After dinner, everyone had gone to their separate corners. Lindsay and Nicole thought the game was fun and decided to team up to look around the house before going to bed. Troy and Barry went to the smoking room with Brock to smoke cigars.
Lexi decided to go to the den. She needed more alcohol if she was going to get through this corny weekend. The door was cracked open. She heard people talking.
“Why don’t we just leave?” Jennifer whined.
“What are you, a party pooper?” Jeffrey said in a teasing tone.
“You’re damn straight,” Jennifer answered seriously.
“I’m with Jennifer,” Conner said. “This place is haunted.”
“You’re still crying that same tune?” Jeffrey said. “I’m sure it was just a breeze from a vent.”
“I know a light breeze when I feel it,” Conner said with an indignant tone. “And that wasn’t it.”
“You can do what you like, Connor, but we are staying,” Jeffrey said.
“Why?” Jennifer asked.
“Brock’s joke was tasteless, but it’s all fun and games. Besides, his parents have been long time clients of mine and now Brock is, too. We should stay to network at the very least.”
“Other than that Lexi girl, who else here has money for you to invest?” Jennifer asked.
Lexi was taken aback. She never told them that her family had won the lottery. How did they know?
“You don’t know that,” Jeffrey said. “The rest could be low-key millionaires like her.”
“Oh, all right,” Jennifer said in a defeated tone. “But, if this gets out of hand-”
“We will leave immediately,” Jeffrey said.
“Well, you two can do what you like,” Connor said. “I’m packing my bags and making my excuses to Brock. I don’t feel comfortable here, and I don’t have the patience for childish games.”
“It’s getting late,” Jeffrey said. “You’re going to drive back to Dallas tonight?”
“Yep,” Connor said. “There are dozens of hotels I can stay at for the night. Tomorrow, I’ll catch a flight back to New York and be back in my comfortable loft by Friday evening.”
Lexi decided to enter the room. She slid the sliding door back.
“Hey,” Jeffrey said with a big smile. “Did you come in here to look for the gold?”
Lexi snorted. “No, I came in here for more wine.”
“I don’t blame you, honey,” Jennifer said.
“Lexi, it’s been a pleasure meeting you,” Connor said as he approached her. “But, I’m leaving. I can’t participate in the weekend activities.”
Lexi decided to act like she hadn’t listened to the conversation. “I’m sorry to hear that. I hope we will see each other again.”
“I’m sure we will. Knowing Brock, he’ll find another way to bring us all together again,” Connor said. He took her hand and kissed the back of it. “Enjoy your evening and your drink.”
“Thank you,” Lexi said.
“Jennifer, Jeffrey, enjoy your weekend,” Connor said and he quickly left the room.
Lexi chatted with Jeffrey and Jennifer for an hour. Jeffrey was a slick one. Lexi waited for him to ease in a question about who handled her finances, but he never did. He was probably waiting until she appeared comfortable with him before he asked.
During their conversation, Lexi guessed that Brock told Jeffrey about her family winning the lottery. Other than Brock, Lexi hadn’t told anyone else.
Jeffrey and Jennifer were tired and decided to go to bed, leaving Lexi alone in the den. Lexi got up to get more wine, but she discovered that she had drunk the last bottle with Jennifer and Jeffrey.
Victor walked in. “I came in to stoke the fire, Ms. Brown. There’s a chill this evening.”
“That’s fine. Is there any more wine?” Lexi asked.
“In the wine cellar, miss,” he answered. “I’ll be happy to fetch you another bottle.”
“Actually, I would like to get it myself,” Lexi said. “It will give me a chance to look around the house, and who knows, I might find that pot of gold.”
“Very well, miss,” Victor said. He told Lexi how to get to the wine cellar.
Lexi had to walk through the dining room and through the kitchen. The kitchen had been updated. She was happy to see that Brock got to that at least. The counter tops were white and black marble and there were stainless steel appliances. However, he had left the dumb waiter installed.
She walked across the kitchen and opened a large wooden door. She faced a long staircase going down. A loud gust of wind blew outside. A shot of fear tickled the back of Lexi’s neck when a light scratching sound echoed from the kitchen. Lexi’s head snapped around to the direction of the noise. It was tree branches hitting the window.
She exhaled. “For Pete’s sake, get a grip, girl,” she whispered aloud. “This place is not haunted. It’s just old.”
She took a deep breath and started to descend the dim stairwell. She left the door open so she could have some light. As the stairwell curved around, a light shined from the right. “Hello?” she called out.
“Down here,” Brock said.
Lexi descended the rest of the stairs. She rounded the corner to the entry of the wine cellar. Brock was sitting on a wooden stool drinking out of a champagne bottle. He gave her a goofy grin.
Lexi smiled and shook her head. “Feeling no pain, huh?”
“Nope,” he said. “Would you like a drink? We’ll have to share the bottle.”
Lexi stepped into the cellar. “Where are your comrades? I thought you were drinking and smoking with them?”
“I was, but they got tired,” Brock said. “I came down here for some champagne and decided to drink it down here.” Brock hopped off the stool.
“So, how long are you going to carry on with the game of the fake treasure?” she asked. “Not all weekend, I hope.”
“Fake?” he said with amusement. “I assure you that the story is true, according to Victor. He should know. He’s worked in this house since he was twenty.”
“How old is he now?”
Brock snorted. “Ancient,” he replied and handed Lexi the bottle.
She took a small sip.
“I’m hoping we could play a private game while everyone is doing their own thing right now,” he said in a deep tone and placed his hands on her waist.
Lexi was surprised. Brock had never tried to put the moves on her before. “Um, Brock, how much have you had to drink?”
“Not that much, my dick is hard, so I’m not sloshed,” Brock said with a smile and pulled her against his body.
