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“Thank you,” she sniffles.
While she blows her nose and dabs her eyes, I keep trying to think of ways to ask her to stop talking. I don’t want to hear this story. I already know it doesn’t have a happy ending. Everything the Reapers touch turns bad. They’re a fucking plague, a disease that festers, leaving nothing but rot and decay in its wake.
The fear I’ve become used to feeling is dormant as rage burns through my veins. I’m so fucking angry that I can barely stand it.
“To cut a long story short, I didn’t heed their warning and my niece was kidnapped from her high school. No matter how many resources went into looking for her, it was like she vanished into thin air.” Tania takes a deep breath and rolls her shoulders back. “Until the following Devil’s Night. Her body turned up then.”
Bile burns my throat and tears sting my eyes. Fuck, how many nieces, sisters, and daughters did I see at the Reapers’ compound without knowing it. My thoughts begin to spin out of control, but before I can get too lost, Gray wraps his pinky around mine beneath the table. His touch instantly soothes the jagged pieces of my soul.
“I…I—”
Tania shakes her head and cuts me off. “I don’t want or need your sympathy, Zoe. The reason I’m telling you is so you know that I, we, know. Okay? If you were with the Reapers, we have a pretty good idea of what happened to you. What you went through.”
As one, every single mark created by Gunner throbs. Some have healed completely, but a lot of them are scarred and some even still have the bumpy indents. He turned my body into a canvas of horrors, one where I’ll forever be reminded of the things I had to endure.
Once I thought that the worst that could happen was being ridiculed for wearing the wrong clothes, now I wish I didn’t know better. I long for the vain, shallow girl who didn’t care all that much about other people.
“What does this have to do with us?” Gray asks, his voice rough.
“After the incident with Tania’s niece, we began to dig deeper into the Kings,” Steven explains. “And we had reason to suspect that Officer Tido is part of the inner circle.”
If they’re looking for confirmation, they get none.
“At first we looked into ways to stop you guys,” Steven admits, and strangely enough, he sounds apologetic. “But then we realized we’d be better off helping you.”
Cain begins to drum his fingers against the table. “Help them how?”
Steven sighs. “We left files out for Tido to find, and we made sure the normal PD left the Kings alone as much as possible.”
“Yeah?” Gray asks, sounding like he isn’t sure he believes them.
Tania nods. “We’ve come to ask a favor. This past Devil’s Night marks the highest death count yet. The community is scared, Grayson. You have to know that.”
“Do I?” he drawls, doing his best to give vague answers.
But I can see the intensity in his eyes, and I know he’s absorbing every word. Likely filing it away until we’re alone and he can discuss it with his brothers.
“What will it take for you to believe us?” Tania asks, reaching for her briefcase again.
My eyes widen as she places some see-through plastic bags clearly labeled evidence on the table. There’s a gun in one, and bullets in another. There are more, but Steven is quick to place some paper folders on top to shield them.
“These bullets perfectly match your gun, Grayson,” Tania says, picking up one of the bags and dangling it in front of us. “But the report and evidence was tainted and inadmissible because there’s an error in the chain of custody.”
I take a deep breath and listen to the detectives as they go on and on. They explain in great detail how they’ve masked the Kings’ involvement in crimes, shielded them from the law as much as possible. If what they’re saying is true, it’s impressive.
As they systematically go through the evidence and reports they’ve brought, I find myself believing them. The fire in Tania seems real to me. Like when she told us about her niece.
The death of a loved one is something that chips your soul. Leaving behind a hollowness that only those who haveexperienced it can recognize. It’s not visible or recognizable in every interaction. It requires the person to lower their guard, which Tania did. And I recognized soul-deep pain.
“I believe you,” I say, interrupting whatever Steven was saying.
“You do?” Tania asks, and I kind of like how surprised she sounds.
Nodding, I lick my lips. “At least about your niece,” I clarify. “But if you’re telling the truth about that, I have no reason to think you’re lying about the rest.”
“Now that you know how important this is to us, would you like to tell us what happened to you?” Steven asks as he stretches his arms in front of him and places them with the palms up on the table.
I immediately shake my head. “No,” I say vehemently. “It’s none of your business.”
