Chapter 51: Not a Gerrard

I’d already contemplated having someone killed before, but not like this. I wasn’t just entertaining the idea—I was fucking planning it.

Would Chloe kill him if I told her to? I paid her enough. How would she do it? With her gun? A piece of glass off the floor? A random paper clip? What about She-Hulk over there? Would she be able to stop Chloe before my bodyguard finished the job? How much time would I buy her to kill this guy if I threw myself in front of the giantess? How long would it take her to tear me in half? That’d be enough time for Tyler to die, right?

On second thought, maybe this wasn’t the best time to kill Tyler. Psalter probably knew ten different people who could get the job done. I’d even pay to have him killed in a very specific, very graphic way. Tear his head off, perhaps? However it happened, I’d want him killed slowly ... maybe in a weird way. Someone could nail him to a wall with a nail gun while he was still alive.

Quentin ... Tyler ... whoever took another sip of his drink, still smirking at me. “What’s the matter? Nothing to say? Goddamn ... you really had it bad for her, didn’t you?”

“Did she know?” I asked.

“Did she know what?” Tyler said, swirling his drink in the tumbler.

“Did she know we were brothers?”

Tyler simply stared back at me, playing with his drink like some fucking villain. Finally, he said, “She knew.”

I felt myself swallow like there was a bag of marbles in my throat.

“She felt guilty at first,” Tyler continued, staring at his glass. “She told me more than once that she thought you should know, but I talked her out of it. It’s not like she owed you an explanation. You waited too long to make your move ... like a coward.”

He cut his eyes up at me, a mocking glint shining from under his thick eyebrows. “Honestly, I think she’s relieved she went with me. She never outright said it, but more than once, she said you were getting clingy and smothering her.”

I wasn’t sure what he was talking about. I’d given Natalie so much space—you could argue too much. I hadn’t put up a fight for Natalie after she’d returned from the wedding, and more than once, I’d regretted taking that route. At the time, I thought she just needed space. A lot of change had hit her. She’d lost her boss, been promoted, and suddenly became romantically entangled with someone who had been a friend for a year. On top of that, it was her employer ... someone who had become one of the wealthiest men in New York overnight. I didn’t want to pressure or overwhelm her.

The last word I would have described my behavior was ‘clingy.’

“Oh, and that stunt you pulled yesterday?” He tutted at me. “So desperate. She called you a loser.’”

“Liar,” I said.

Tyler shrugged his shoulders and took another sip of his drink. “I didn’t say it. She did.”

“That doesn’t sound like Natalie at all,” I said. “I gave her an entire planet’s worth of space to make up her own mind, and she chose you. She told me about the wedding, and I let her make up her own mind without putting up a fight because I respect her enough to make the best decision for her. I also know Natalie well enough to know she appreciated that. She wouldn’t have called me a loser, even after yesterday.”

He watched me without confirming or denying what I said, and despite my second-guessing, I tried to keep my face as stone-like as possible. Finally, he snorted, shook his head, and gave me a congratulatory smirk. “Jesus, man. I thought I nearly had you for a minute. Fine.” He threw back the rest of the alcohol and began fidgeting with the tumbler. “Yeah, Natalie could tell she broke your heart. She didn’t regret choosing me but may have felt a little guilty.”

Regardless of how small that kernel of good news was, it felt like a tiny blossom of heat in my chest that I desperately clung to. ‘She felt guilty.’ At that moment, those were some of the most beautiful words I could hear.

Catching Tyler’s lie created cracks in the rest of his story as the seconds ticked by. The look in Natalie’s eyes ... the confusion ... they all started to paint a different picture.

“She didn’t know we were brothers, either, did she?”

“Nah, man,” Tyler said. I guess he decided keeping up any part of the lie wasn’t worth it. “She didn’t know we had anything to do with each other.”

“She’s not dumb. She would have put it together when you told her your last name,” I said.

“Probably,” he said. “It’s why I used my mom’s last name. Fuck the Gerrards. Dad’s been dead forever, Gramps hates me, Nina’s a bitch, and everyone else is either in jail or not on speaking terms. I’ve never felt like a Gerrard and don’t want anything to do with them.”

