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Maddoc’s the one who answers. He looks less wrecked than he did before, but his face is just as closed off and emotionless as when he dismissed me after we fucked.
“Payton managed to get some information out of the West Point guy she and Luis targeted,” he says.
I flash back to the moment before she died, when she pulled him down to whisper her last words to him. Was that what she took the time to say? I’d figured it had been a last gasp declaration of her feelings, and the fact that it may not have been—that she may have been looking out for the good of the gang right up to the end—makes me think a little more highly of her. She obviously had her faults, but the Reapers clearly have a code of ethics that really does set them apart from other gangs in Halston.
“What did he tell them?” I ask, wiping my suddenly sweating hands on the sides of my pants. I know “tell” is a euphemism. Payton and Luis had to have extracted the information the same way West Point got whatever it was they wanted out of Troy.
But I don’t care. If that makes me a bad person, then fuck morality. It may not be smart to let myself think I’m on the Reapers’ side, but I’m sure as shit not onWest Point’s.
Still, I send up a silent prayer that Maddoc’s not about to tell me Austin McKenna has my sister again.
He doesn’t.
“West Point knows Chloe is alive, and just like we figured, that got them curious about why.”
“Madd’s mobilized our whole organization, trying to get her back,” Dante adds grimly. “We tried to keep it on the down low, but that wasn’t ever gonna last for long.”
“So they know we’re looking for her?”
The three of them exchange looks, but this time, it’s Logan who answers. “Worse. They found out she’s the heiress to William Sutherland’s estate.”
“Fuck,” I whisper, my stomach cramping with tension.Thisis what I actually need to remember. That I can’t trust them because, even though they’re not lying to me about their intentions anymore, their intentions are to use my sister, and her money, like a pawn in their fucking gang war.
Except Logan’s right. This really is worse. With both gangs competing for control of Chloe and both sides having already shown how ruthlessly they’ll attack each other, her chances of staying safe out there on her own have just dropped hard.
“Hey,” Dante says, walking over and tipping my chin. “It’s not all bad news, princess. It’s not like McKenna’s got any more leads than we do.”
I give him a wan smile. “An even playing field? That’s what you’re going with?”
“Who said anything about even?” he asks with a lazy smile, holding my gaze. “We’ve got you on our side.”
He’s just trying to reassure me… and it works.
A little.
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding, some of the tension leaking out of me. Itisbad news, and I know I won’t be able to trust the Reapers once we find my sister, but right now I guess we really are all on the same side.
I nod to let Dante know I’m okay, and he drops his hand but stays close to me, his shoulder bumping into mine as the talk turns back to what I assume they were discussing before I walked in: the implications of what went down today.
“West Point is becoming more of a threat every time we turn around,” Maddoc says, his eyes catching mine as guilt stabs through me.
I shake it off, though. If they’d stuck to their word in the first place, Chloe never would have had to run, and recent events wouldn’t have happened.
Troy and Payton would still be alive.
“It’s not your fault,” Maddoc says, both the words and the hint of softness in his tone catching me off guard. Then his face tightens up again and there’s nothing soft about him at all as he continues. “This has escalated far beyond the shit they were pulling before, and we all know what will happen if they get a hold of Chloe.”
I don’t know… but I can imagine.
“It’ll be bad,” Dante says. “So let’s not let it come to that, yeah?”
Maddoc nods. “Now that McKenna knows how valuable she is, he’s going to make it personal. Especially after the shootout.”
My stomach twists. “But they won’t hurt her, right?”
“They’re not gonna be the ones who find her, princess.”
“Right.” I huff out a breath, telling myself I believe it. “But I’m just saying, if they’re after her money too, they’ll need her, um…”
