“Dad, wait.” Levi stands, hands raised in a placating gesture. His voice is steady, calm, the voice of someone trying to talk a jumper off a ledge. “Just wait a minute. Let’s think about this.”
“Sit down, Levi,” Roman snaps.
“We don’t have to do this.” Levi takes a step forward, putting himself in Roman’s line of sight. “We can figure something else out. There’s always another way.”
“The only way is the Bishop way.” Roman’s voice rises, the alcohol making him sloppy. Dangerous. “Blood and loyalty. That’s what keeps this family strong. That’s what kept us alive for four generations.”
“This isn’t strength.” Sawyer speaks up from his seat, voice quiet but carrying weight. “This is paranoia. Fear. If you kill them both, what does that solve? The FBI already knows everything. Calder’s death won’t change that.”
Roman swings the gun toward Sawyer, and I see Calder tense. Ready to move. Ready to put himself between another brother and a bullet. Sawyer doesn’t flinch. He just sits there, hands folded on the table, watching Roman with those analytical eyes.
“You questioning me too?” Roman demands.
“I’m pointing out facts,” Sawyer says. “You taught us to be strategic. To think three steps ahead. Killing Calder and Saintaccomplishes nothing except putting you in prison for the rest of your life.”
“I’m not going to prison.”
“You will if you pull that trigger.” Sawyer’s voice stays level. Reasonable. “The FBI is listening to every word. You shoot them, you’re done. It’s over.”
For a moment, I think it might work. I think Sawyer’s logic might penetrate the alcohol and rage clouding Roman’s judgment. That prayer evaporates into mist when Roman laughs.
It’s a terrible sound. Hollow and bitter, edged with something that might be madness. “You think I care? You think I give a damn about prison?” He gestures wildly with the gun, and everyone tenses. “I built this empire on blood. On taking what I wanted and destroying anyone who got in my way. That’s the Bishop legacy. That’s what I taught you boys. And if it ends tonight, if it all comes crashing down, then so be it. But I’m taking him with me.”
The gun swings back to Calder. Back to me, since Calder still stands between us like a human shield.
“Move,” Roman orders. “Move, or I shoot through you to get to her.”
“No. You’re going to kill me anyway. Why wait?”
“Calder.” My voice comes out small. Scared. I reach for him, fingers catching the back of his shirt. “Please.”
“I said no.” He doesn’t look at me, doesn’t take his eyes off Roman. “You want her, you go through me. That’s how this works.”
“You always were too soft.” Roman steadies his aim, and I huddle against Calder’s back. “Too emotional. Too weak. Just like your mother.”
“Dad, don’t.” Kade’s voice cuts through the tension. “Don’t do this.”
I’d almost forgotten about Kade. He’s been so quiet, sitting at Roman’s right hand, watching everything unfold with an expression I can’t read. Shock, maybe. Betrayal. His whole world crumbling as he realizes his oldest brother has been working against them.
When he speaks, his voice shakes. Not with anger. With something else. Something that sounds almost like grief.
“Why him?” Kade asks, still looking at Roman. “Why does it always have to be him?”
Roman’s attention shifts slightly. “What?”
“Calder.” Kade stands slowly, and I notice his hand moving toward his waistband. Toward his own gun. “You’ve beaten him, manipulated him, used him as your enforcer for years. And now you’re going to kill him? Your firstborn son? For what? For trying to do the right thing?”
“The right thing?” Roman’s voice drips with contempt. “There’s no right thing, boy. There’s only survival. Strong or weak. Victor or victim. And Calder chose to be weak.”
“No.” Kade’s hand closes around his gun, drawing it smooth and practiced. “You chose to make us into monsters. You chose to create this. All of this.”
The room goes absolutely still.
Kade holds the gun steady, aimed not at Calder, not at me, but at Roman. At the man who raised him, taught him, shaped him into whatever he is now.
Roman turns slowly, the gun still pointed at Calder but his attention now divided. “What are you doing?”
“I don’t know.” Kade’s voice breaks. “I don’t know anymore.”
