We turn to see he and Owen have finally graced us with their presence.
“Why did you let us?” Wes mutters, his body rigid.
Wyatt shakes his head like Wes’s question is idiotic. “It was our girl’s first time, and I didn’t want you assholes to miss the moment. You fucks were late though.”
Lev chimes in, “How do you know she wanted us there? She loathes Wes and me.”
This time it’s Owen who responds, his derisive snort affirming he also thinks we’re dumb. “Our girl is a bit of an exhibitionist. One that likes to be watched and gets extremely wet at the prospect of us filling all of her holes.”
I was not expecting that.
“But she loathes Wes and me,” Lev states, emphatically. His dark brows pinched tight in confusion. Wonderment at the idea that she could want us and equally despise us.
He should know confliction— it runs rampant in all of us. Especially Wes, Lev, and me as it pertains to a certain midnight-blue-haired siren.
“Well, she’d loathe you both less if you’d get your acts together,” Wyatt grumbles. “Now, what’s the news so we can get back downstairs?”
“We need a place to talk,” Lev starts. “My house would’ve been preferred for this, but you assholes wouldn’t answer.”
Owen claps Lev’s shoulder, “As you saw, we were busy with someone important.”
“We have something, and we can’t discuss it all here.”
Owen nods, “Okay, let me bring Ariah upstairs to my room, and let Thomas know we’re leaving.”
“So much for movie night,” Wyatt mutters, walking past us back toward the movie room.
* * *
“Doyou think they did it on purpose?” Wes asks. His head is bent as he rubs his face with his hands.
Sighing, Lev shakes his head, “It looks that way. At least for the last two years.”
“Did they know about the Lydia and Madeline switch?” Wyatt asks.
“No. From everything I’ve been able to find, the Filiae Bellonae snuck in Madeline right under our noses, with Lydia being adopted.”
My mind is reeling from the information we’ve gathered. We’ve all known that the Fraternitas has a long history, and as we recently discovered, there’s been a counter organization in existence working to take over for just as long.
The Council, however, has known longer than they let on and based on what we’ve discovered, they’ve known Aaron Bishop was married to a usurper for at least the last two years. The question here is, did they know before Aaron married her and pawned him, or did they discover it after and decide it was worth risking the last known Bradfords?
“We need to know more. I can’t imagine they’d go through all of the trouble of hiding Aaron, only to sacrifice him and then his heirs,” I state.
Wes stands, vacating his spot around the table to grab a bottle of water. He turns, holding it out in question to see if anyone wants one.
“Just bring over a few,” Wyatt suggests.
My focus returns to the screen. Lev has more archived files up, and the number of people he’s been able to link to the Filiae Bellonae is mind-blowing. We knew about Pamela and Madeline, but the police chief’s wife and at least three members of our security teams were discovered.
“Does Thomas know his ranks have been compromised?” I ask.
I know he’ll be pissed if he doesn’t know already.
Lev brings up another image before he begins, “Considering the three were on Summer’s detail, my guess is he has some idea, but he’ll be updated.”
Well, at least now we know it wasn’t a coincidence that Summer was able to convince her detail to let her go in for a wax without them.
“We’ve been living in a cesspool of snakes,” Owen growls, fiddling with a knife I’m not used to seeing.
