I didn’t need to visit a tombstone to figure that out. I didn’t need to pray to my father. I knew if my father was here right now, he’d say exactly what was now at the forefront of my mind.Figure it out yourself. I didn’t raise you to rely on me any longer than you had to.
I looked out over the graveyard. How many people here had just waited for the right advice and never seized on an obvious opportunity? How many people here had simply thought that if they kept asking questions, instead of actually making something happen, they would get the result they wanted? How many people, if they had figured out that the real issue was not a rival club but an evil man, would have taken swift action?
I felt like I’d searched in the wrong place this whole time for the right answers. I kept looking outward for answers, to my father, to my peers, to anyone... except me. I already knew what I had to do.
I’d pointed the finger at the wrong people this whole time. I kept looking to the Fallen Saints, to Lane, to the members of the Black Reapers who blindly obeyed him... I had blamed Lucius, but I had done him a favor by diverting the blame away from him. I knew exactly what I had to do to him.
I walked over to my father’s gravestone.
“I’ll make this brief,” I said. “I’m going to make you proud. I’m going to be a leader. I’m going to take charge. I’m going to end the reign of Lucius Sartor.”
I nodded in thanks to his grave and turned around. I marched forward. When I got back to my bike, I dialed Lane.
“Cole?” he said. “Where’d you go?”
“To look for some answers, but I found them,” I said. “Gather all the Reapers. Let’s not keep planning. Let’s just end this whole damn thing for good.”
“As in, now?”
I bit my lip. I hadn’t planned on that being my answer, but I was in the mood to act.
“Yes. We meet now. We end it tonight.”
“We end the Saints?”
More than that.
“We end the evil of this town. We end Lucius.”
