I let out a groan. Am I speaking another language? “Yeah,” I say, glancing at both King and Cruz, the confusion starting to piss me off. I must be missing something here. Call me a spoiled brat, but I want my answers and I want them now. Who cares about the stupid key? How’s that any different from Cruz getting the code? “What’s the big deal? He’s one of the seventeen heads of Dynasty now. I figured all the top-dogs around here had access to the cell keys and codes.”
Cruz lets out a surprised breath before meeting my stare and shaking his head. “No, babe. Not even close. He made a fucking show that he was going to kill you at your initiation, so only my dad and Tobias had access to the keys. The only way Carver would have been able to get them is if he’d somehow stolen them from their personal safes … or if he had some sort of agreement with them to gain access to you, and after how determined he’s been to end you, I could only imagine what kind of agreement that would have been.”
“What the hell are you saying?” I demand, flying to my feet and instantly pacing, just as Grayson had been doing. I look at the two boys left on the couch. “The good guys want me dead too? Is it not enough that I’ve had to deal with Royston, hitmen, and fucking sex traffickers? Now your parents want me dead as well?”
“No,” King says, throwing himself to his feet. “That’s ridiculous. My father would never. He was Andrew’s closest friend. He’s always said that despite you being away from all of this, he’s always thought of you as an adopted daughter. You can trust him. He’s loyal to you, Winter.”
I turn my gaze on Cruz as Grayson huffs from behind me. We all ignore him as I keep my stare on Cruz, desperately needing his response. “My father wouldn’t,” he tells me. “He might not want me getting close to you, and he may be an ass with questionable morals, but he’d never hurt you like that.”
I drop down onto the coffee table as Grayson loses his patience. “Are you guys fucking kidding me?” he demands. “You’re seriously questioning Carver right now? We’ve been best friends since we were all fucking born. You know damn well that he would have stolen that key, and it would have been right out of Tobias’ safe. He hasn’t changed the passcode to that thing for twelve fucking years.”
Guilty expressions twist over the guys’ faces, and as they quickly glance at one another, I see the exact moment they realize Grayson is right. I meet his furious stare. “How sure are you?”
“Sure enough that I’d happily leave you and Carver in a room with a knife and know that you’d be the one to walk away. He’d never fucking hurt you, Elodie, and the fact that you think otherwise really fucking pisses me off.”
“No,” I say, getting back to my feet and stepping straight into him. “You don’t get to guilt trip me like that. You weren’t the one who couldn’t breathe while his hands were wrapped around your throat.”
I feel Cruz at my back, pulling me away from Grayson, but as I move back a step, Grayson comes with me. “It was a fucking show for his family and the other members of Dynasty. All of it has been a show, and if you’d have just controlled yourself and not been so reckless with that fucking dagger, you could have come to us and the whole thing would have been avoided. We would have taken Royston out and it would have been done without your ass ending up in a cell.”
My eyes bug out of my head. “Are you serious? You’re blaming me in all of this? He taunted me about murdering my parents. He deserved to die.”
“I’m not saying he didn’t, but you retaliated by dropping to his goddamn level. You’re better than that.”
“Fuck you.”
“Yeah,” Grayson scoffs, rolling his eyes as though I’m so far below him. “Fuck you too, babe.”
“Okay,” King says, stepping in between us and pushing Grayson toward the fireplace as Cruz drags me back to the couch and all but throws me down to it. “Both of you take a fucking breather. Getting into bullshit arguments like this isn’t getting us anywhere. We need to work out where to go from here.”
“What do you mean where to go from here?” Grayson questions, his frustration still getting the best of him. “There is nowhere to go. It’s over. Winter is out and Carver is fucking screwed.”
My brows furrow. “How is he screwed? He’s the head of his family. He has the freedom to make any call he wants.”
Cruz shakes his head. “He really doesn’t,” he explains. “Being the head of a family … it’s not just being the boss man, it’s so much more. He has to advocate for them, be the voice at the table, and I can guarantee they would have been gunning for your execution.”