Page 51 of The Night Firm

Sebastian laughs mockingly. "Really? Because this sure as hell looks like it's all our business now!"

"What's all our business?" Derek asks, walking in with Elijah by his side.

"Private meeting. Go away," says Liam.

"Is that any way to greet your brother?" Derek asks with a charming smile, not the least bit put off by Liam's attitude. "I came to find out if you tracked down anything about who might have it in for our beloved sire, but it seems I've walked into something much juicier. Pray tell."

Liam jerks his head at Elijah. "And what are you doing here?" he asks, ignoring Derek's question.

Elijah holds up a journal. "Research. I needed to borrow a book and happened to arrive at the same time as Derek."

"How convenient," he says, then glares at me as if it's my fault. "What did you do?"

"Me? Nothing. WhatcouldI do?" I ask.

He scoffs. "As if you don't know."

Now everyone in the room is confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Did you think you could hide the truth from us?" Liam asks.

He shifts positions and stalks to me. The other brothers step closer, presumably to protect me if hothead here loses his shit again.

Sebastian glances at me, then grabs Liam's arm. "Stop trying to change the subject. It's just as well everyone is here so I don't have to repeat it." He turns to address Derek and Elijah. "Liam, here, has been paying visits to Mary behind Vlad's back. We also found love letters she had hidden, signed by the letter L. I'm trying to determine if he was having an affair with her."

"I wasn't," Liam says.

"But you were visiting her?" Derek asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

There’s a long pause, and it’s clear Liam is debating how much of the truth to tell us.

“Let me remind you,” Sebastian says, “we have evidence you were at their house.”

“What kind of evidence?” Derek asks.

“A memory,” Sebastian says.

Liam scoffs. “Those are easily tampered with and you know it.”

“It was the memory of a cat,” I say, speaking for the first time. “Unless cats in this world are something quite newsworthy, I doubt it’s been tampered with.”

“Show me,” Derek says, frowning and glancing suspiciously at Liam.

Sebastian plays the memory, pausing at Liam’s shoes.

Derek and Elijah lean in, studying the frozen projection.

“Your penchant for custom clothing might be your undoing after all,” Elijah says dryly to his fuming brother.

Liam finally nods curtly. “Yes, I was there. Okay? I was there. But not for the reasons you think.”

"Why, then?” Derek asks. “What could possibly justify you going against our sire like that?”

Liam steps back and paces in front of his fireplace. "It's not what it looks like. Mary reached out to me. She needed help and didn't know who else to ask."

"What did she need help with?" I ask.

Liam glares at me again. "Her baby. She was worried about her pregnancy and needed a healer. So she called me."