“I only know what she told me.” I snuggled closer to him. “Just that Lorne was arrested. She didn’t go into details.”
Luke exhaled slowly. “Yeah.”
He didn’t rush into the explanation. His hand moved absently along my arm, grounding himself as much as me. “Federal agents came just before I got home from hockey.”
I pictured it instantly. The driveway at the King estate. The marble foyer. The kind of controlled chaos that followed men who carried warrants like weapons.
“They walked him out in front of everyone.”
The words landed quietly between us. “Your dad?” I asked.
“He was there.” Luke’s jaw clenched. “Mom too. Drew.” He paused before continuing. “Dad and Lorne hadn’t seemed to expect it.”
“How bad was it?”
Luke leaned his head back against the concrete wall behind us. “It was very civilized,” he answered. “No shouting or drama.”
The wind brushed across the roof, stirring a loose strand of my hair against his neck. “And Lorne?” I couldn’t imagine him accepting his fate easily.
Luke gave a short breath that held no humor. “He argued. For about thirty seconds.” His fingers tightened briefly where they rested against my arm. “Then he realized it didn’t matter.”
The image of Lorne Hawthorne losing control felt almost surreal. That man had carried himself through Blackwood with the kind of ruthless confidence that came from believing rules only applied to other people.
Luke turned his head slightly toward me. “Charles Dunn was there.”
My stomach clenched.
“He saw everything.”
That was enough. Of course he’d been. His threat was unfurling at record speed all around us.
I tilted my face upward to study Luke’s expression in the faint glow of the town lights. “How are you doing?”
His eyes moved across the skyline before returning to me. “I expected something like this eventually,” he admitted. “Your mom talking to the feds made that inevitable.”
The mention of Mom twisted low in my chest. “She didn’t do it to hurt your family.”
“I know.” His answer came immediately. “I never thought she did.”
I studied him carefully. “You’re sure?”
Luke’s hand moved up to cup the side of my face, his thumb brushing lightly along my cheek.
“Mila,” he murmured softly, “the only person responsible for what happened tonight is the man they put in the back of that car.”
The certainty in his voice eased something restless inside me. Still, the reality of the situation pressed against my ribs. “Things are getting ugly,” I warned.
“Yes.” No hesitation. He simply acknowledged the truth. “But that doesn’t change anything.”
I tilted my head to look at him. “What do you mean?”
Luke studied my face for a long moment. “I mean that whatever fallout comes from this investigation,” he continued evenly, “it won’t stay contained to my family.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do.” The quiet conviction in his voice left no room for doubt. “Lorne’s arrest doesn’t end anything,” he continued. “It pulls the rest of it into the open. My family. King Enterprises. Whatever Darren uncovered.”
The truth of that pressed heavily against the quiet night around us. The arena beneath our feet carried a faint mechanical pulse through the concrete. Finally, I exhaled slowly. “Blackwood is going to explode tomorrow.”