“Then why are you talking to me? Why’d you go after Natalie?” I asked.

“Why did I go after Natalie?” Tyler asked, repeating the question as if it was the dumbest thing he’d ever heard. “Have you seen her?”

“There’s no way you can expect me to believe you guys just randomly met at a wedding,” I said.

Tyler sighed and returned to the bar to pour himself another drink—twice as much this time. “The moment I found out about you, I hired a man to dig into everything.” He took a sip, turned, and leaned back against the bar. “Brother, I know more about you than your own mom. I know where you banked before the inheritance. I know you and Jessica Kemp dated for several months before she ended things with you to date some guy named Shawn. I have a pretty good idea of what you’re doing with that Barbara chick. Shit, man ... I know your fucking porn habits.”

“So when I learned you were into Natalie, but you weren’t dating yet, I did some digging and found out about the wedding she was attending. I got the wedding planner’s name, bought him off, and added myself to the guest list. I showed up with an expensive present, gave them all the ol’ Tyler charm, and zeroed in on Natalie. It was cute how much we had in common thanks to my PI, and next thing I know, she’s back in my room with her clothes all over my floor.”

Tyler ended his little villain monologue with a satisfied smile and another sip of his drink.

“Wait ... you’re seriously telling me you investigated my whole life, found out who I was potentially dating, and started dating them before I made my move?” I asked, clarifying the crazy.

“Yeah,” he said, grinning as if giving me the punchline to an uncommonly good joke.

“What the fuck? Why? Who has that kind of time?”

“I do!” he shouted, pointing at his chest. It was so abrupt that I jumped in my own skin. “Me! I have that kind of time! I don’t have a fucking job, I’ve got the money to spend, and I hate you enough to dedicate the last few weeks to making your life a living fucking hell! I’ll spend the next year doing it if I have to. Years, even! Natalie’s just the beginning.”

“But why?” I asked again.

“Come on, Marcus! The money!”

“It seems to me like you have enough,” I said. His stupid stunt to make my life hell had probably set him back tens of thousands or even more. Anyone willing to spend that kind of money on something so petulant had to be wealthy.

“For stealing your girl, sure,” Tyler said. “Nothing on your level, though. I can buy a mansion. You can buy an island! I can buy a business. You can buy a fucking country! When Gramps kicked it, I thought this would be my time! Hell, even a fraction of the money would have been a game-changer, but no ... I didn’t get shit. None of us did. You got the whole thing, and we’re stuck with goddamn table scraps! I’m bored, and I’m fucking done playing in the little leagues!”

“So, when my lawyers couldn’t figure out a way around the will and told me I was shit out of luck, I decided if I couldn’t have the money, I’d take whatever else of yours I could get my hands on.”

“Jesus Christ,” I muttered. “Did it ever cross your mind that you could have just talked to me? We’re brothers! I know you don’t want anything to do with Gerrards, but I would have—”

“Oh, fuck no! You are not a Gerrard!” Tyler cut in. “That’s the fucking thing ... you’re some stranger who’s never had anything to do with this family, and I’m not sure whether that’s worse than you being part of the family.”

“Either way,” I said, “None of this is necessary.”

“Give me the money,” Tyler said pointedly.

I blinked. “What? No.”

“Give me half the money,” Tyler said. “You can keep the other half. We’d both still be the wealthiest people on the planet. Fuck everyone else.”

Besides not wanting someone as unhinged as Tyler to have half my grandfather’s estate, I’d grown accustomed to the status quo. I wasn’t enthusiastic about handing half my money to anyone ... especially the man who stole Natalie. I’d also been kicked around and threatened enough for one lifetime. I wasn’t about to be extorted by this overgrown man-child pulling some elaborate bullshit reminiscent of high school.

“Fuck off,” I said.

“Give me half, and I’ll break it off with Natalie,” he said. “I’ll go up there right now and tell her we’re done. She’s not really my type anyway.”

My jaw clenched; that hit a nerve, and Tyler could tell.

“I mean, she’s pretty enough, I guess. She’s a wet blanket in bed, though. I had to fuck someone behind her back just to keep from breaking up with her out of sheer boredom.”

