Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Isabelle

I wake up to the bedroom door crashing open with a violent bang. Beast and Gaeton are already moving while I’m trying to figure out what the hell is going on. It doesn’t make any difference. They barely get an inch before a familiar voice says, “Do not move. I would truly hate to shoot you, but I will.”

I shove Gaeton’s arm out of my way and sit up. “Muriel?”

My sister-in-law stands in the doorway, a handgun held easily in her strong hands. She’s a curvy Dominican woman with long black hair pulled back from her face, wearing one of her favorite dresses—one with kittens printed all over it—looking as fresh as a fucking daisy. There are three men on either side of her, also with guns. I blink again. “I told my sisters I had things covered.”

“Cordelia thinks otherwise.” She raises her brows at the bed with the three of us. “Get up. Get dressed. Now.”

“No.”

“Do we really need to resort to threats to get you to move, Isabelle?” Muriel sighs. “I have permission to shoot one or both of these men. Shall we cut through the song and dance of convincing you that I’ll do it?”

I already know she will. Cordelia will make hard calls and do what needs to be done, but at the end of the day she might feel some guilt over it. Muriel won’t. It doesn’t matter that she’s worked with Gaeton and Beast for years. She has her orders and she’ll pull the trigger, wash the blood from her hands, and go back to deliver my sister her report and a kiss.

“Don’t even think about it,” Gaeton rumbles.

I’m already moving, carefully crawling to the edge of the bed and climbing to my feet. I’m naked, but acting bashful will only undermine me at this point. As I stare down my sister-in-law, it doesn’t escape my notice that all six of the men behind her are focused very hard on the men and not on me. I glance back at the bed. At the two of them looking like they’re ready to fight their way through the room to me. “I’m holding you to what we agreed to last night. Come to dinner tonight. We still have living arrangements to iron out.”

Muriel snorts. “Cordelia will love that.”

I ignore her. “Promise me.”

Beast nods first. “We’ll be there.”

“Yeah.” Gaeton is still staring hard at the guns pointed in his direction. “Consider it a date.”

It has to be enough. I hate that our time has been cut short, but if everyone meant what they said last night, we’re looking down the barrel at forever. And forever means we have to deal with my sisters eventually.

I pull on the T-shirt and leggings from last night. The only shoes I have here are ridiculously tall heels, but I put them on all the same. I want to kiss the guys goodbye, but Muriel grabs my arm and nearly hauls me off my feet as she drags me to the door.

As much as I want to rip her a new one, I save my arguing for my sisters. Muriel wouldn’t come here on her own, and damn it, I wish Cordelia trusted me enough to let me handle this. The men file out of the apartment after us, three taking position ahead and three behind.

I don’t speak again until we’re in the back of an SUV, now flanked by two identical vehicles. “There was a better way to go about that.”

“Maybe.” She shrugs. “We got the point across, didn’t we?”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.”

She gives a dry laugh. “If Cordelia called you under the same circumstances as forty-eight hours ago, would you have sat back and waited for her to work through things? Or would you have done exactly what she did?”

I would have trusted my sister to have things covered, and to communicate if she didn’t. Because Cordelia is a grown ass adult, just like I am, and more than capable of handling herself in a variety of situations. Just like I am. I start to cross my arms over my chest, but it feels like pouting. “I have it under control.”

“Good. Tell her that.” She leans back against the seat with a sigh. “She’s been difficult as hell to deal with for the last week, and that’s your fault. You fix this.”

Cordelia is the one who sent me to the Underworld in the first place. I press my lips together to prevent myself from yelling it. I’m not going to win Muriel to my side. She supports Cordelia, and if they ever disagree, they do it behind closed doors. I’ve never seen them as anything other than a united front, and I sure as hell won’t see it for this situation.

We finish the ride back to our territory, back to my father’s house, in silence. My breath grows thick as we drive through the gates protecting the property from the outside world. Once upon a time, this area was a train yard, but the company went under and my father bought it for pennies on the dollar. It took years and a small fortune to convert it to his own little stronghold at the edge of Carver City, but now that’s exactly what it is. Thick walls surround the main house and half a dozen other buildings, including barracks for his people and a lab for Sienna. For all that it’s basically a military base, the house is a study in sheer indulgence. It’s not quite Victorian, but you can see the influence in the lines and slopes of the building.

My father always did appreciate a good first impression.

I close my eyes for half a second, striving for control. I wish Gaeton and Beast were here, but this is something I have to do on my own. By the time I have my shit together, we’ve climbed out of the car and stopped in front of the broad stone staircase leading up to the front door. Muriel matches my pace, and it’s impossible not to notice how something in her unwinds the closer we get to my sister.

Cordelia, being Cordelia, doesn’t meet us in the foyer. She makes me go hunting for her in her study. I’m tired. My feet hurt. My whole body hurts. The last thing I want to do is go a round with my older sister.

I walk through the door and stop short. Both of my sisters are here. Because of course they are.

Muriel slides past me and pauses to give Cordelia a kiss before she takes up her usual position to one side of the bay window on the other side of the study. Sienna lounges on the small sofa situated to the side of the deck in an informal kind of sitting room, a book on some advanced scientific theory I’ve never heard of open across her stomach. She gives me a finger wave. Cordelia leans against the massive desk at the center of the room, as tense as if she’s ready to charge into battle.

She sweeps a look over me. “You’re walking. I wasn’t sure you would be.”

That’s about enough of that. “I had everything under control.”

“Did you?” She crosses her arms over her chest. “I sent you there to talk to them, and the next update I get is you in Gaeton’s bed, obviously having been fucked with. I don’t think you had a single damn thing under control. I think they saw an opportunity and they took it, and you felt too guilty to do anything but go along with it.”

