Page 113 of Wicked Brutal

Then Thomas looks at me. “How old was Alison when Victor chose her?”

The question punches through the room. “Thirteen.”

Kaiden looks at me. “Thirteen?”

“Yeah. Because that was always the fucking point.”

Arthur leans forward. “What do you mean?”

“Ally told me Roman always planned to marry her strategically. That’s part of why he wanted a daughter. She was raised knowing he’d choose someone.” Nobody says anything. I think about her at the lake. Black-and-white gingham bikini. Helping Tobias catch a frog. Laughing. Seventeen and still somehow thinking she could make herself small enough to survive what her father had planned. “Victor saw her at thirteen and decided he wanted her. Roman agreed.”

Thomas’s expression is horrible. “Roman didn’t have to cultivate the family.” Dad looks at him. Thomas shakes his head. “He was already inside it.”

The realization moves through the room. Slow. Ugly.

Kaiden looks at Arthur. “That’s the same fucking thing.”

“Structurally—“

“Don’t.” Arthur stops. Kaiden leans forward. “Alastair controlled Fiona so Fiona would push Cat toward Jon. Roman doesn’t need to control Ally’s mother to get Ally to Victor because Roman is Ally’s father.”

Callum’s jaw tightens. “He raised her for it.”

“Yeah.” I hear Tobias from yesterday. Ally is a good girl. That’s why Victor picked her. My stomach turns.

Danny is staring at the floor. Then he says quietly, “Roman improved it.” Everybody looks at him. Danny lifts his head. “Alastair had to find a way into Cat’s family.” He looks at me. “Roman made the girl himself.”

Xander leans forward. “Then what about Penny?” Gideon’s expression changes. X looks at Arthur. “Lucian didn’t give a shit about Penny. He used her because he wanted me.”

“Yes.”

“Access through the girl.”

Arthur nods. “Yes.”

Danny looks toward Theodore. “And Hartley used Becca.” Theodore flinches. Danny sees it. His voice doesn’t get cruel. “Different way.”

Theodore nods slowly. “I know.”

“She still decided what Becca wanted mattered less than what Hartley wanted.”

“Yes.”

“And when Becca became a problem…” Danny stops. He doesn’t have to finish. Theodore looks down. Clifford’s hand tightens on Danny’s shoulder. For a moment, nobody says anything. Daisy. Their baby. Becca. Too much loss packed into one fucking family in less than a year. Danny takes a breath. Then looks at Arthur. “So what are we saying?”

Arthur looks around the room. “That the federal team no longer believes these were independent criminal operations that happened to overlap socially. They were working together.”

Dad is the first to ask the obvious question. “How?”

“We don’t fully know.”

Danny looks at the papers. “Maybe that’s why we haven’t seen it.”

Kaiden turns toward him. “What?”

“We keep looking at what each person does.” Danny gestures toward the files. “Pennington groomed families and used blackmail. Lucian had drugs, laundering, businesses. Reece handled distribution and violence. Hartley had her own connections and people she’d pay to do shit. Roman has politics. Victor has whatever the fuck Victor has.”

“International access,” Theodore says.