Page 77 of Emeric

Jordan stepped to him, only a foot away. “That was my mistake then. You’re part of my family, and as such, I will ensure your safety.”

“Jesus. How the hell am I supposed to get pissed when you say shit like that?” Lawson cut right to the point. There was no way any of us could stay angry long with Jordan when he did what he did in the best interests of those he cared about.

“You don’t.” He turned and started barking orders, asking where Lane was since he was supposed to be here. His answer was obvious a minute later when shouting was heard in the hallway.

“Move,” Jordan growled, then wrenched open the door to find Lane and Raiden squaring off with… Noah? What the hell?

So much had happened to Noah: being taken, held against his will, and abused by his cousin and uncle. They were both dead, unable to hurt him again. That didn’t mean the scars of his past weren’t below the surface.

Noah had formed a bond with Barrett and stayed in contact with him and Jordan. Our boss helped Noah out where he could. What we were witnessing here was out of the ordinary for the man I knew.

“Get out of my way,” Noah said. He’d lost some weight and had dark circles under his eyes like he hadn’t been sleeping. His shorts and shirt were wrinkled. The sneakers he wore had been put on without socks, laces untied. All this was no big deal for others, but Noah had tried to present himself well since getting out of the awful situation he was in and living without fear of his family.

“What’s going on?” Jordan asked.

Lane turned to face him, but Raiden kept his eyes on Noah. “We were on our way here when we were called to the lobby where Noah was. He demanded to come up and see you.” Noah was allowed into the building, but he must have been stopped due to the extra security measures. Also, if he truly did demand that, it would have prevented the guards from letting him go any further. No one demanded anything of Jordan unless they were in a relationship with him.

“Noah, what is it?” Jordan asked.

Turning to face us, Noah took a step forward. As soon as he moved, we all did as well, forming a wall. No one stepped up to our boss like this. Something was going on with Noah, and we weren’t going to let him get close until we knew what was happening.

“What is wrong with all of you?” Noah yelled. “How are you the smartest people I know, and you couldn’t figure out that the man you killed wasn’t the person behind the threats? Sure, he was easy to frame. I saw him punch a woman in the face and say he wasn’t done with her. The other person with them tried to intervene, but he put his hand around their throat and threatened their life. I couldn’t do anything, but you could, so I set him up. It was a bonus that he had drugs in his pocket. He had to go.” He shook his head, obviously disgusted by the person.

This didn’t make any sense though. How the hell did Noah know who we killed? How did he set him up?

Wait.

There was more than me who came to the conclusion at the same time, but I was the only one who lunged.

“You motherfucker,” I bit out and grabbed him so I could get in his face. He was lucky I didn’t start swinging right away.

People were trying to pull me off him, get me to release him, but I wasn’t letting go.

“How could you?” I seethed. “Do you know how many lives you fucked up? Sylvan can’t live in his home anymore. Emeric had to put his staff on alert, worrying them. Lawson’s been connected with Jordan. And the fucking safe house is no longer safe.”

Even though there was fear in his eyes, he still had a hard tone when he spoke. “Are you really going to be pissed at me for your boyfriends moving in with you? And if any of you really did a background check on the guy you killed, you would have known who he was. Didn’t Sylvan’s neighbor have a son? Had you ever seen him? Spoken to him? Maybe if his father hadn’t raged about his awful neighbor, the son wouldn’t have gone down the rabbit hole he did. He wouldn’t have seen the address posted online or noticed how it was right next to his father’s house. He was online threatening his father’s neighbor. But you got to him first, thanks to me.” I couldn’t even wrap my head around that. We killed Sylvan’s neighbor’s son? What the fuck ever. He was obviously doing shit he shouldn’t after what we’d heard and found.

“If it hadn’t been for you, that information wouldn’t have been there to begin with,” Sheldon said from my side. If I had to guess who was holding me, it would be Reghan and Barrett. “Ollie, let him go.”

“No,” I said through clenched teeth. “I want to know why he fucked with all our lives.”

“Fucked with? If I wanted to, I could have done so much worse.”

“Oleander,” Jordan snapped. “Release him.”

It wasn’t easy, but I pried my fingers from him, then I was quickly pulled back, and Jordan stepped in front of me. I’d seen him pin many people to walls in anger, but the way Noah’s body hit it, and the breath knocked from him as Jordan held him there, was rougher than usual.

“How fucking dare you,” Jordan bit out, his face nearly touching Noah’s. “I helped you, gave you whatever you needed. After all we did for you, this is how you repay us?”

“Not… you…” Noah was barely able to rasp.

Sheldon walked over, placing his hand gently on Jordan’s forearm. “Release him a little.”

Jordan did, but only enough so Noah could suck in a breath.

“What are you talking about?” Sheldon asked.

Noah tried to stretch his neck, but he couldn’t go far. “It was never about any of you.” His gaze was on someone behind me. Sheldon and I both turned, followed Noah’s line of sight, and saw Lawson pale with his mouth agape.