I love my sister. I do. I would take a bullet for her. But sometimes I want to shake her until some sense falls into that big head of hers. I give her a long look. “Oh, were you done? I was really enjoying you telling me how I felt and what happened with me even though you weren’t there.”

“Don’t take an attitude with me, Izzy. You would have made the same call if our positions were reversed.”

I shoot a look at Muriel. “Funny, your wife said the exact same thing in the car. You’re both wrong. I would have trusted you to tell me if you needed help.”

“I couldn’t afford to make that mistake.” She runs her fingers through her long dark hair and grips it briefly before letting it go. There was a time when Cordelia dealt with stress by pulling out her own hair, but years of therapy have helped her acquire healthier coping mechanisms. She seems to forcibly lower her hands. Muriel moves up behind her, clasping her hands gently. Cordelia leans back against her wife, but accepting that comfort doesn’t make her appear any less fierce. “We just lost him. I can’t lose you, too.”

Just like that, my anger drains out of me. How can I be mad at her about this when we’re all so messed up for the loss of our father still? Short answer: I can’t. Muriel moves out of the way right as I walk around the desk and pull Cordelia into a hug. “I’m fine. I’m here. I was never in any danger.” Not in any physical way, at least. The jury is still out on my heart.

“I’d kill them myself,” she murmurs, hugging me hard enough that I have a difficult time drawing in oxygen. “I don’t care if he loved them, too. If they hurt you, I’d kill them slowly.”

I pat her back. “No need for killing. I’m here. I’m safe.” I lean back and look at her. “I’m safe.”

“You’re safe,” she finally agrees.

“Just really well-fucked,” Sienna calls from the couch.

Cordelia narrows her eyes. “I’m still pissed that you didn’t tell me you were in contact with her.” She turns that look on me. “And that you were taking her calls and not mine.”

I shrug. “It was for science.”

“For the love of—” She walks to the couch and drops on the cushion near Sienna’s feet. “You two are terrible for my blood pressure.”

“The role of younger sisters worldwide.” Sienna sits up a little, her dark eyes alight. “Want to know the results of my algorithm? I was going to email you, but Cordelia had you brought in so this is so much simpler. It’s fascinating really.”

If I let her get going, we won’t be leaving this office for hours. I hold up my hand. “I don’t need the algorithm. I—”

“Choose them both,” Sienna finishes for me. She grins like a kid on Christmas morning at my dumbfounded look. “That’s what you’re going to say, isn’t it? That you’re going to be a delicious little throuple?”

“I …” I motion vaguely at her. “How …”

“I told you.” She looks so smug, I want to hit her in the face with a pillow. “Science and math and a little bit of finesse.”

I shouldn’t ask. I truly shouldn’t. “Your algorithm said I would choose them both?”

“No, don’t be absurd. That wasn’t a possible outcome.” She waves that away. “But every time I ran the information, it came out a little differently, and no matter what tweaks I put into place, the percentages were startlingly close. Either there’s something wrong with my work—highly unlikely, but I can’t ignore the possibility—or the best decision is both.” She stares off into the middle distance. “I do need more information for the components to allow for multiple partners in an accurate way.”

“You terrify me.”

She grins. “Thank you.”

Cordelia narrows her eyes. “You’re choosing them both.”

“Yes.” I take a slow breath. “Things didn’t work how we had them before, and there’s a reason for that. I think they can work now.”

“If you’re wrong, you’re putting the entire territory at risk.”

I know that. The entire territory and my whole heart. I swallow hard. “I’m not wrong.”

She considers me for a long moment and then sighs. “Well, this is going to make things awkward after this morning.” Cordelia lifts her chin. “I’m not apologizing.”

“I doubt anyone expects you to,” Sienna says as she picks up her book. “We all know better.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Hmmm?” She turns a page.

Cordelia looks at Muriel, but her wife is studying the ceiling as if it holds the mysteries of the universe. “You’re all assholes.”

I clear my throat. “They’re coming for dinner tonight, and then they’re staying.” Actually, I don’t know what the plan is for living arrangements, but I have a permanent suite here in the main house, so as Beast said last night, we’ll likely spend half our time here. Or I suppose I’ll talk to the men and see what they think. Because we’re communicating now, and that means we all get an opinion and will work through each complication. The thought makes me giddy. We can actually make this work.

Cordelia looks like she wants to argue, but finally sighs. “I’m not going to say good job at getting them back here, because I think the cost was too high.”

“The cost of my happiness?”

“You don’t know if you’re going to be happy. It’s too new.”

I have to fight not to roll my eyes. “The three of us have known each other for nearly a decade. I dated them separately for two years. We have plenty of foundation, and none of it is new.”

“Fine,” she snaps. “Forgive me for giving a fuck.”

“Consider yourself forgiven,” I snap back. I open my mouth and then burst out laughing. “This is the most ridiculous fight.”

“Only because you’re ridiculous,” she grumbles. Cordelia waves a hand. “If they’re coming to dinner, we’re making a thing of it. A statement.”

I have to fight down a blush thinking about the statement we made last night. “I’ll leave that to you.”

“Go take a nap and get your head on straight. I need you on your A game tonight, Izzy.”

“Consider it done.”

It’s only when I get up to my room and strip out of my borrowed clothes that I have a chance to wonder if this short time of forced distance will be enough for cold logic to set in with the men. It’s easy to agree to a throuple when we’re all naked and fucking. Will it hold up to the cold light of day?

I turn on my shower and walk back into my room. It’s only then that I realize I left my phone at Gaeton’s. I have no way to call them, no way to reassure myself that they still want this, still want me.

If they show up, I’m going to feel like the biggest asshole for having doubts. I should trust them, should trust the connection I know we all felt.

But I can’t help the shadows creeping around the edges, whispering that this was all a game of vengeance to repay me for the harm done.