By telling me that he was cheating on Natalie and not actually valuing her, he was trying to get under my skin and make me jealous. He was probably trying to provide further incentive to buy him off and leave her alone. It was almost working.

“You know what I mean, though,” Tyler said. “You fucked her. Boring, right?”

He waited a beat for me to respond, and when I didn’t, he said said, “You did fuck her, right?”

Not responding, I glanced at his bodyguard still leaning against the door with her tree trunk arms crossed over her chest. Fuck getting someone to kill this asshole. I wanted to feel his neck bones crackle in my own hands. Would I be able to reach him and break his neck before the Amazon closed on me?

“You didn’t, did you?” Tyler went on, goading me. “Did you guys kiss?”

He studied me and said, “Yeah ... you got that far. She’s a good kisser. I’ll give her that. Those lips ... y’know? Dick-sucking lips. It just sucks that she’s not all that great at it. Did you try her out?”

“Tyler,” I said.

“Hm?” he asked.

“Shut the fuck up.”

He pointed at me with his drink in hand. “That’s a ‘no.’ Bro ... did you do anything other than kiss her? You even get to feel her tits? It’s her best feature!”

“Marcus.” I heard someone say my name—probably Chloe—but I barely registered it. I was too busy remembering how sweet Natalie could be ... how—even though we’d decided not to date—she was a great girl who didn’t deserve to be used as some pawn in this spoiled rich kid’s stupid game.

“Goddamn, man!” Tyler said. “You’ve got it bad for her! You wanna know how it feels to fuck her? She’s not an impressive lay, but since you’re so hung up on her, maybe hearing about it will almost be as good as the real thing!” He chuckled and took another sip. “You see, Natalie tolerated doggy, but she really got going when you put her on her back and gave it to her from the front. She’s one of those romantic look-in-your-eyes types that—”

I lunged at him.

“Hey!” Someone bellowed.

“Marcus!” Chloe yelled.

I didn’t fucking care. I found myself on Tyler with his shirt in my hands. I felt a sudden jolt as we both crashed into the bar, and then my stomach fell away as we collapsed to the floor with me on top of him. I held firmly onto his shirt in one hand and drove my fist into his face, enjoying the pleasant sensation of something crunching under my knuckles. Something crashed behind me. There was more shouting, but I was too far gone to even pay attention to it.

Tyler pushed off the floor and sent us rolling across the wood and debris, and I slammed my hand into the ground just in time to bring us to a halt. Hovering over him once more, I drove the same fist into his face again. This time, I felt warm flecks of spittle and blood spray across my face; it was more satisfying than gross.

Wrapping Tyler’s collar around my fingers, I hauled his head and shoulders off the ground and shouted, “Leave her the fuck alone!”

Then my world went white as I felt something crash into the side of my head and felt myself hurling ass-over-head off my brother. My vision began to clear just in time to see Liz hovering over me, bending over to grab my arm. I felt her lift me off the ground as easily as picking up a grocery bag before tossing me like trash into Chloe. My bodyguard managed to catch me as I crashed into her, preventing our faces from smashing into each other as we both went to the floor. I landed on top of her, my chest pressed into hers as my face came to a halt inches from hers.

I stared into her wide brown eyes, and time seemed to come to a standstill. Despite having just had my bell rung, I was very aware of Chloe’s breasts pressed into my chest while my crotch was firmly planted into hers. We were so close that we could have both puckered our lips, and they would have touched. Her breath rolled over my face, reinforcing the intimacy of how close we were to each other, and I took a moment to admire her freckled cheeks and the way her wavy blonde hair framed her face.

Then, the moment passed as she brushed me aside and slashed behind me with her foot, and I heard a loud crash as something hit the floor. I oriented myself just in time to see Chloe kip up onto her feet, holding two guns as she stood a safe distance away from Liz’s and Tyler’s prone bodies.

“Everyone needs to cool off,” Chloe said as I climbed to my feet. Her tone suggested she was speaking to people being mildly unreasonable instead of breaking off a fistfight while holding two pistols.

