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I lead the way, and as we walk, Heath takes my hand and leans in. "It's all going to be okay, Millie." I love how even when the possibility of it being okay is zilch, he still tries to comfort me and assure me.
Summer’s eyes meet mine as I escort them through to the conference room, and she looks as scared as I feel. "No, it’s not, Heath. I can already feel it. Nothing will be the same after today." He doesn't understand what having these particular brothers in my office means, but I think I do, and the wash of nausea rising through my stomach definitely does. What Elara was ranting about yesterday is true, my mother already confirmed it, and now we have to work out how we survive living with this godawful truth.
The six of us take a seat around the large table, Leo at the head, like this is his office not mine, but I'm in no position to fight his authority. I need his help. I sit beside Brandon and Heath and across from Jett and Kobe. Both Leo and Jett have their features in hard lines, faces that give nothing away except a coolness. They’re covered in ink and scars, but Kobe's lips turn up in a smile, like he can see the fear in my eyes and he is trying to ease my discomfort. He is definitely the nicest of the brothers. I remember him from when we were younger. We were never in the same circles or anything, but I remember him being friends with Brandon. He looks completely different now, but there is something still there, a kindness in his eyes. I don't smile back, though, my face won't let me. It's frozen in a state of anger and confusion and panic.
"What I have to tell you today is going to start a war," Leo starts, his voice deep and emotionless.
A shiver runs down my spine. I know he's not messing around. I can feel the tension in the air; something bad is coming. All I want to know is how to protect my family and my sisters.
"I know this comes as a surprise to you, but your father is a very dangerous man. The information you provided us with yesterday has confirmed the suspicions I have held for a while now. I don't have enough proof yet, but I'm positive it was him who lit the fire, along with Anton Acevedo. If it wasn't him directly, he was the one calling the shots. That fire shifted power in this town for the first time in decades and caused the Stone and Acevedo families to take over the town, with legal and illegal dealings."
Heath's hand comes to my leg, giving it a squeeze. I glance at him. "That fire nearly killed me," I stutter out, a tremble to my voice as I remember the terror I felt that night. But what he is saying makes sense because that's why my dad would have been there.
"It did kill our father, and Brandon's hasn't been seen since," growls Jett, and my eyes flick to him. He's a cold, calculating killer, but I can see the hurt in his eyes when he talks about that night. They lost their dad because of that fire. My heart breaks for them, three little boys knowing their dad was killed and Brandon never seeing his father again. And they think my father was to blame. No wonder Leo is looking at me like he hates me.
"Now that I have pieced together who he is, I can tell you with certainty he was also the one behind your sister Jasmine being kidnapped by Ace," Leo says like he has a long inventory of my father's offences and today he plans on listing them.
A scattering of goosebumps rises over my skin. This is so much worse than I ever thought, and the part of me that loved him once is still fighting to believe it's true. "He wouldn't do anything to hurt any of his daughters; through all of this, he is trying to protect us, not put us in harm's way with the likes of Tony Acevedo." But I already know he was about to use me as part of a business deal with a man who is obviously involved in dealings just as dangerous as he is, so I know my own words don't add up.
Leo's cold eyes fix on me. "I was Tony's second for a long time, Amelia, I know what was supposed to happen that night. Until Tony's crazy really let loose and he went rogue, blowing himself up instead of Axel. No one knows why the fucker did that, but boss's orders were to kidnap your sister and make sure Axel didn't come home. I believe your dad is the boss." He spells out the last part like I'm vapid. "He intended to have your sister marry an Acevedo, allying your families."
I push my chair back, standing in a rush, needing to get out of this room, with all eyes on me as he tells me things I don't know how to process. My breathing is short. Heath stands and takes hold of my shoulders like I'm going to fall without his strength to hold me up, and I just might. I know for sure there is no way I can get through all of this without him. "Why is Axel still alive now then?" I whisper, needing them to go on.
Brandon is standing with us now as well, his face full of sympathy for me. "Our guess is because Tony died, making him more useful alive."
