“Phones on the table,” I say, voice low. “Now.”
A chorus of thuds follows as every burner, personal mobile, and club phone, hits the wood. Silence again.
Smoke leans forward. “Pres… what’s happened?”
I steady myself, fighting the urge to punch the table until it splinters. “This stays in this room. Understood?” They all nod. Every face is turned toward me with the same wary respect. I swallow hard. “It’s about Eden.”
The room shifts. Razor straightens. Smoke mutters, “Fuck’s sake.” Cole braces his forearms on his knees.
They’re expecting cheating. Or a breakup. Or pregnancy. Notthis.
I don’t ease them in. I don’t know how. “Eden was attacked on her birthday.”
The table goes still.
I stare down at the table, taking a minute to gather myself. “She was drugged, followed,” Another breath, “And raped.”
The explosion is instant. Smoke roars and kicks his chair back so hard it hits the wall. Tap shouts something violent. Stacks surges to his feet like he’s going to leave right then and hunt down a ghost.
Diesel just stares at the table, fists trembling, breathing like a bull trying not to charge. “Liam,” he murmurs, hardly audible at all, but that name alone rings in my ears so loudly, my head whips up. He slowly raises his eyes to mine. “That’s why she killed him, because it was Liam?”
I give one stiff nod, before looking at the rest of my brothers. “Sit down,” I mutter, waiting for the room to settle. “She didn’tknow it was him. She remembered his smell. His voice. He… he talked to her like he knew her. Like he was proud. But the drug he gave her cleared her memory until recently.” I take another steadying breath, my eyes dropping with shame again. “I asked Jimmy to have her followed.” A few whispers circulate. “I needed fresh eyes on her,” I explain, half shrugging. “You all…” I almost smile as I fight tears. “You all love her too much and I was convinced—” A shuddering breath leaves me. “That she was cheating. So, I wanted someone unrelated to follow her.” The admission makes me sick to my stomach. “I didn’t know,” I add in a whisper.
“Fuck, Pres,” Diesel mutters, pushing to his feet. I feel his warm hand on my shoulder as I keep my head hung low.
“I fucked up,” I admit. “More than once. But that’s not why I’m calling church” My voice is gravel as I add, “She killed him.”
The brothers freeze.
“Eden killed him,” I repeat. “With his own knife. Because he tried to do it again.”
For a moment, nobody moves. Nobody blinks.
Then Cole nods slowly. Respectfully. “Good.”
Tap adds, “Fucking deserved it.”
Stacks nods too, “Should’ve suffered more.”
Diesel wipes his mouth, shock and anger in equal measure. “And Jimmy?”
“Will be a problem,” I say. I look to the rest of my brother’s. “Jimmy doesn’t know it was her. He thinks it was connected to London. To Nathan Cole.”
Razor exhales in a low whistle. “That might actually save us.”
“Or bury us,” adds Tap. “If Nathan Cole starts asking questions—”
“He won’t,” I say. “Because nobody is linking her to this. Nobody. Jimmy’s already spinning his own theories. Let him.”
Diesel studies me. “What do you want from us, Pres?”
What do I want?I want to turn back time. I want to rip Liam’s spine out myself. I want to take the pain out of Eden’s eyes.
But none of that is possible.
So I do what a President does. I lead.
“We go to ground until I figure out our next move. No one talks to Jimmy about Eden. No one breathes a word about Liam’s death. If Jimmy wants London noise? We smile and nod.”