Liz picked herself off the ground, eyeing Chloe as she reached down to help Tyler to his. My brother looked rough, with his nose bent slightly at an angle as blood poured from one nostril. His left eye looked slightly swollen. I wanted to launch myself at him and tear out his fucking throat.

“Get the fuck out of my house,” I snarled as I reached down and yanked a piece of glass out of my palm.

Tyler spat to the side, saliva and blood hitting the hardwood. “I won’t.”

“Tyler, Chloe called an extra security team the moment she saw the house had people in it.” I put my fist in the small of my back and arched it, trying to work the spike of pain I was feeling. I probably sounded more weary than angry. “If you’re not out of here by the time they arrive, I’m going to buy a prison, throw you in it, and forget you exist.”

“Liar,” Tyler spat. “You weren’t raised in this family. You don’t have the balls to do what has to be done. You aren’t a Gerrard.”

“You’re right. I’m not,” I said. “The Gerrards are all miserable losers who’ve been leeching off Colin their whole life. Now, get the fuck out of my house, or I’ll bury you under the prison.”

“It’s true,” Chloe said. “I’ve already got five people here. There’s another eleven on their way, and we will do whatever’s necessary to remove you from Mr. Upton’s premises.”

It was Tyler’s turn to glare back at us with a clenched fist and jaw.

“I don’t think they’re bluffing, sir,” Liz said. “I recommend we leave.”

Tyler didn’t respond. He simply stared at me for ten hate-filled seconds and then said, “We’re not done here.”

“Yeah,” I said. “We are. Stay the fuck away from me and anyone close to me, or I swear to god, you’ll regret ever meeting me. That includes your fake relationship.”

“No,” Tyler said. “Natalie’s mine, now. I’m gonna keep fucking her, and I’m gonna think about you every time and how much you want to be in my place. You took something from me ... I’m taking something of yours.”

“Your relationship with Natalie’s done,” I said.

“How about you let her decide,” he said, starting to smirk before wincing, which turned into a frown.

“She’s a smart woman. She’ll figure out what you are.”

“We’ll see,” he said. Then he began retreating toward the door, keeping his eyes on me and Chloe. “Liz. The door.”’

Liz opened the door and waited for him to back out of the room, then turn and disappear down the hall. With her dark eyes still on us, she asked Chloe, “Can I have my weapon back?”

Chloe trained Liz’s own weapon on her. “No.”

Liz stared another moment before disappearing into the hall, shutting the door behind her.

“Fuck,” I said, walking over to the office desk and leaning against it, feeling a little woozy.

“You okay?” Chloe asked, keeping the gun trained on the door for another few moments.

“Just dizzy.”

“Wouldn’t be surprised if you have a concussion,” Chloe said, finally lowering the gun. She turned away from the door and moved to the desk, eyeing me. “Tyler clocked you pretty hard with that glass.”

“That’s what that was?” I asked as I realized half my hair and part of my shirt were drenched in alcohol. It was all I could smell. “He got me good.”

“So did you,” Chloe said. She placed her fingers on my cheek, gently guiding me to look into her eyes as she stared into mine. It wasn’t a moment of tenderness ... she was clearly checking on my pupil reaction and ability to focus. However, a rare warmth in her eyes made staring back at her more enjoyable.

“I think you’re fine.” She finally said, her fingertips slipping away from my cheek. My bodyguard grabbed her gun off the desk and holstered it.

“The only good news,” I groused. “Fuck!” I kicked at the office desk. It barely moved. “This place is a mess ... what a fucking waste!”

“Maybe,” Chloe said. She held her hand up in front of me. A small square of semi-transparent plastic sat in her palm.

I blinked at it as the wheels in my head started turning. “Is that...”

“A cap for a flash drive? Yeah. I noticed it while you two were arguing,” Chloe said.

“This doesn’t mean much,” I said.

“Maybe. It could also be the cap to the drive they were looking for. We could hand that laptop off to Psalter ... there might be something worth finding.”

I plucked the cap from Chloe’s hand and stared at it. If it did belong to the drive they were asking me for, then whoever took it was likely linked to Roger and whoever else was responsible for my kidnapping.

“Do you think he could track down whoever was here?”

