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“And you’re okay with this? They kill people for a living. Theygetpeople killed,” Daemon shouts as he jumps up from his seat in a movement so quick, Eden flinches back into my hold.
“Daemon,” I growl, my voice dropping a few octaves.
His attention snaps to me, his mouth open to shout a retort to my unspoken command. When his eyes drop to Eden’s, his mouth snaps shut, and he drops back into his seat.
“I’m sure they have their reasons for going after the people they do, just as you do. While I may not always agree with all of your actions, I trust my sons. All of you. I raised honorable men, Daemon. Men who will always do the right thing. Each of you chose your paths on how you’ll do that. You color inside the lines, maybe even blur them from time to time, but your brothers chose to erase them all together.”
“I’d be dead if they didn’t,” Eden whispers, pinning Daemon in place with her stare.
He doesn’t say anything, rather nods in response to Eden’s declaration.
“Continue with your story, Lucifer,” Daemon says after a moment.
“Two years ago, Daemon came to us about the first case he landed, taking down Donovan. He told us about all the horrific things he was doing. Donovan and the club are under the same council leadership as the rest of us, and I knew there was no way all his extra activities were approved by them. The network would never approve of sexual slavery or forcibly drugging girls into compliance. Angry, I went to them and pushed for a sanctioned hit to remove Donovan from power.
“Donovan must have someone in the higher-ups and caught wind of what I was doing. That’s the only explanation for how he knew what I had done because I hadn’t told anyone—not even my brothers—what I was doing. He sent Sid and his men to our shop to teach us a lesson, and remind us who was in charge. But we weren’t alone that day.”
The chains securing the steel trap containing my memories from that day rattle and groan, threatening to snap. I blink away the haze barreling down on my mind and suck in a shallow inhale through gritted teeth. Talking about this—about my failure—isn’t something I ever want to do, but right now, at this pivotal moment, it’s what I have to do.
The room is silent, so silent I can hear my own pulse racing within my ears. Every set of eyes is on me, waiting for my truth to reveal itself, no matter how gruesome.
“Daemon turned up at the bike shop with Gemma that afternoon. They weren’t meant to be there. Fuck, they shouldn’t have been there.” A slight tremble rolls through my coiled muscles, and Eden curls closer. I suck in her sweet orange-blossom scent and let it soothe the sharpest of edges slicing through me.
“I don’t even know why you guys showed up that day, but it didn’t matter. We were committed to getting Gemma out. Away from Donovan and his fucking leeches. The other girls, too—with Gemma’s help. She was so frightened but brave.” I squeeze my eyes shut, swallowing thickly, my hand on Eden tightening a little more.
“Just like you,” Kain adds, speaking to Eden and filling the silence that fell between us all.
He’s right, Gemma and Eden are braver than any of us, in ways we’ve never had to be.
“That fucker, Sid, betrayed me,” Kain continues, and even with my eyes closed, I can see the scowl morphing his face into something cold and menacing. His anger and hatred fill the space around us, a welcomed reprieve from the heaviness of the soul-crushing emotions bearing down on me.
I clear my throat, and glance at my youngest brother—a man who I used to respect and trust implicitly, even if our professions were at odds. His shoulders are hunched forward, eyes trained on the butterfly in my lap. A perplexed expression coats his features, one I know well. He heard what Kain just said, and still his focus is on Eden.
Tightening my grip on her, I draw the conversation back to Edward’s original question, continuing with a story I wish I never had to tell. “In a surprising turn of events, Daemon agreed to ‘look the other way’ as long as Gemma was safe.” I huff a short, sharp laugh. Eden flinches and I squeeze her shoulder to calm her. I can’t imagine what’s going through her head right now.
“Only, it didn’t matter because not twenty minutes later Daemon was writhing in pain on the ground with a through and through bullet wound to his shoulder, while Gemma laid perfectly still a few feet away from him as a rapidly growing pool of blood haloed around her lifeless form.”
I barely catch Eden’s gasp, too busy shaking my head to dispel the tangy copper scent that coats my senses.
“You see, Sid came strolling into the bike shop with a few of Donovan’s other goons, guns drawn, and catching us off guard. With a cruel smile, and movement too fast for me to alter, he put a bullet through Daemon’s shoulder, smacking Gemma direct center in her chest. A ‘two for one special’ as he called it, taunting me before setting the shop on fire and leaving us to burn inside it.” Phantom warmth cascades down my back. Even now, I can still feel the heat lick against my skin. Smell the smoke clogging my lungs.
A flash of memory invades my vision, sucking me back to that moment.
“Time to go men.” Sid’s sinister gaze taunts me as he glances over Gemma’s prone body. “What a fucking waste.”
Eden’s hand grips mine, giving me a reassuring squeeze and pulling me out of the vortex of memories. I swallow thickly and give her a stiff smile before clearing my throat to continue, “The reality is, Sid may have pulled the trigger, but it was Donovan who wanted to maximize my pain and whip me back into order. Sid was only there because Donovan found out what I was trying to do.”
A heavy sigh heaves out of me.There, it’s out there. The truth of my culpability.If that doesn’t shout ‘it’s my fucking fault,’ I don’t know what does.
“Daemon,” Eden’s tone is soft, just above a whisper, and a tremor rolls through her body. “You loved her. Didn’t you?”
Daemon stares at her, hard. Once upon a time, a light used to shine through his eyes. Once so full of love and cheer, despite the shit show of his youth.
“Yeah, I did. But she’s dead, and I blame Lucifer for that.”
Cold eyes bore into me, and only the warmth of Eden’s touch seems to keep it from swallowing me whole.
“There you have it,”Daemon says. His assessing gaze is like ants crawling over my skin, an uncomfortable skittering grating along every nerve.