"I know you won't want to hear it, but we can piece it all back to your father. This wasn't the first time he was going to kill for you girls. Don't you ever wonder why your ex-husband doesn't call to talk to his kids? Even the most deadbeat dads would check in from time to time." Leo slides a phone across the table, and I don't even want to look at what's on the screen. Brandon picks it up and hands it to me. "Found this last night," Leo says.
I glance at it. It's an obituary.Declan's obituary.I gasp, tears instantly falling from my eyes at the shock. "He killed him?" I hadn't even thought something could have happened to him. He took off after her, the girl he was with, and I just assumed he was too happy with his new family to call or care about his old one.
I glare back at him, feeling like my whole world is falling apart. Everything I knew to be true is a lie. "How do you know this was him? This could have been anyone. Even if he hated him so much he wanted him dead, Declan's dad was the head of police here for years. No one could kill him and get away with it."
Leo has left his place at the table and is right in front of me. There is no life in his eyes, unlike his brothers. He glares right back at me, an empty shell of a human. "His dadwasthe head of police. What year did he retire? Oh yeah, the very same one your husband disappeared. I know for a fact because I got the hit on him."
I stare back at Leo, trying to understand what exactly he's telling me or why. He took the job, so he killed Declan because he was told to? "Why would you do that?" I stutter nervously. I don't understand this world they all live in. They talk about killing people like I would my latest fashion collection, and it's terrifying. How could you have such little regard for human life?
"Your ex-husband wasn't the stellar upstanding citizen he pretended to be, and neither was his father. He got what he deserved. Yeah, now I can see his worst crime in your father's eyes would have been what he did to you, but he owed your father a hell of a lot of money, among other things."
What I don’t understand is why I haven’t heard anything about this until now. He didn’t have a lot of family or anything, his mom died when he was young and he was an only child, but from his dad or friends in this town; he was popular when he was younger. Someone would have heard about this and thought to let the mother of his children know.
“I can see your head ticking over. You didn’t know anything about it because your dad didn’t want you to. His dad is still on the payroll and was told to keep his mouth shut. He behaved.”
He behaved? After finding out his son had been murdered. At one point I would have said I knew George Bradley pretty well, and I can’t see him just doing as he’s told, especially when it came to his son; he believed the sun shone out his ass. Whatever my father has on him must be pretty incriminating for him to comply.
"Why do you just do what my father says?" I ask, needing to understand why anyone would ever go along with this.
"That fire changed everything for so many families, especially ours, and the consequences meant me signing a deal with the devil. At the time I didn't know who he was, I didn't care. All I knew was that I was now in charge of taking care of my family. And if I did what I was told, the reward was more than enough to cover all our costs. I didn't choose this life, Amelia. It was my duty to my murdered dad."
I look away from him, trying to catch my breath and process what he's saying. If my father really is the one calling all the shots, why are they here telling me? Surely this will get them killed. Unless this is what he meant by how him being here will start a war.
"That fire started his reign; today we end it," he says, as if reading my mind. It's spooky the way Leo reads me. I don't like it.
I turn back to him. Is he saying he's going to... I can't even think it. "End it?" I swallow hard.
"We're taking back this town and everything we have lost along the way. I won't be a pawn in some other man's chess game anymore, Amelia. Our generation have had to pay for our fathers' mistakes, but not anymore." Leo's eyes are fixed on me, and I stare back at him, trapped in the darkness of his empty gaze. I have never met anyone like him before, it's unnerving. But somehow, I believe in what he is fighting for. He was forced into following my father's orders for years, doing his dirty work, and he has turned him into this beast I see before me today, filled with hatred and ready for revenge on any person who gets in his way. Part of me even empathizes with him. He is the oldest brother trying to protect his family, and I'm the oldest sister needing desperately to do the same for mine.
"This information has been sent to the Stone brothers, and right about now, Jasmine will be having the same conversation with her boyfriend as you're having with us," Jett says, interrupting our staring contest.
"They have already sided with us," Leo adds.