“Only one way to find out,” Chloe said, giving me a little smile. From her, it was a ray of sunlight. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts, looking for Psalter’s number.

“Holy shit! What happened!?”

Chloe and I glanced at the doorway to see Erin peering around the corner. Her eyes were wide as she looked around at all the extra-broken debris scattered across the room. Emily was just behind her.

“Your ... uh ... Quentin? He passed us downstairs, looking messed up as hell. What did you do to him?” Erin asked as she stepped the rest of the way into the room. She was looking at Chloe as she asked the question, obviously assuming my bodyguard was the one who roughed him up.

“That was all him,” Chloe said as she scrolled through her phone.

Erin blinked and looked me over. “He didn’t get any licks in?”

“Hit him in the head once with a tumbler before the giant, and I stepped in,” Chloe said, holding her phone up to her ear. “He did good. Needs some work, but Tara and I’ll fix that eventually.” She walked away from the rest of us and spoke on the phone in a low voice.

“Damn,” Erin said.

“Oh my god! He’s pissed,” Emily chimed in. “He just stormed across the living room and disappeared!”

“He left the house?” I asked.

Emily shook her head. “He went to another room.”

“Where’s Natalie?” I asked.

Emily looked a little uncertain. “I ... we didn’t see her.”

“Psalter’s got a lead on VanCamp,” Chloe interrupted. “A plane left an hour ago for Amsterdam, and he’s ninety percent sure Roger’s on it.”

My interest was immediately piqued. After handing Tyler his ass and now having a lead on Roger, I was thirsty for more blood, and VanCamp had it coming. “Tell Henry to get as many men to Amsterdam as possible. I want him hunted down. I don’t care how much it costs.”

“Got it,” Chloe said and started talking quietly into the phone again.

“Come on,” I muttered, making a beeline for the door.

“Where are you going?” Erin asked, following close behind. Emily and Chloe were in her wake.

“I told him to leave. Wherever he is, the only thing he better be doing is packing his shit!” I said over my shoulder as I headed down the hall. Emerging into the living room, I looked around but couldn’t see any sign of Tyler or Natalie. I didn’t like that at all.

“Eeeeyyyyy!” Baldy called out from his perch on the couch. “You changed your mind!”

“Where’s Tyler?” I barked.

“Oh shit,” he said, recoiling. “T went that way, man.”

“Hahaha! You fucking snitched on your boy!” Shaggy said.

“Mike, this is the guy! I’m not fucking holdin’ out on the guy! Besides, T was messed up as fuck! I’m too pretty for that shit!”

Shaggy was saying something in response, but I was in too much of a hurry to catch whatever he said. I headed down the hall in the direction he pointed, checking every room on the way. The first door was a bathroom with no one in it. The second was an entrance to a kitchen. The third was some kind of sitting room or study. It was cozy, smaller than the average room I’d seen, with a man sitting in one of the chairs and a woman straddling his lap. She was topless, and they were making out, and I realized it was the two I’d noticed earlier making out.

“You’re all leaving,” I said. “Get the fuck out.” I left before they had a chance to respond.

I rounded a corner and saw Liz leaning against a wall next to another door. “Is he in there?” I asked. She didn’t answer. She didn’t need to. Her presence was enough for me to know that Tyler was in that room. I stalked past her and paused at the door. “If I open this door, are we gonna have a problem?”

“You promise that both of us can walk out of here?”

“I can just get Chloe to shoot you,” I pointed out.

“He’s paid me to provide security. You’ve got six armed guys in this house, so I don’t stand a chance, but I’d be bad at my job if I didn’t at least try to get him out safely.”

I could respect that. After all, the woman was just doing her job ... just like Chloe. It wasn’t her fault that the man who paid her so well was a piece of shit.

“If he leaves willingly, I’ll let him go, but Natalie stays,” I said.

She rolled her eyes, sighed, and muttered, “Knew I should have gone military.” Then she opened the door for me.

Natalie was sitting on the bed with her hands grasped above her knees, watching Tyler, who looked like he was explaining something. When the door opened, they both looked up at me. Tyler glared at his bodyguard and started to speak, “I told you—”