Page 901 of Coal Hearts

Abandoning my laptop, already knowing the words I’d say to Ily in my heart, I joined my brother by the window. I found the two people he stared at. Relations of ours even though we’d never met. “And how do you feel about that? Any second thoughts?”

He sniffed and rubbed his temples. “This is on you. You’re the one who tracked them down and gave away most of your money. They might be monsters.”

“Your money. Not my money. And we’re monsters. Yet...we’re tame enough. I’m sure our half-siblings will be too.”

“Speak for yourself.”

I studied him as he stopped massaging his temples and dropped his hands.

After the year and a half of living here, I’d noticed Q had a similar sensitive system as I did. Only he got migraines instead of nausea. I hadn’t thrown up in a long time. The barometer of right and wrong no longer needed to keep me leashed, yet Q suffered quite regularly.

“Another headache?”

He scowled. “Too many people, that’s all.”

“You sound like Krish.”

“He has it right about people being too noisy.” He huffed and waved off my concern. “I’m fine. Drop it.” Keeping his eyes on the festival below, he stiffened as he noticed Tess mingling. He always did that. Whenever he’d see her, he’d freeze as if still unsure how he had her in his life.

He claimed I was a hopeless romantic.

But so was he. A closet romantic whose love language was tearing out the hearts of bastards.

Balling his hands, he murmured, “You know...the day I proposed to Tess, I branded her.”

“I’m aware. I’ve seen the Q stamped into her chest when we all went swimming together.”

“And I’ve seen the H scribed into Ily’s leg.”

We shared a look.

We smiled.

“Did you see the little wedding present Ben sent you in our joint email?” He raised an eyebrow.

“No?” Scooping my phone from my pocket, I logged in. “What is it?” Last week, Ben and Stew had returned to Joyero to see what could be salvaged of Victor’s island. Despite the explosions and fires, the stone citadel had survived—minus a few pieces. We were in discussions about possibly using it as another base for this secret enterprise of ours.

Q chuckled under his breath as I found the video and opened it. “Don’t, whatever you do, play that at the reception.”

Shooting him a look, I pressed play on the attachment.

A slice of ice cut through me as Victor appeared on the screen. Howling, he dragged his useless legs as he hand-walked across the grass. The footage wasn’t perfect. It kept flickering in and out, night-shrouded everything, orange fires danced in the distance, and smoke curled and obscured.

But I could see enough.

Make out enough to understand what this was.

I froze with sick satisfaction. “The cameras were still working?”

Q crossed his arms. “Mm hmm.” He watched the unfolding scene. “Fitting to be able to watch his end seeing as you didn’t get to see it that night.”

I stiffened as the recording showed Q standing over Victor with a knife. A blur as I threw myself at my brother to stop him from taking that monster’s life when it belonged to all the jewels he’d hurt. My breath caught as video-me staggered up and bolted toward the jewels huddled around two people bleeding out on the lawn in the distance. My heart pounded as I relived the horror of finding Ily and Peter dead. I’d lost both of them, never knowing both would somehow come back to me.

Doing my best to forget the agony from that night, I focused on Victor as more jewels surrounded him and Q passed over the blade. As one, they all fell on him. A flash of a dagger, the glint of a kitchen knife.

I held my breath as a massacre unfolded. Victor’s screams still echoed in my ears but seeing what he’d endured...fuck, it gave me perverse enjoyment. Such joy, even though it shouldn’t. Watching him twitch as some smoke-hazy slave drove a dagger into his chest. Seeing him jerk as another gutted him right in the belly. The jewels weren’t squeamish, nor did they stop. They just kept stabbing every part of him they could reach. The video crackled and fritzed just as one of them dug the tip of their knife into Victor’s eye socket and popped his eye out.

He screamed—