My father knew about the guys and me.
He knew about Bailey.
I’m not that surprised by that piece of information, nor do I really give a fuck.
Not anymore.
But it’s the fact that he knew and betrayed his oath just to keep us alive. That, I don’t understand. Did he do it because he cares about me? Or did he protect meto secure my position when I’m sworn in as the Leader?
Jack Whitman has betrayed my father and wants to take over in his place, and Bailey’s mom probably orchestrated the entire fucking thing. The rules are that only a blood legacy can take the title, and with me being the last one standing, I’m their only roadblock.
“What do you mean, Bailey’s getting married?” I question, because she’s got rocks in her head if she thinks I’m going to step aside and allow another man to put a ring on her finger.
“She has been chosen, and when Jack is Leader, he will make it legitimate,” she says, growing tired of the twenty-one questions. She’s telling me this because she thinks she’s protected by whoever is surrounding our house. I hate to break it to the bitch, but if they lay a single foot on this property, they’re dead, and I won’t even have to lift a fucking finger. Thanks to Colton, our remote security will get the job done for us.
“Why? Why are you doing this?” I ask, showing my hand too soon.
“Money. Power. So that Jack and I can finally be together.”
“No, Mother.” My head snaps up, and I see Bailey standing in the doorway, pointing a gun at her mother, and I'm not even sure she knows how to fucking use it.
“Bailey, stay back,” I warn, but these fucking women are way too alike, it seems. Stubborn as all fuck.
“Bailey. Get your shit. I'll explain later.”
“No. I think I’ve heard enough. Where is Keith?” she questions, and my heart is fucking throbbing as she steps into the room, gun still pointed at Alice, before she stands between me and her mother. What the fuck does she think she's doing?
“Never mind about him. He was a means to an end. I played the long game. I did the shit I had to do, and now I can finally be with him, Bailey,” Alice says. Showing a little too much humanity for someone psycho enough to sell her own daughter out.
“Mother. I am not fucking marrying anyone. You have lost your goddamn mind, now put the gun down or I'll blow your fucking brains out for even thinking you could threaten my men.”My woman.Bailey’s nonchalant demeanor is admirable. She should be upset, or at the very least stressed the fuck out, but instead, she seems bored. I always knew there was something dark and depraved inside her, and I get to see her evolve into this powerful fucking woman in real time.
“Do you hear yourself, Bailey? All of this. This life. It was never ours. We played a role, like everyone else in The Order, and now I finally get to be happy,” Alice says, and I watch as Bailey's shoulders slump a little, realizing that her mother only ever really cared about herself, and no one else.
“Where is Keith, Alice?” Bailey says, her voicedevoid of emotion, and I think she's already compartmentalized the role her mother has and still plays in her life.
“He's dead. I shot him. Now get your shit, Bailey. I don't want you around to see what happens next because—” Before she can fully get the words out, Bailey pulls the trigger without a second thought. Blood splatters across the kitchen, coating the walls and counter, dripping down Bailey’s outstretched arms. The look on Colton’s face is a mirror of my own shocked as fuck expression.
Bailey just killed her own mother.
My father is dead.
What the fuck!?
“Baby,” I breathe out, taking a slow, gentle step towards her. I don't want to startle her in case she's in shock, so against my better judgment, I keep some distance between us.
“She sold me out. My mother sold me out for her own happiness and betrayed all of us in the process. I did what I had to do,” she says blankly, turning to face a mortified Colton. His eyes are almost bugging out of his head as he stares at a blood-covered Bailey. “Find Jace,” she orders, taking control of the situation, before turning around to face me.
“Baby, are you?—”
“Save it. Not right now. We have a mess to clean up.”
CHAPTER 18
BAILEY
Of all the things I’ve done in my life, cleaning my mother’s brain matter and blood from my stepbrother’s kitchen would have been the most bizarre. I knew that I should have felt something. Something other than the nothing I felt about taking a life, especially when the life was my very own mother’s. Instead, I didn’t feel a thing for the woman who raised me. For the woman who treated me like I was nothing more than a disgrace.
Maybe there’s something wrong with me, because if I could turn back the clock, I wouldn’t change a thing about that night.
