Home > Moonlight Scandals (de Vincent #3)(16)

Moonlight Scandals (de Vincent #3)(16)
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

“I know for a fact Sabrina had everything to do with what Parker tried to do to Nikki. I also know that she has been stalking Gabe since college,” he said, and when his uncle’s gaze flew to his, he raised a brow. “And I also know that she and Parker were responsible for Emma’s accident.”

“Emma Rothchild?” Stefan froze with the coffee halfway to his mouth. “The woman Gabe used to be involved with years ago?”

Dev’s expression smoothed out as he studied his uncle. When the news that Sabrina had been involved in Emma’s death had come out, it had shocked Dev, who thought he’d known all that Sabrina was capable of. He’d misjudged just how . . . psychotic that woman was at the end of the day. It was a mistake Dev would have to live with.

“Jesus. You’re not joking.”

“Why would I joke about something like that?” Dev asked.

Stefan took a sip of his coffee. “Why would you lie about how my brother died?”

“Now, Stefan, you know Lawrence hung himself,” Dev responded, picking up his coffee. It was dark. No sugar. No cream. A taste as bitter as a winter’s night. “Let’s not go down that road again.”

“I’m never going to get off that road, Devlin.” Stefan lifted his cup. “I know my brother did not kill himself.”

“Hmm. Tell me something, Stefan.” Dev sat back, crossing one knee over the other. He waited until Stefan took a drink. “Do you think I don’t know you’ve been fucking Sabrina?”

The man sputtered, choking on the coffee. Liquid splashed across the front of his suit. His lips pulled back, baring his teeth. “What in the hell?”

Dev wanted to laugh, but he didn’t. “Do you know where Sabrina is? Her family hasn’t seen her since Friday morning.”

“I have no clue where that woman is.”

“So you’re saying you have no idea where she is?”

“Yes!” Stefan slammed the coffee cup down on the desk with enough force to crack the china. Dev sighed. “And you’re out of your mind if you think I’ve been sleeping with Sabrina.”

“Oh I am quite certain you’ve been with Sabrina, and I know last week wasn’t the first time.”

“You have to be joking,” Stefan said with a forced-sounding laugh. “If you truly thought your fiancée was sleeping with me, why in the hell were you still engaged to her? What does that say about you?”

Dev took a drink even though his stomach churned with a mixture of disgust and loathing. “I have my reasons—reasons, I might add, that are no longer necessary.”

“You always have your reasons , don’t you, Devlin?” The senator’s jaw hardened. “You think I don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish with such an outrageous accusation? Diversion tactics. I bring up my brother and you always find a way to not discuss him.”

“So, you weren’t with her at the Ritz while I was out of town last weekend?” Dev asked.

Stefan’s eyes narrowed. “Do you have someone following me?”

“Answer the question, Stefan.”

His uncle’s nostrils flared. “She came to see me while I was entertaining guests there. She was concerned about your engagement, quite upset I might add. I’m assuming the engagement is off.”

“It is.” Dev knew that excuse was bullshit. “Must have been one hell of an entertainment you provided for your guests. You can also safely assume that any donations the Harringtons might’ve been planning to make for your upcoming campaign for reelection are not going to happen.”

Stefan sneered. “You know what your fatal flaw is?”

“I don’t have many, but do enlighten me.”

The sneer turned into a smirk as he leaned forward, clasping the arms of the chair as he began to rise. “You think you know everything.”

Dev raised an eyebrow as he held his uncle’s stare.

“And the truth is, you know nothing.” Stefan stood, and Dev was rather unimpressed by that parting statement. He thought Stefan could do better than that. “Good day, Devlin.”

He waited until his uncle reached the doors and then he spoke. “Stefan?”

His uncle stopped and then turned to him. “What?”

He thought about the gun he kept in the top drawer. His brothers knew where it was. Stefan didn’t. Part of him wanted to pull it out and end Stefan right there, but he wasn’t a murderer. Not like that. “If I find out you’re hiding Sabrina or if you know where she is and have failed to tell me, I will not only take everything from you.” Dev smiled then, a slight curl of his lips. “I will destroy you.”

Chapter 7

Laughter spilled out from the kitchen, stopping Dev in his tracks Monday evening as he was shrugging on the Cucinelli sport jacket. He was near the back entrance to the kitchen, the one that was accessed by the long, narrow mudroom that led to the back staircases and the veranda.

The sound was so strange to him, he didn’t move for several heartbeats. Wild, unfettered happy laughter was not something often heard in this home.

His brothers were in there, with their women. Dev figured they were making dinner since he’d advised Besson today that evening responsibilities would be suspended until further notice. The man needed to be home with his ill wife, and Dev was confident the household wouldn’t collapse onto itself with no one here in the evening.

“I’m not sure that’s how it’s supposed to work,” he heard Julia say, and he arched a brow.

Lucian and Julia had bought an old Victorian in the Garden District that was currently being renovated. Soon, he imagined that the home would be ready for them, and Lucian would be . . . gone.

Dev couldn’t be happier for him.

He imagined Gabe wouldn’t be too far behind Lucian, having already looked for a part-time residence in Baton Rouge to be closer to his son. And then it would be just Dev.

Ironic how things always came full circle.

He fixed the collar on the jacket and started walking. He made it a few steps when he felt a kiss of cold air along the nape of his neck. His step halted and he looked over his shoulder.

Something dark moved at the end of the long, narrow mudroom.

He wasn’t sure what the hell it was, because he’d caught the quick movement out of the corner of his eyes only a second before it disappeared. Frowning, he turned around and scanned the end of the mudroom. The door to the stairwell was closed, and if someone was down there, there was nowhere for them to go or hide.

“So, is your house haunted?”

Rosie’s question entered his thoughts, and a slight half grin tugged at his mouth. NOPE. That was the acronym for her paranormal investigative team. How . . . satirical.

“Dev?”

He turned toward the sound of Lucian’s voice. The youngest de Vincent stood in front of the pocket doors that led to the pantry and kitchen. He held a bottle of unopened red wine in his hand. With the exception of the blue-green eyes, Lucian looked nothing like Gabe or him. Fair of skin and hair, Lucian took after their mother, and it was no wonder that all of them had suspected that Lawrence wasn’t the father of Lucian and his twin sister. They’d all thought it was some unknown male, someone who was probably kinder to their mother than Lawrence.

Obviously it came as a shock when it was revealed that Lawrence was indeed the twins’ biological father and Gabe and Dev weren’t his children. That hadn’t been the only earth-shattering shock in the last several months. There was also the whole mess with their sister, Madeline, and the truth about what had happened to their mother.

“What are you doing?” Lucian asked.

“Thinking,” he replied.

Fair brows lifted. “Really? You’re just standing in the mudroom thinking?”

“Appears to be the case.”

Lucian sent him a wry look. “That’s not weird or anything.” He grinned as he stepped to the side. “Heard the senator was here this morning.”

“He was, but I doubt he’ll be back for a while.”

“Is that so?” Lucian started walking toward the kitchen, obviously expecting Dev to follow. Dev sighed. “Does he know anything about Sabrina’s whereabouts?”

   
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