“Brock, you’ve never…wanted me like that before.”
“Of course I have, you just didn’t know. I am a guy, after all.”
“I don’t know, Brock. Friends shouldn’t fuck friends,” she said. She really wasn’t sure. Brock was a good-looking guy with his solid cheek bones and perfect nose, but they’ve known each other since they were kids.
“One time isn’t going to hurt,” he said in a deep sexy tone. His head came down to hers. He placed his mouth on her lips. Brock gently stroked his lips against hers. His tongue glided between her lips.
Lexi pulled out of the kiss. She looked up at him. “Well, I would like a nice rocking before I go to bed,” she said bashfully.
He laughed and released her waist. “Good.” He walked over and closed the door to the cellar.
“Wait. You want to do it down here?” Lexi asked with confusion.
“Yeah, it will be fun,” Brock said with a mischievous grin.
“And uncomfortable.” Lexi placed the champagne bottle on a shelf.
“Not necessarily,” he said and pointed at a cushioned bench that was built against the wall.
“That looks pretty small.”
Brock walked to her and placed his hands on her back. “Trust me. I am very creative.”
She laughed. “That I definitely know.”
Lexi came out of the bedroom of the four-bedroom Dallas home that Brock owned. He had purchased it when he had first moved to Texas. It had been two weeks since that horrible weekend at the Mosley Estate.Lexi had made it back to the estate that stormy night. By the time she had made it back to the mausoleum, Brock had made his way outside. He was holding his shoulder as he grimaced in pain.She had called 911. The cops had found Blake’s body, but Troy and the camper were gone. They put an APB out on him. The camper was found one hundred miles away from Dallas. Troy and the gold were gone. The cops believed he had crossed the border. He was still at large. Brock doubted that they would find Troy. He had connections all over North and South America from being in the Marines for ten years. Also, he spoke Spanish fluently. Troy wouldn’t be found unless he wanted to be found.Troy’s suspicions about what happened to Lindsay and Nicole were correct.
Troy rolled over to his side. Lexi struggled to turn over. Her wrists and part of her hands had fallen asleep in the restrictive bindings. Troy let out a low sigh and slowly sat up on the edge of the bed.Thunder rumbled outside. It started pouring again.Troy groaned with satisfaction as he slowly stood up. He pulled his jeans up and turned around to face Lexi on the bed.Lexi looked up at him. “We had a deal,” she whispered.He smiled at her as he zipped his pants. “We did, beautiful, and I intend to keep it.” Troy buttoned his jeans, and then looked at his watch. “Let me help you up.”Troy helped Lexi off the bed. He pulled her skirt down, and copped a feel of her breasts before he pulled her turtleneck down, covering them. Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out her car key and the burner phone. “Here you are.”“Um, my wrists?”He smiled. “That wasn&rs
Lexi was soaked to the skin as she stood in the camper. Troy closed the door and stuffed Brock’s pistol in his jeans pocket. Then, he unzipped his jacket and quickly took it off. Lexi watched Troy pull his ivory polo shirt over his head. His pale chest was smooth and muscular. She didn’t know he had all that under there. “Aren’t you going to untie me?” Lexi asked as she raised her wrists up. He chuckled. “I’m horny, not dumb.” Damn, she was going to have to go through with it. Oh well, it was better than her being dead. She nodded. He stepped closer to her as he undid his j
Victor and Troy loaded the large satchel of gold coins and jewels in the back of Lexi’s SUV. The rain pounded on the vehicle.“It’s done,” Victor said breathlessly.“All right,” Blake said. “Brock, I’m afraid this is where we part ways.”Before Lexi knew it, Troy had shot Brock. The gun shot was ten times as loud because of the walls in the mausoleum. If the doors weren’t wide open, they would have gone deaf.Lexi screamed in terror as Brock stumbled backwards and fell back on the floor.“Jesus!” Victor exclaimed.“Oh come on,” Blake yelled at Victor. “You know we couldn’t keep him alive.”Lexi ran over to Brock. She knelt down next to him. His eyes were closed. Blood was seeping from his shoulder. Troy could have hit his heart.Blake grabbed her arm and yanked her up.“He’s still your brother,” Victor
Blake’s dark thick hair was soaking wet from the rain. He was wearing a dark trench coat, black slacks, and black boots. Everyone was flabbergasted, especially Brock. He had gone pale.“Hey, big brother,” Blake said as he walked towards them with his gun up. “Why don’t you slowly take that gun out of your pocket?”Everyone looked at Brock.Brock’s cheeks started glowing red.“Do it, Brock, or I’m going to plug one in Lexi right in front of you,” Blake said and pointed the gun at Lexi. “I’ll shoot her way before you can stop me.”Brock exhaled. He slowly pulled the gun out of his pocket.“Put it on the floor and kick it over to Victor,” Blake ordered.Lexi flinched at the sound of metal skidding across the cement floor.Victor knelt down slowly and picked up the gun. He didn’t take his eyes off of them.“What . . . how .
Brock and Lexi came up with a plan and told Troy about it when he came back outside. Lexi insisted on being with them when they confronted Victor. To Brock’s dismay, he gave in. Lexi thought she would be safe as long as Brock was around because he had a weapon. Besides, she needed to be there. She had become fond of the elderly butler and she wanted to know why Victor would do all these awful things. Didn’t he know that Brock would have provided anything he needed?Troy was supposed to tell Victor that he needed his help with searching the mausoleum. Troy was also going to tell Victor he believed the killer might have hidden the missing spark plug cables there or had a getaway vehicle on the grounds.Brock and Lexi brought tools from the shed into the mausoleum. Brock was prying off the loose white marble tile that Victor had pointed out to Lexi when they were in the mausoleum together.A realization struck Lexi like a ton of bricks. “Bro