This is our brother.
Anger returns to its cage, and I lock it tight.
These are my brothers. I fight for them, not with them.
Dutch’s frown turns a little less severe.
I glance away, hiding my own smile behind a bored expression.
Zane sets his stick aside, looking seriously between each of us. “Now that I’m seeing the full picture, I’m one hundred percent sure about one thing.”
“Whenever you need us to come fight, we’ll fight.” Sol slams a fist into his waiting palm. “I’ll bring my bombs.”
“Bombs?” Dutch grunts.
Both my eyebrows climb.
“No, that’s not what I was going to say but yeah. I totally agree. We’ll fight with you, Finn. No questions asked.” Zane gives Sol a “what are you on” look. “But the second thing I’m sure of is this.” He swallows hard. “I’m starting to think Mom was right to take the girls away.”
Sol’s grin disappears.
My shoulders slump.
Dutch walks over to me, his eyes imploring. “Finn, whatever plan you have with the yakuza, you better make a move quick. I’m not bringing my wife and baby home to die.”
Chapter Forty-Three
J
I’m alone in Finn Cross’s room.
There’s no way I can stay in bed and waste this golden opportunity.
“Trade a secret for a secret, Shadow Prince,” I mutter, running my fingers along the spines of his bookshelf.
Shadow Prince would have been Finn’s code name if the Jinx app was still up and running. Now that I’ve actually spent time around him, the name is especially perfect.
Like a shadow, Finn’s presence is silent and haunting.
Mysterious.
Untouchable.
And yet, he lingers in the mind and the heart.
If he were a little less handsome, those dark, glowering stares of his would come off as creepy. But because of his beautiful tan skin, almond-shaped eyes, and perfect, dull pink lips, he’s more like a mystical being that can lure humans to their deaths.
Even knowingwhathe is, even knowing that there’s only darkness and pain in the hand that he offers, taking that hand is inevitable.
Like the stars.
Like oxygen.
“What makes you tick?” I wonder, tilting my head to see the books on the lower shelves.
The lines of my mission are blurring. I’m not sure if I want to get to know Finn because Ihaveto or because Iwantto.
“What the—” I stop hard when I see the title on the spine.
