I mentally go back over my words, knowing I only told the truth, minimizing it, at best.
At worst, I left out critical details.
“He did say, if I ever disrespected him, he would take the boys and …” My voice trails off, and I can’t finish the sentence.
“What did he say he would do?”
I swallow over the lump of terror forming in my throat. “He said I’d never see them again.” My voice is a hoarse whisper.
I know he said it in anger, and I didn’t believe him at the time. I’ve never truly known what he’s capable of or what he meant by that.
“Dallas, baby, we’re going to find them. You’re going to see them again. I promise you that.” His tone has grown slightly less murderous, but his speed hasn’t dropped below eighty-five miles an hour.
His speed increases again, the blue dot on the digital map getting closer. I feel like I might be sick. I dry-heave with no warning, but my stomach is empty. He rubs my back reassuringly.
“I need to talk to you about last night. I need you to know how bad this might get.”
“What? What happened last night?”
I sit up, glaring at him.Did he see Matt do something else?
He grits his teeth, rubbing his hand over the five-o’clock shadow that grew overnight.
“Listen, you have every right to not want to date me anymore after I tell you this. If you want out, you just say the word. I’m not a psychopath, controlling dickhead who can’ttake a woman’s rejection. This shit I’m going to tell you, not many people know. Only the family.”
He turns to look at me, gauging my reaction.
Shit.
It’s about what Eden told me. About them hurting people … and maybe more.
I lean back against my seat, releasing a slow exhale before nodding for him to continue.
“My brothers and I, we don’t exactly abide by the laws all the time. Sometimes, we break them, but only when it’s necessary. Only when evil pricks are doing fucked-up shit and we know the justice system is going to let it slide. We only do this when we have to, to protect the innocent.”
I blink at him, holding my breath while waiting for the punch line.
“So … last night, we were taking care of one of those former problems. A man named Jed used to work on the ranch. He was a sick, cruel son of a bitch who we caught torturing animals before we fired him.
“Back before you knew any of us, Holden had just gotten out of prison. Jed helped Mayor Dixon kidnap his own daughter, Rosie. It was … a fucking disaster. Jed was using Rosie as a human shield. But Holden made a split-second decision and was forced to end Jed’s life, shooting him at point-blank range.
“If we’d told anyone—called the authorities, like you’re supposed to—Holden would’ve gone straight back to prison. So, we decided to get rid of the body. We buried him on the ranch. I helped.
“So, when the surveyor found his bones recently … we knew we would be in deep shit if we didn’t get rid of the evidence. So, we broke into the morgue last night, and we needed a cover story. Old Harry’s was right behind the funeral home where we thought the bones were. Long story short, we took care of it.”
I don’t know if I’m getting car sick or if just the general knowledge that my boyfriend of one day is a murderer, along with his entire family, is making me feel ill.
After a few long moments of mental processing, I finally find my voice. “Is that what you and Sterling did to Eden’s baby daddy?”
33
DUKE
Fuck. She knows about Michael.
Nobody really knows what we did to him, not even Eden—or so I thought.
My brother Sterling’s wife was pregnant when he met her outside of a truck stop. She had bruises around her neck and was being harassed by a truck driver, so Sterling convinced her to let him give her a ride.
