“I will keep Rook safe, you have my word.”
“You can’t fucking promise that!” Earl shouts, and my head snaps up to see him step away from the wall, his face an ugly shade of purple.
“Take another step and it will be your last, my father’s wrath be damned,” Aeron calmly answers. My gaze swings back to him, and a full-body shudder makes the pain in my limbs flare as Ilook into his eyes and see the deadness in them that I hadn’t realized had disappeared these past weeks.
“Y–y–you s–swear? W–whatever h–happens, y–you’ll k–keep h–him s–safe?” I ask, my voice all kinds of croaky and fucked up.
“On my life,” he answers, and my chest lightens as a breath puffs out of me.
“I’ll have to take you there, be with you when you go. It’s full of booby traps that only a Soldier, or a Soldier’s Darling, would know,” I tell him, begging him to believe me even though the words add to the queasy feeling in my stomach, the tang of them bitter and taunting. His jaw clenches and then he gives a single nod.
“Deal.”
“That’s it?! You’re going to believe the word of this fucking whore, just like that?!” Earl spits out, and even I glare daggers at him, fucking prick.
“Tell my father that we have the intel, and will come up with a plan,” Aeron states, not even bothering to look at the older man. “You’re dismissed.”
“Adam will hear of your insolent behavior, pup,” Earl threatens before storming towards the door. He pauses, twirling around and I just know by the gleam in his eye that what he’s about to say next will hurt. “And I knew bitches were stupid, but you must really be dumb to crawl into bed with the man who killed your mother.”
My breathing stops, the air rushing past my ears as I look away from his hateful face and back to Aeron. He’s frozen, still crouching down, but he’s not looking at me, instead, his eyes trace the same crack that moments ago held my undivided attention.
“Aeron?”
His head slowly lifts, as if it’s taking a gargantuan effort to do so.
“Oh, did you not know, girly?” Earl’s voice is a harsh, malicious sound, and I feel he’s moved closer, but I lock my stare with Aeron’s, to the unshed tears that are making his blue eyes shine and sparkle like sapphires. “It was Aeron Taylor, heir to the Tailors, who pulled the trigger on your mom outside that diner. I was there and saw how she froze as the bullets hit home. Watched as she fell to the ground, your face a picture of confusion like you’d never heard a gun go off before.”
“A–Aeron?” I ask again, begging him with my eyes to tell me that Earl is lying.
“Get him the fuck out of here,” Aeron grits out, not answering me, and it’s like one of Knox’s blows, but this time I feel it to my very core. The noise of Earl being forced out by someone fills the space, but I can’t take my stare off of Aeron.
“Did you murder my mom!” I shout, ignoring the flash of pain as I straighten up on my knees, adrenaline lending me the strength that I need to confront him.
“Yes.”
And just like a marionette puppet whose strings have been cut, I slump down as that one word echoes around my head.
Yes.
“Nightingale—” Jude starts, reaching out for me, but I hold up a hand, looking at his face.
“Did you know?” I ask, watching as his hand drops and his face crumples.
“Yes, but we didn’t know what happened afterwards, with your father and the–the others,” Jude stutters, his ocean eyes pleading with me to understand.
“You all knew.” It’s not a question, and I can see the confirmation as I look at Knox and Tarl, both with fresh anguish on their tight faces. Of course they all knew.
Nausea swims in my stomach, and movement has my gaze settling back onto Aeron, who’s now kneeling, his head bowed in supplication.
“I had no choice, Dove, but I beg your forgiveness and kneel before you like I vowed to do for no man when I passed my initiation into the Tailors.” His voice is stilted, his words formal, and a part of me knows he speaks the truth. None of us have a choice in this gang life, it’s part of the reason I have to get Rook and I out. Whatever the cost.
Using the little strength that I have, I push up to my feet, swaying slightly when the room spins, but holding up my hand once more when Jude and Tarl rush forward. Swallowing hard, I look down at Aeron, my soul feeling like they have torn it to shreds and broken me more effectively than anyone ever has before.
“You unleashed Hell on me that day, and because of your actions, they tore my innocence away, replacing it with pain and suffering for a decade. You took the only light I had, Aeron. The one person who protected me, who kept me safe. How am I meant to forgive that?”
His chest heaves, his shoulders rising and falling with what I suspect is a sob. I want to drop to my knees and cry with him, to scream at the injustice of a cruel world that would make me fall in love with the man, and men, who ruined my life.
Instead, I take a step away, then another, my stare locked on the open door. My arms wrap around my battered body, and although I can see them in my peripheral, none of the others reach out to help me. I’m not sure if I’m pleased or disappointed by that.
