Page 111 of Wells

"You did."

"On his word."

"Yes."

“And the man who actually held the knife. The one Dane saw with the birthmark."

"Juno. Vin hired him for the kill and the frame, then put him in the ground the same way once he'd served his purpose. He took the fall, naming Boudreaux, exactly what Vin paid him to do. Ronnie turning up dead last month was Vin making sure there were no mouths out there."

Ridge stands. He paces to the window and braces both hands against the frame. His shoulders pull taut under his suit jacket.

"Where is he now?"

"Black Orchid."

Ridge turns. His face is stone.

"I want him dead. Tonight, in the same way the Duvalls went. But I want to do it."

I shake my head.

"No."

Ridge's eyes snap to mine. Fury sharpens his voice.

"No?"

"A bullet is mercy."

I step closer to the desk. My voice stays flat.

"I want the fortune first. Every account, every shell, every piece of safety he bought himself. I want him to watch it burn before he understands what comes next. It's his greed, after all. He did all of this for money."

Ridge stares at me. The rage in his face shifts. It doesn't soften. It calculates.

"How long?"

"Two weeks. Maybe three."

"And then?"

"Then he disappears. Slowly. The way he taught us to make problems go away. We reduce him to a nobody with nothing, and force him to live the rest of his days alone."

Ridge nods once. The decision locks into place.

"I want to keep everyone else out of this. They stay clean unless we need them."

"Agreed."

Ridge pulls his phone and texts something short. He sets it down and looks at me again.

"You carried this alone."

"It was mine to carry."

"It was ours."

I don't argue. Ridge doesn't know I am carrying something else. He has no idea we were together, or that I ruined it and she's gone.