It breaks something in me to even ask. I don’t know why it never occurred to me before to consider the option. People change. What they won’t do one day, becomes exactly what they need to do the next in order to survive. I should know. But if the men I loved once became the thing my father is… then there’s nothing safe left in this world.
Charli’s brow lifts. “You know our men better than that.”
My runaway thoughts come to a full stop. I nod and quickly erase the idea of the Savages doing anything to harm the innocentfrom my mind. My mind isn’t in the right place. “I do,” I admit, and the confession tastes like shame. “I’ve spent so much time not trusting anyone that it’s my first knee-jerk reaction toward everything.”
The relief hits me so hard my eyes sting.
“Really?” Isa asks softly, like she needs to hear it too.
I nod, and the tears slip free before I can stop them.
Arabelle exhales, the tension in her shoulders easing just a fraction. “Right now the men are poring over the black book they got from the Vultures’ VP. It has everyone in it they need to focus on eliminating from the board.”
Worry etches deep into the shadows under her eyes. She’s scared, and she has every reason to be. This is a game of life and death, and none of us are the ones holding the safe cards.
“I don’t know about a book,” I whisper, wiping my face with the back of my hand like I can erase weakness. “But Phantom said I was in it. Why? Who knows? I just know I need to get to my brother.”
Willow’s head tilts. “Why? Didn’t he choose the lifestyle your father taught him?”
“It’s not that easy. And besides, it doesn’t mean he can’t change his mind and need our help. He’s my family. We already lost our younger brother Shawn. If Micah dies too, the last piece of my childhood dies with him, even if it was rotten.”
“True,” Willow offers. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I know.”
Movement behind me shifts the air.
Phantom.
He’s back upstairs and moves through the space between us like his namesake. His gaze goes straight to Kaylee. He crosses the room and drapes a blanket over her sleeping body with a care that makes my chest ache. His hand lingers at her hair like he’s memorizing the feel of it.
Then his eyes lift to mine.
“You have to trust someone sometime,” he says, voice low.
The words shouldn’t sound like a plea coming from him, but they do. I’m not prepared for the way his words hit me. Nor am I prepared for the dark need inside of me to scream for me to run before there’s no more fight left in me and I give in to my true desires.
He comes to join us. He reaches out, his fingers feathering along the curve of my cheek. It’s the smallest of touches, yet the warmth and gentleness of it roots my feet to the floor. There’s nowhere else I truly want to be. My heart pleads for me to listen. Now I just need to get my brain to jump on board.
“Why do you need to find your brother? Doesn’t he work at your father’s side now? He took Shawn’s place, right?”
My spine locks. I force myself to stand taller even though I feel like I’m balancing on a cliff edge. I understand the hesitancy in trusting Micah right now, but I hate having to stand up for my brother when he’s done nothing but fight to eradicate the evil from within. But I have to understand that no one knows that but him and I.
“Sort of. It’s not exactly as it appears. He was working to take down the ring and my father from the inside,” I explain with a healthy dose of patience.
Phantom’s mouth tightens. “That’s going to get him killed.”
“We both know the risks.” It’s not easy to get those words out, but I force them between us.
Phantom looks like he doesn’t trust my brother’s actions at all.
“Look,” I say, frustration cracking my voice. “Believe me or not. That’s fine. All I need to know from you is where you last saw him. He said he needed to give me something that would ruin our father. That he didn’t know who to trust, and he needed to get it to me fast.”
Phantom’s eyes go cold. “So he picked his sister who has a child to take care of and protect to come and what?”
“Easy, Phantom,” Charli snaps. “She’s only trying to help.”
“It’s okay, Charli,” I say, even though it isn’t. “I broke his heart, he’s pissed, and now he doesn’t trust me. I’ve earned that.”
