All he wanted to do was see Lisa, to tell her how sorry he was for everything. This shit was all about him after all. Never her; she’d just gotten caught in the middle.
His gut was full of misery, of anger, of utter fucking rage, so he kept his feet moving.
Get it unraveled. Find answers.
* * *
The meeting lasted more than an hour.
The Diablos would always show up for each other, and now was no exception.
Understandably, when they were told who the traitor was, each brother was pissed off and gunning for blood. They could usually spot a rat among them.
But this had gone undetected for a long-fucking-time.
Add that they’d messed with his and Lisa’s relationship.
“I’ll ask you again, brother,” Axel said, looking down toward Splice’s seat. “This is the action you want to take?”
The priority was to take Lisa out of the situation; how else could he do it except give the guy what he wanted... her out of Splice’s life?
He took a ranging breath and nodded gravely. “Yeah.”
“Okay. You do your stuff. Ruin, back Splice up if he needs you.” That meant Splice could go as far as death.
“And if it needs saying, all ties with the rat are now ceased. Got it?” Axel stated, and everyone banged fists rowdily on the table.
What came next, Splice didn’t look forward to.
He had to lie to Lisa.
* * *
Lisa
Glancing up from her work computer, Lisa slipped off her reading glasses and lifted her arms above her head to stretch her lower back. Looking at the wall clock, she frowned, realizing how much time had passed without a text from Ryan.
He was late, and he was rarely late without letting her know work was running over.
She showered, prepared food for him, kept it warm in the oven, and watched TV. It’ll teach him to be late, she pouted; now she was going to fall in love with a new Korean actor. Later, she’d laugh smugly while Ryan got jealous.
Two episodes in, and he still hadn’t shown up.
It wasn’t normal.
Ryan was as reliable as a Swiss watch.
If he were ever going to be late, he’d let her know. She loved that kind of communication. Pausing her show, she slipped into a pair of shoes. She had his house keys. After they exchanged keys weeks ago, she could swing by to check whether her tired, sweet boy had fallen asleep on the couch.
She only made it to the hallway when she heard the rumbling pipes of a motorcycle, and she grinned, relief hitting her chest all at once. Finally, he was home.
But Lisa’s smile faded fast when she pulled open the door and saw Tomb climbing off his bike. She immediately thought of Nina.
“Is Nina okay?” she asked even before he reached her.
“Yeah,” he gruffed. “Can we go inside, Lisa?”
Instant worry hit her then, from somewhere deep in the back of her mind.
