The sound of her name, one that no one had dared say around him the past two weeks, made him shoot up to his feet. “I don’t want to talk about her.”
“Well too bad, because I won’t tell you what I know about mages unless you hear me out and what I have to say about her.” Nick tightened his hold, and he winced in pain, but continued. “I promise, I’ll tell you what I know. It has something to do about that day you were released from jail.”
Grant turned to Lucas. “Son? Why don’t you listen to what the detective has to say?”
He gritted his teeth, knowing what his father wanted. It was a simple exchange. All he had to do was listen to what this man had to say about that bitch. “Fine. Say what you need to say.”
“I was there that day you were released, Mr. Anderson, and you’ve read the situation wrong.” Sharpe took a deep breath. “You know that David Masters was the one who framed you, right?”
Lucas’s grip on his temper was slipping. He’d been surrounded by traitors all this time and he didn’t even know. “He’s dead, right? Shanked in prison?” His lawyer had told him earlier that day. It happened just last night.
Sharpe nodded. “Did you know he was a mage?”
Everyone in the room went still. “No,” Lucas said. “We did not.”
“Actually,” Astrid spoke up. “Sofia told me, and I told my father.”
Lucas pinned his future Beta with his gaze. “And you didn’t think to tell me?”
“Would you have believed her?” she shot back. “You didn’t even want anyone speaking her name. Anyway, right after you were released, she told me about Masters being a mage, and I told Dad. He said he was going to look into it.”
“And we have confirmed it,” Daric added. “Which is the reason why we are here now.”
Lucas huffed and turned to Sharpe. “Well? Go on,” he barked.
“While you were in jail, Sofia and I tracked him down,” the detective continued. “Actually, she’d been working all night, trying to find a way to prove you were innocent and that someone was framing you.” Sharpe looked him straight in the eyes. “She believed you. From the beginning, when we found Fraser. She even told the captain and that she had a relationship with you. Bushnell put her on paid leave and passed the case on to me.”
Lucas refused to let Sharpe’s words get to him. “And so, you found me guilty?”
“Actually, I was still trying to wrap my case up when Bushnell pushed me to have you arrested. When I refused, he went ahead and did it anyway. Sofia had nothing to do with it; she hadn’t even been around.”
Because she’d been with him at Shenandoah. “But why did your captain have me arrested?”
“It was Masters. He’d been controlling the captain the entire time. With a necklace he was wearing. If he hadn’t used it on me, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
Astrid, Cross, and Daric all looked at each other. Lucas was starting to get annoyed. What else was the trio hiding from him?
“A necklace?” This time, it was Cross who spoke. “What did it look like?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see it. But the moment Masters used it on me, I couldn’t control my own body. He made me point a gun at Sofia and tried to kill her. But I broke free, and we took him down.”
“This is what I was afraid of,” Daric said. “Alpha, Lucas, the reason we called for this meeting is because Cross has uncovered something very important about the mages, including some information about a necklace.”
“There is such an artifact that can be used to control humans,” Cross said. “And—”
Grant cleared his throat and glanced at Sharpe. “We can talk about this later.” He turned his gaze to Lucas. “Son?”
A pit began to form in Lucas’s stomach. He was still processing Sharpe’s words, trying to figure it out. Sofia had nothing to do with his arrest and worked to set him free. Could he believe the detective?
The intercom buzzed again, and he marched to his desk to answer it. “What now?”
Jared sounded apprehensive. “Er, Mr. Anderson, sorry, there are two gentlemen who are causing a ruckus downstairs. They are demanding to see you, refusing to leave. They’re threatening to call the press on you.”
Why the fuck was this his concern? “Who the hell are they?”
“It’s a Giorgios and George Selinofoto, sir.”
Sofia’s grandfather and father. For a brief second, guilt overcame him as he remembered his words to Sofia. He wouldn’t have done anything to harm her grandfather’s restaurant; that was petty of him. He was talking out of anger, and it had obviously worked because she did stay away.
“I’ll have our men escort them out,” Nick said.
“No.” The two men had been kind to him that night, and he wouldn’t let them suffer the indignity of being thrown out of the building. “Let them up and I’ll speak to them in the waiting room.”
“We don’t have time for this, Lucas,” Grant said in an exasperated voice. “The mages—”
“This will just be a second.” He didn’t bother to explain further, but instead, walked out to the waiting area. A few minutes later, the elevator doors opened, and he walked over to greet Sofia’s dad and grandfather as they stepped out of the car.
“Sir, I—” But he didn’t get a chance to say anything as a meaty fist connected with his jaw. It didn’t knock him down, though he did stagger back in surprise.
“You bastard!” George Selinofoto’s voice was filled with rage. “You fucking asshole! If I had a shotgun, I would shoot you in the fucking balls!’
“Excuse me?” Lucas rubbed his aching jaw. “What the fuck are you talking about?” He looked at the older Selinofoto, who just stood there, his expression fierce.
George’s face was red with anger. “Sofia, that’s who we’re talking about.”
“I haven’t seen or talked to your daughter in two weeks,” he said.
“Well
