Page 228 of Powerhouse: Boxed Set
My flesh surged with life as he said the words, a shiver of want right up my spine.
“ElaineConstantine,” I said, and closed the distance between us. “I wanted to know what was going down between them andElaineConstantine.”
“Yeah,ElaineConstantine,” he repeated. “Well, I found out what’s going down. It ain’t pretty.”
I fixed my attention on his face. “Tell me.”
“She’s in deep. Got in debt for drugs, same old story. But there’s more.”
“Spit it out.”
He took another drag on his cigarette before he answered. “It’s not just her own debt they’re chasing her down for. She took on a load of other debt with it.Otherpeople’s debt.”
“Other people’s? What the fuck?”
He tipped his head. “Seems little miss stuck up isn’t quite the selfish little princess she appears to be. She’s been pitying a whole world of drug addict losers and bailing them out.”
The words grate when they come out of his mouth.
He continues on, oblivious, “She deserves everything coming to her. Taking debt on with the Powers sure ain’t a charity gig. She should have kept to the rich girl charity bullshit.”
I tried to find the logic in her moves. But there wasn’t any logic in it.
Trenton was right—she shouldn’t have gotten tangled up with the Powers. But she was a Constantine…queen Caroline Constantine would surely clear her debts.
Trenton read my mind. “Caroline’s washed her hands of it, so they say. Apparently, Elaine’s done it before, over and over. Last few times her mom’s bought her out of it, but not this time. This time the stakes are higher, and her mom has said no fucking way. She’s on her own. She’s been enough of an embarrassment to the family name already, so the whispers say. Mommy’s done with her.” He flicked his cigarette butt onto the body. “Elaine’s on her own, and they’re coming after her. Soon.”
“And what exactly are they going to do about it?” I snapped, but I knew the answer. I could see it in his eyes.
He gestured to the dead fool on the floor before he answered me, and I knew what was coming. Trenton Alto had questions of his own brewing fast. Questions I sure as hell didn’t want to be answering. “What’s the deal with Elaine Constantine?”
“What the fuck does it matter?” I said to him. “Tell me exactly what the damn Power brothers are planning to do to her and when.”
“Holy fuck, Lucian,” he said. “What the fuck is happening to you? Of course it matters. The very fact you’ve been breathing in the same air space as that Constantine matters, and you know it.”
His eyes were bold and cold. Hard and disbelieving.
He didn’t recognize me, and I didn’t recognize myself, either. I was swimming in shit, and all because of her. All because of the woman I should be hating with every evil sliver of my soul.
Trenton was correct, and I hated him for it.
He cleared his throat. “There are rumors already flying around, you know? Rumors about you not being in Morelli Holdings last week, rumors that something is going down…rumors about you chasing a pretty little blonde…”
“Rumors can fly all they like. I’m not obligated to answer to any of them. My business is my fucking business, and mine only.”
He looked guilty, shifting from foot to foot. “Not when the questions are coming from the board.”
“Fuck the board.”
“And Bryant Morelli? Fuck him, too?”
Jesus Christ. I could see it in his eyes. Trenton Alto’s loyalty didn’t belong to me anymore. The motherfucker had been in discussions with my father. Discussions about me.
“He asked me,” he said, as though that excused it. “I had to, Lucian. He asked me.”
“Well, well. Does he know you’re here?” I pushed with a sneer.
He shook his head and took out another cigarette. “Not yet. The mess tonight happened pretty damn quickly, don’t you think? I wouldn’t have been able to snitch to your dad if I’d have wanted to.” He lit up. “But he asked me what you’ve been doing. He asked me about Elaine Constantine. I didn’t start it, not at all. Seems the chauffeur has been reporting back.”
