My voice shakes, but I don’t stop. “This isn’t about your father being evil. It’s the system. And it kills women who don’t obey.”
He exhales slowly, like he’s reassembling himself piece by piece.
“It was Delta Sigma Nu,” he says, finally. “A frat officer. He wanted leverage. He’s in custody.”
“Yours?”
“Yes. Mine. I’ll handle it. Clean. Soon.”
“Who the fuck is your father? Tell me.”
“You don’t understand.”
“No,youdon’t understand what it’s like being hunted by men who judge you. Who view you as meat rather than a person.”
I search his face, desperate for a crack—c’mon just give me something real—but his beautiful, stupid mask is locked tighter than steel.
“Why the lies? Why does the Syndicate have to puppet-master everything? When does it end?”
He stares at me for a long moment, then says, “It’s an oligarchy.”
I scoff. “I don’t have time for a civics lesson.”
“Three men—DSN, OCK. PTO. Three bloodlines, three empires. They all vote. They trade favors. They bury mistakes.”
My hands go numb.
“My father is one of them. Dayton Hughes’s father was DSN, but was murdered when we were kids. I don’t know who replaced him, yet. And one of the OCK officers’ fathers holds the third seat. All three have to die. That’s the only way it ends.”
I swallow. “You want to be king.”
“I want to dismantle it before it eats any more people.”
His voice fractures. Not much, but enough.
“Not want... need,” he snaps, eyes flashing with something haunted. “I’ve only recently found out the depths of it. Humantrafficking, Mara—rampant, behind the scenes. My father’s been ‘opening my eyes’ … grooming me, really. Showing me the operations, the ledgers, the lives they’ve ruined. It’s not just power plays and frat rivalries anymore. It’s people being bought and sold like commodities. I don’t want you anywhere near this, it’s too dangerous. But... if you could help, subtly... sniff out which OCK guy’s father is the leader. Jasper, Dredyn, Talon—they probably know about their dads’ connections, or at least suspect. Get close without raising alarms. You’re already in their beds. Use that.”
I recoil, the implication stinging like a slap. “You want me to spy on them? For you? After everything?”
He grips my hand now, reversing the hold, his fingers warm and insistent. “Not for me, for us—to end it. But stay safe, Mara. Don’t push too hard.”
My chest tightens.
“I don’t know who to trust,” I say.
“You’re starting to sound like me.”
Unease gnaws at me, so I stand up from the table. “I have to go.”
“The Syndicate will back off for now. My father’s distracted—other fires. But President Black? He won’t like his daughter wandering campus unsupervised.”
CJ is at my side in seconds.
I don’t look back at Valen as I leave.
But his words cling to me all the way to the safe house.
Three fathers.
