing like Lily.

“Why are you all so blind when it comes to her? She got so wasted that Jen and I had to pour her into your car.”

Bile burns my esophagus.

“You’re lying.” Zeke shouts the words this time.

“Are you really willing to bet your reputation on that, Ezekiel?”

I suck in a breath. This can’t be true. Lily would never do that to us. Whatever her article’s about, it can’t possibly have anything to do with us.

I glare at Bree, who smiles like she didn’t just try to tear our world apart. “Get the fuck out of my office.”

Smirking, she stands and slings her overpriced bag back over her shoulder. “You should look into her is all I’m saying. I’m sure you’ll find that there’s more to Lily Sloane than meets the eye.”

With that, she stomps out, leaving Zeke and I to stare at each other for several seconds.

“You remember how she jumped when we came home early the other night and she was working on her article? She snapped her laptop shut like she was terrified we’d see it.”

Zeke scowls. “We gave her a fright. Fitch jumped on her.”

Gritting my teeth, I stretch my neck. I’m so fucking tense. “Michaels warned us he had spies on the inside. He specifically told us to watch our backs.”

Zeke chews on his bottom lip for a second, then shakes his head. “He’s a snake backed into a corner.”

“Yeah.” That doesn’t stop an uneasy feeling from settling into the pit of my stomach. Lily is just a little too perfect, and experience has taught me that if something seems too good to be true, it almost always is.

“Who do you think this mysterious benefactor is then?” Zeke’s face is lined with worry now too.

“You mean the young good-looking guy she couldn’t keep her hands off of?”

“Yeah. That one.”

I bare my teeth. “Find out.”