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I spread the crumpled letter across my palm, then flatten it against the table so they can see the handwriting and know the truth. Our mother’s cursive looks like it was written with sorrow shaking through every word.

I tell them everything. Her trauma. The pain she endured. Up to the way her spawn killed our father.

“It’s all there,” I say, pacing back and forth.

Their anger ignites. If rage had weight, the foundation of the manor would buckle beneath us. Five men with fresh pain in their hearts could level this whole town.

We all have the same idea. It’s the shared instinct of a wolf pack circling their prey.

Kill Frank.

“Let’s just go get him and do it,” Marcus says.

Reese’s eyes cut to him. “The vote is in an hour.”

“It won’t take that long.” Tristan flips open his knife.

“Unless we torture him,” Lucian says, staring ahead blankly, as if the scene is playing in his mind.

I don’t answer them. The only thing I hear is the unanswered ringing of Zaiya’s phone. I bring up her location again. Then turn swiftly to the door. It opens, and Zaiya rushes in, not stopping until she slams into me.

I catch her. Hold her against my chest like I can stop whatever nightmare she’s running from. Because I will.

Then I pull her back by the shoulders and search her terrified face. “What happened? Are you okay?”

Her lips part, but only a sob comes out before she chokes it down.

“It’s worse,” she cries.

My spine goes rigid. “What is?”

She looks at all of us, like she’s realizing she ran into a room full of predators. She steadies herself. Then she explains.

Frank’s wife is being used in some blood ritual with an audience. He’s so desperate to be like the Crotaveres he started his own little secret club. A cult wearing the mask of scripture. How utterly unoriginal.

“He had my blood, Edwin.”

My eyes snap to hers. “Your blood?”

“From the clinic. What if he wants to do to me what he did to Evelyn?”

“No.” I shake my head. “He’s not going to use you for his stupid fantasy.”

That doesn’t reassure her.

“Patrick and Bridget were there.” She’s nearly hyperventilating. “He saw me. He knows I know.”

I tense at the sound of Patrick’s name. My brothers do too.

Zaiya is spiraling. I take her face gently between my hands, forcing her eyes to lock onto mine. I need her to stop falling into her own mind before it traps her there.

“He’s not going to hurt you,” I say. “I promise.”

“God, let’s fucking kill him now. It’ll keep her safe,” Marcus says, exasperated.

He has a point. It’s the only way.

“No,” she says quickly. “Those people at the church. They could hurt Evelyn and Calista.”