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Ah, okay.
I did as I was told. Stepping onto the elevator was a weird sense of déjà vu. Temporarily thrown back in time, to the night I’d first met everyone. It really wasn’t so long ago, and yet, even so, everything had changed. Everything. Back then, I couldn’t dream of things ending up like this.
The elevator doors slid open once it reached the top floor, and I stepped out into what appeared to be an office space. A desk sat across from the elevator doors, so whoever got off would immediately be greeted by another receptionist, except no one was working there today.
I was able to walk right around it and into a small lounge of sorts, where I found two familiar faces, standing before the floor-to-ceiling windows, having a hushed discussion: Shay and Piper.
“What’s going on?” I asked them as I approached. “Just tell me this: is it bad?”
Whatever conversation they’d been having before I showed up halted the moment I began to talk, and both Piper and Shay whipped their heads in my direction. Piper’s long blond hair was free, pin-straight, and it went down to her lower back. Her sleeve of tattoos was on full display, her bright blue eyes done up in thick eyeliner.
If I said she didn’t look happy, it’d be an understatement—my guess would be she still wasn’t thrilled about the whole Cobra-slash-Tristan situation. Probably upset with Shay.
I mean, the Cobra had murdered her family, so I understood her hatred for the masked man.
Shay wore all black. Her signature dark red lipstick was the only bit of color, much like the cross on my chest. She appeared tense, but she tried to shake it off as she said, “You’ll find out soon.”
“Oh, fuck that,” Piper said. “I’m just going to tell her.”
“Tell me what?” I asked the same moment Shay said, “The others are waiting for her.”
The sigh that Piper let out was explosive. “I don’t give a shit about the others. This was always my decision.”
Her decision? Her decision to what? Out of all the things Piper could’ve said, I wasn’t expecting that, and that was why I didn’t say anything. The more Shay and Piper said, the more confused I became.
All Shay did was groan, look at me, and say, “Fine. Break the news to her. I’ll go tell Atticus and the others that you’re telling her. Hopefully they don’t have any speeches ready.” She said not another word as she walked away, heading down a nearby hall.
My eyebrows came together as I met Piper’s azure stare. “What’s going on?”
I hadn’t seen much of Piper at all since the news about the Cobra broke. Seeing her here today was a bit of a surprise.
Piper stepped forward, folding her arms over her chest as she studied me. “You do look better in all black, I’ll give you that.” She glanced to where Shay wandered off. “Congrats, Giselle. I hope you do great things.”
“What?” It seemed to be the only word I could say.
“It was my decision, not Randy’s or Atticus’s. Luca and Shay agreed with my choice. The Black Hand needs more than new blood. Shay and I knew it this entire time.” I’d like to say the more she spoke, the clearer things became, but that wasn’t quite true. “It needs young blood.”
I barely managed to say, “What do you mean?”
She groaned as her arms fell to her sides. “This was never about Miguel Santos or Rocco Moretti or Isaac Cunningham. Not any of those old fucks. It was about who they brought, who they chose.” A second went by before Piper added, “It was always about the heirs.”
Piper’s words finally hit me, and I had to take a step back, as if they’d physically pushed me. This was Piper’s decision, ultimately, because she was the one giving up her position. That’s why she didn’t really do much talking to Miguel and the others; she preferred to hang out with the heirs.
Now I knew why.
None of this was a test for the Black Hand wannabes. All this time, all along, she’d been watching the heirs.
“Course, things didn’t go exactly as we thought they would. We knew people would play dirty, but…” Piper shook it off. “None of that matters right now. All that matters is you, Giselle, because I want you to take my place.”
This was not at all how I thought this visit would go. I assumed I was getting punished, not offered the vacated spot on the Hand. I mean, what all would it require of me? What kind of obligations would I be stepping into? Why me and not anyone else? After all, I was the one who conspired against a Black Hand member.
Two of them, actually. Rocco and Miguel.
“But,” I started, “what I did to Miguel and Rocco—”
“Oh, come on. Did you really think the Hand would take them? Please. It was all for show. You know that. Maybe not on Randy’s part, but Atticus, Shay, and I knew they were only temporary. The real one I wanted was you.”
I moved to stand before the windows overlooking the city. The morning sun streamed in, hitting me in the face. “So then why go along with my plan at all? If this was what you wanted, why not just say it from the beginning?”
