Page 139 of Lawless Rivals

I let out a slow breath. “How do you know his name?”

He looks away first, glancing along the length of the corridor where staff keep themselves out of sight.

When he runs a hand through his choppy hair, I see the big brother who pretended I was his annoying kid sister around his friends so they wouldn’t look at me, and the only person who stepped in when my father’s men eyed me up at parties.

“I think it’s a good idea if you disappear for a while.”

I stare at him. “How about forever?”

“Once things settle down here, I’ll come get you. Take the jet wherever you want to go. Paris. New York. Rome. I don’t care. I’ll get you sorted with a temporary place to stay and make sure you have whatever you need.”

The offer should loosen something in me. Instead, it sits there like a ticking clock.

“I’m old enough now not to live at home.”

“We’re family, Keira,” he mutters. “And like Dad said, one day we’ll own this place and half of Black Heath.”

I look at him, at the brother who always picked locks to reach me, who sent Riley to fight for me, who’s helping me fly away before our father forces me into his war.

He’s trying to save me in the only language this family ever taught him, by arranging, ordering, removing.

I nod and turn toward the staircase. “We’ll talk about it in a few months.”

“Keira.”

On the next step, I pause, one hand hovering over the banister.

He stands at the bottom, suit immaculate, expression shadowed where the chandelier light can’t touch him.

“Tallons and Harringtons have never mixed well.” His jaw muscles clench. “Saint’s father had something to do with our aunt’s death.”

“What?”

“Dad doesn’t talk about it.”

“So why bring it up?”

“I’m telling you there’s more to this than land. There’s a history there, too.” His eyes lock onto me. “She died because Saint’s father lied to her.”

“What about?”

He glances toward the dining room doors. “That I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”

I come down one step. “What really happened to Sera that night?”

His head cocks to the side as if I’ve woken something primal in him.

“I know you were with her,” I tell him. “She said you were.”

For a second, he just stares. No smooth answer polished enough to pass as truth. Just a man standing before me with secrets under his skin.

“I don’t need to discuss business with you.”

“Business,” I mutter, shaking my head. “It’s like that, is it?”

“Keira.”

“No. I’m done with this.” My hand grips the banister now. “I’m done with all the lies and being fed half a story.”