“It’s up to you,” Thomas said, voice even. “It’s not too late to call it off. I’d never force you to make this decision if you weren’t certain. But if you’ve changed your mind, tell me now. Do we proceed?”
Zane’s jaw tightened. Despite the fear flickering in his eyes, he nodded before Thomas even finished the question. “I can’t do it anymore.”
Thomas inclined his head, the motion small but approving. “Anyone else would have collapsed long before this.”
Zane’s breath hitched. “Does doing this make me a bad person?”
“No,” Thomas said firmly. “It makes you human. Which is why this family will always rally around you. We protect our own. That’s the only rule that’s ever mattered.”
Zane swallowed hard, eyes glinting with unshed emotion. “Is she really coming? Or is this just…preparation in case she shows up?”
Thomas’s gaze slid briefly toward Aiden, who was now speaking to Jericho across the room. His expression didn’t change, but his tone turned cold as polished steel. “She’s coming,” he said. “People like her always do. They think they’re untouchable, until they remember whose son you really are.”
Beverly Scott might have brought Zane into the world, but she’d never deserved him. So the universe had placed him with the Mulvaneys for safekeeping. He was theirs now.
Zane gave a stilted nod. “O-okay, good.”
Felix joined them, every inch the pale Persephone to Zane’s brooding Hades. “You know she’s going to make a spectacle of herself,” he warned gently. “So mentally prepare yourself.”
Of course Felix knew exactly what they were talking about. Sometimes Thomas wondered if he and Zane had somehow psychically linked up like the twins, a shared sixth sense born from love and survival. It made sense. People who’d been through hell always learned how to hear each other’s ghosts.
Zane took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I know. Even on the night of her death, she still gets to humiliate me one last time.”
“No, baby,” Felix said firmly. “She’s embarrassing herself. And signing her own death certificate. Everyone at this party loves you, even the ones who barely know you. When they see how she treats you, they’ll just make her suffer extra, extra slowly.”
“And then she’ll never hurt you again.” Thomas placed a steady hand on Zane’s shoulder. His voice softened, dangerous in its calm. “You don’t have to participate. You don’t even have to watch if you don’t want to. But she will not leave this property alive. Do you understand?”
Zane’s eyes filled with tears, but he blinked them away quickly, shoulders straightening, posture tightening like armor. “Thank you.”
“You’re family.” Thomas pulled him into a brief but solid hug. “We protect family.”
Asa appeared at Zane’s side almost immediately, an instinctive shadow. His arm slid around Zane’s waist as if the motion had been rehearsed. “You okay, Lois?”
Zane gave a watery laugh, leaning into him. “Yeah. I’m okay. Are the boys in the nursery?” he asked Thomas?”
Thomas nodded. “The nanny has them in the play room. They’ve been having a blast. As soon as Ever arrives, she’ll be escorted off property.”
They’d dropped the boys off last night to let Zane have a bit of alone time with the others before tonight.
Zane nodded. “Let’s go see our babies and the niblings before the party, uh, kicks off.”
“I’m sure they’ve missed you,” Thomas said quietly. There was steel in Zane’s spine again. He’d been breaking for months, every time the woman reared her ugly head, another crack had formed, but tonight he was steady. Ready. And Thomas would see to it that when this night ended, the thing that haunted him was gone for good.
Aiden drifted by, brushing a reassuring smile across his lips and a quick pat to Thomas’s ass before moving to check the far entrance. It was grounding, their wordless shorthand, a reminder that they’d done this dance before.
More guests filtered in. Archer and Mac arrived next, not from outside, but from upstairs, dressed as Jack Sparrow and Lieutenant Norrington. They still looked as travel-worn as when they’d arrived, but there was an energy about them, that restless, ready hum that came before the violence started.
Dimitri and Arlo followed, striking in their sailor and siren costumes. Appropriate for sure. Behind them came Calliope and Lola, Emma Swan and the Evil Queen fromOnce Upon a Time.Everyone was nailing the Villains and Vigilantes theme, and somehow, it all felt too appropriate.
Calliope and Lola dropped kisses on every cheek they passed, Lola’s laughter ringing through the room as Calliope murmured to Thomas, “I’m heading to the war room for final comms check. Everything’s up and running.”
“Good,” Thomas said. “No surprises tonight.”
“Surprises are for amateurs.” Calliope winked before disappearing down the hall, her boot heels clicking like gunfire.
Jericho’s boys descended all at once, a wave of chaos and beauty. Arsen and Ever as Wrath and Gluttony, Levi and Shiloh as Envy and Pride, Seven and Enzo as Lust and Greed, and finally Nico and Malachi as Sloth and Death. Lake followed behind them as what appeared to be some kind of alternate-universe Spider-Man, Cree at his side as the Crow, black leather, white face paint, looking both handsome and terrifying.
Most of the Elite staff were already stationed along the perimeter and woods, but the higher-ups had chosen to attend the party itself. Jackson and Day arrived together, costumes initially stumping Thomas, Day in a Hawaiian shirt, Jackson in a tight t-shirt and a badge.
