Page 26 of Intolerable Bishop

“I do. I wish Liam was here. He is a walking lie detector, but I’ve been around him long enough to learn a few things, and she was hiding something.”

Blake looked down the hall and then stood and went to the stairs, looking up before coming back. “I think Ivy’s in the bathroom. We need to tell Ren. She should know that her aunt is lying to her.”

“Not yet,” I said, tossing a couple of cards down and pulling two more.

“Why,” Myles asked.

“Look around you. This is Ren’s safe place. Even with the attack, all of her fondest memories are here and with the one person she trusted most in the world. If I’m right, and I think I am, then this is going to destroy everything she thinks she knows. Hell, what we thought we knew so far.” I shook my head. “Even I’m not asshole enough to want to do that to her without facts. Right now, it’s speculation.”

“Alright, I’ll keep it quiet,” Myles said, leaning back in the kitchen chair and crossing his arms over his chest.

“Same,” Blake echoed.

I leaned in closer and dropped my voice as low as I could. “I don’t think there was a misspelling of her mother’s name.” I pulled out my phone and brought up the search I’d been doing while everyone else was swimming and handed it over. Their mouths dropped open at the same time. “Tell me that doesn’t look like her mom?”

“Holy shit,” Myles and Blake said together.

“Now, do you see why we should keep this quiet? We need to search this house. There has to be something here that we’re missing. I always thought it was odd that a random family decided to put a panic room in their home, but some people can be paranoid, so I let it drop. This changes all the facts and turns them on their head.”

Sitting back from the table, I cracked the soda can and downed half of it. I needed to talk to Nash, and I needed to do it soon.

MAY 21 – SUNDAY 2:29 AM

Nash

What the hell was he doing at that house again? I stared at the little dot on my screen that showed my father was once more at the house in the quiet neighborhood. Who was he meeting, and how long had it been going on? I rarely spent a Sunday night at home, which was my only excuse for not noticing before. It was either that or he’d just started this little adventure in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

He stayed three hours last time, and I was determined to see how long he stayed now. I’d already tried his office to find it locked. I tried his bedroom, and that was locked, too. The area downstairs already had its shift change with two new guards, so I was stuck sitting on my hands anyway.

It never felt like I was doing enough. I’d made a deal with the Lost Souls, which looped in the largest MC in the area. I’d made a deal with the Mikhailov family. I’d just hired Morrison…well, once he was clean. Fuck, the look on his face when he realized I was sitting in his chair made me smile.

Ethan said I was making good strides, but there was still too large of a gap in power. Who could I go after that had power and influence and would help me keep my seat? Fuck. There were so many families, but I needed a way to test their loyalty to my father without raising suspicion, or all of this would be for nothing.

Dean Henry hinted at going to Italy, and my trip was booked for the end of summer when my father planned to be in Dubai for business. He’d be far too distracted to pay attention to me traveling then.

I hated it when I couldn’t sleep, and I hadn’t been able to sleep well for weeks. My mind just wouldn’t stop turning, and right now, it was jumping between three topics. The mystery of who I was supposed to meet in Italy, what my father was up to, and for whatever reason…Ren Davies.

Did I miss her? No, I couldn’t miss her. Could I? I didn’t miss people, but the banter and teasing…okay, I found her amusing. The thought of training her when she got back also held a certain appeal. Throwing her around on mats, pinning her as she fumed at me, and getting to freely grab her ass as she took shots at me…fuck yeah. Now that shit, I could get into. I could still feel her adorable ass under my fingers in the pool and how my hand stung from spanking her.

Swiping away from the tracking app, I opened my photos and pulled up the shot I’d taken of Princess sleeping with her arm over her head, hair fanned out on the pillow, and the covers pulled down to her waist. The tank top she was wearing had pulled up in her sleep, showing off her stomach, while her nipples poked at the material. I might’ve blown on the side of her neck to make that happen.

I smirked as I flicked to the next photo, which was a close-up of her face. Before she started spending half of her time in Myles and Blake’s room, I would visit her dorm when she and Vicky were sound asleep. I’d contemplated suffocating Vicky. She certainly deserved it, but her father was the head of the Italian mafia overseas. Mr. Genovese was the Don of Dons, and killing his daughter, as fun as it seemed, wouldn’t be a wise choice.

While Princess had slept, I moved all of her things around on her desk, which shouldn’t have been as amusing as it was, but it cracked me the fuck up. When she would complain to Myles at breakfast about how Vicky was messing with her, the devil would laugh on my shoulder. At least it had until Vicky went too far. That video was a bitch move, and I kept wondering if she helped orchestrate Axel’s attack. She had a viper’s tongue, and her brand of toxin was as deadly as having cyanide shoved down your throat.

I wouldn’t put it past her to flirt and suck up to Axel only to say something like, “You know you’d make a better king than Nash.” Drops like that in a weak mind like Axel’s was how sheep turned to anarchy.

Giving up on sleep, I stood and went to my punching bag in the corner. I loved the sound the bag made as my fists connected and the chains rattled.

Thump, thump, thump.

I gave it a few more jabs, then pretended to duck a blow before landing a hard hook to the side of the bag that would’ve broken someone’s ribs. Boxing wasn’t really my thing as much as other styles of fighting, but the bag was more of a soother to my rage than anything else. Some people cuddled with a blanket, others drank or had sex to relax and fall asleep. I beat the shit out of this piece of black leather until I couldn’t stand up.

Dropping to the floor, I hammered out fifty push-ups, and thirty burpees before starting the round all over again. My phone dinged, and I picked it up to see a message from Theo.

T: When we get back, set time aside for a meeting. I have information.

N: Tell me now.