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“I know it should.” She looks back to me. “But with Diego…. What he’s done, the pain he’s caused; to me, to the people who live here, and Lord only knows who else, the damage I have no doubt he’ll continue to inflict…. He needs to be stopped. He needs to atone for what he’s done. And he and his father have got too many people in their pockets. He’ll never see the inside of a cell.”
She’s right. The chances of Diego spending time behind bars is slim to none. But it wouldn’t matter. The man doesn’t need to sit in a cell and reap what he’s sewn. He’ll never regret his actions, only that he was caught. He’ll never rehabilitate. He’ll serve his sentence, be released, and do the same shit over and over again.
Fuck. That.
Diego will pay for what he’s done in a way that’s fitting. In a way he will regret his crimes. He’ll be given just as much mercy as he gave his victims. Not one fucking ounce.
My phone chimes an incoming text and Eden startles in my lap from the sudden sound. I snatch it off the table and pull up the message from Judge.
Judge: It’s been confirmed. We have an address.
I damn near crush the phone in my grip when I read his text. As it is, it creaks in my palm. He doesn’t need to elaborate. I know exactly what he’s talking about; my bastard brother and bitch mother. He has the address where they are. After years of searching for them, they’re right there at my fingertips. Right fucking there.
Eden shifts in my lap. “What’s he talking about?” she asks, and I lift my eyes from the phone.
And I can’t do a Goddamn thing about it. Not right now anyway. Not until I know Eden is safe. I glance down at my phone and grit my teeth as I type out my reply, because this shit is hard. I want to jump up right now and hunt the bastards down, but Eden is too important. I can’t leave her.
Me: Don’t give it to me yet. I’ll let you know.
I toss my phone on the table and circle my arms around Eden’s waist again.
“JW?”
My hand shakes when I pick up the end of her braid and twirl it around my finger. My body radiates with the knowledge that my past is almost resolved. That I’m so close to closing the door on that part of my life.
“It’s my mother and brother,” I tell Eden. I twirl her hair tighter around my finger. I watch as the tip turns red as it fills with blood. “Back when Malus was Sweet Haven, my brother was the one who took me most of the time during Hell Night.” She sucks in a sharp breath and my eyes move to her. “I don’t know what I did to make him hate me, but he was always mean and unforgiving during those times. He was older than me by thirteen years, so my parents had no control over him by then, but they always let him have me. I was his fuck toy, and they just watched. Didn’t matter what he did or how rough he was, he had full rein over me. It was different every other day. He wasn’t particularly nice, but he wasn’t cruel either. On the occasions when he did show his darker side, my parents acted like real parents and protected me from him.”
Her fingers dig into the muscle in my shoulder. The bite of pain distracts me from some of the anger building inside me.
“What about your father? You said it was your mother and brother.”
“He died during the raid. The stupid bastard pulled a gun on one of the agents while my brother and mother were escaping out the back door. They shot him. Or that’s what the reports say.” I tip my chin over her shoulder. “He died right over there.”
Her eyes widen as she turns and looks into the living room. “This is your childhood home?”
“Yes. When my brothers and I came back we took back our childhood homes, but we had them gutted and remodeled. None of them resemble what they were.”
My phone chimes again, but I don’t pick it up this time.
“They got away that night. I’ve been searching for them for twelve years.”
Her voice is quiet when she guesses correctly, “And Judge just found out where they are?”
I give her a clipped nod and loosen her hair from around my finger.
She tilts her head to the side, assessing me with fierce green eyes. “You plan to kill them, don’t you?”
There’s no point in denying it. She already knows I plan to kill Diego. What’s adding two more to my list of crimes?
“Yes.”
Her lips purse and she gives me a short nod.
“You know,” I start and rub the end of her braid down her arm. She shivers in response. “You’re kind of ruthless. I wouldn’t have expected that from someone like you.”
She arches a brow. “Someone like me?”
“You’re tough, Gypsy. I have no d
