27. Blake

CHAPTER 27

Blake

“ M r. Bane will see you now.” The receptionist tips her head toward the double door as I glower at her for making me wait. There’s nothing worse than being made to wait to see a member of the fucking Bane family. I’m sure Eion enjoyed the hell out me loitering in his lobby. Fucker .

I charge into his office and snarl, “Where the fuck is my sister?”

Since we returned home last night, I haven’t been able to find a trace of Lexa anywhere. She’s all but vanished and this piece of shit is responsible. The only reason I didn’t come in here with guns blazing is because Lexa went to him, she fled into his arms, I saw that with my own eyes. If I had even the slightest suspicion that Eion kidnapped my sister, he’d already be sitting in my interrogation room.

“She’s safe.” He leans back behind his desk, sipping a coffee.

“She better be safe or I’ll rip you to pieces.” I sneer.

Eion bares his teeth, it’s not a smile. “She’s safer than she was with you. I’m not the one who was about to let my own sister shackle herself to that creep. I’d never let anyone touch her, especially not Franklin Cecil. That fucker can rot in hell.”

“Lexa isn’t yours to take care of.” Placing my palms on his desk, I lean forward. “Where is my sister?”

“I can’t give you that information.”

“Oh, you will.” I cock my head. “How is pretty little Bridget doing? I heard she started her own interior design business after college. I might have to call her up.”

“Keep your filthy hands off my baby sister, Baron. I’m warning you, don’t fuck with my family.” Eion seethes.

“Then take your own advice and don’t fuck with mine. Where’s Lexa?”

We glare at each other for what seems like an eternity, neither of us backing down. It’s like university all over again.

“She’ll call you when she’s ready to talk,” he says, finally breaking eye contact. “Until then, I can’t give you any details other than that she’s safe and well hidden from her mother.”

“Bane, I’m warning?—”

“She called me for help. I’m sure I was her last resort, she only did it out of desperation. She said she didn’t have anyone else to turn to because involving you or your brother would complicate your family dynamic. So, she reached outside of her family for help. She called me .”

I stare at him, furious and pained that Lexa didn’t put her trust in me. I would have gotten her out of there, to hell with Yve and her schemes. But Lexa wouldn’t bring down Yve’s ire on me. She was protecting all of us by calling Eion. Still, knowing that I can’t protect my own siblings devastates me.

Lexa asked for my forgiveness. Now I know why.

Blowing out a breath, I straighten. “Tell her I’m not angry with her. She needs to call me.”

“I’ll deliver your message.”

I nod. “Good.”

My business concluded, for now, I turn to leave his office. He stops me by saying, “Don’t touch Franklin Cecil. He’s mine.”

I spin around to face Eion. “Like hell he is.”

Eion rises from his chair, standing eye to eye with me and I read the determination in his gaze. “Franklin thought he could touch Lexa. He’s a dead man.”

“Lexa isn’t yours to avenge.”

“She will be.”

“Over my dead body.”

“If you insist, Baron. In the meantime, I’m going to tear Franklin apart piece by piece and you can read all about it in the papers. I’m sure the Big Apple Buzz won’t stop reporting on it for weeks. That tabloid can never resist when I throw them a nice juicy story.”

“Fine, you can have Franklin, but release Lexa when she’s ready to come home. She can come live with me to get away from Yve.”

“I’m not a fucking monster, Baron. I’d never hold Lexa against her will. As soon as she has her shit together she’ll leave, like she always does.”

“What do you mean?” I pin him with a glare. Has Lexa turned to him for help before? How do I not know about this?

“When she calls, I drop everything for her.”

Like hell he does.

“How do you two even know each other?”

A grin touches his lips. “That’s one secret I’ll never divulge.”

“Fuck you, Bane.”

“Right back at you, Baron.”

Turning on my heel, I get the fuck out of his office. I can’t stand to be in his presence for a moment longer than necessary. At least Lexa’s safe. I hate the fact that I know Eion Bane well enough to know his word is solid. If he says she’s okay, then that’s the truth. He’s a virtuous fuck in that regard.

L ate that night, I’m in my home office scrolling through the dark web’s job postings–nothing of interest–and sifting through what my little birdies have to say. The priority list of information includes a photo of Yve and Franklin fucking, I could have done without seeing that, as well as a flurry of gossip about Lexa’s wedding gone awry.

So much for having the ceremony at an undisclosed location. Someone on that island followed all of us quite closely, and the rumors and photos have spread like wildfire.

There’s even a picture of me with Ginevra, along with a theory that she has, in fact, finally snagged the most eligible bachelor in New York State. Apparently our demeanor with each other is far too intimate to be fake.

I smile at that assumption.

I’m always amused when my birdies end up sending me gossip about myself. This happens because not every source knows that it’s me they are reporting to. All they know is that if they submit information, they get bitcoin. Everything about the process is anonymous.

Hell, I’ve heard rumors that my form sends the information to the Big Apple Buzz . False, of course. I’d never help those lowlife so-called reporters with anything, especially not when it comes to divulging tidbits from my precious stash of secrets.