"You're damn right I'm right," Joy said. "And if you think?—"
"I'm here to explain," Byron interrupted gently. "If I can have a moment with my sons."
I didn't hesitate. "I want Joy there."
I looked at my brothers, waiting for someone to object.
No one did.
Byron's gaze flicked to Joy, then back to me. "All right."
Inside, the McKinley house was exactly what I'd expected—warm, lived-in, full of the kind of details that said family louder than any words could.
Photos on the walls. A quilt draped over the sofa. The faint smell of something baking that probably came from the kitchen.
Joy's momma gave us privacy, disappearing into another room with a look that saidI'm trusting you not to break anything.
We filled the living room—seven large men and Joy, all of us standing or leaning because sitting felt wrong for this conversation.
Byron stood near the window, hands in his pockets, looking older than he had at Dominion Hall. Tired.
"Victoria and I met decades ago," he began. "We had a ... fling. Brief. Intense. The kind of thing you look back on and realize you missed all the warning signs because you were young and stupid."
No one spoke.
"I saw the cracks eventually," he continued. "She wanted power. Fast. She didn't care how she got it or who she stepped on to get there. When a new program came up—something classified, something important—I recommended to my superiors that she not be selected."
His jaw tightened.
"She found out. And she disappeared."
"Just like that?" Gideon asked.
"Just like that," Byron confirmed. "I thought she'd moved on. Found another empire to disrupt. Another ladder to climb."
He paused, staring out the window at the fields beyond.
"But since she's reappeared, I've done some digging. She maintained contact with The Vanguard over the years. Quietly. Strategically. She didn't get over her hatred of me—she just hid it. Buried it. Let it simmer."
My hands curled into fists.
"If she killed your mother," Byron said quietly, looking at me now, "and if she's the one who set The Vanguard on this path to take down Dominion Hall ... she's more powerful than I ever imagined she could be."
He let out a humorless laugh. "Turns out anger can lead to glory. If you're patient enough."
The room was silent.
I could feel my brothers processing, their minds running through the same calculations mine were.
Victoria wasn't just dangerous.
She was personal.
She'd taken our mother. She'd threatened Joy's family. She was playing a long game, and we were all pieces on her board.
Finally, Joy spoke.
"What should we do about Victoria?"
