I blinked, giving him an invitation to explain.
“You see, I’ve been trying to get to Kent for years. Ever since he killed my mother, even though at the time, I didn’t even know his name. I wanted it out of vengeance. Out of a thirst for revenge. I thought it was the only thing that was left for me, so when my grandmother packed me and my siblings up and moved us to LA where her sister lived, I fell even deeper into the game.”
His tongue stroked over his lips as he gazed at me, eyes flicking everywhere like he was looking for understanding.
“I let wickedness take me over. I ran with a brutal MC. Sought that lifestyle out, all while I continued to search for any clue of who it was that had killed my mother. Finally, our vice president of that MC came to me with a name. It was the name of the guy who was the only runner in the area of Crimson Creek at the time my mother was killed.”
Pain blistered across his face. “Kent Ellison.”
It sent a chill rolling through me. I was still trying to process that the one who had hurt me, destroyed me, intended on killing me because of my brother’s debt, was the same man.
Tears kept streaking down my face.
Pain for Silas.
For Elena and the rest of the family.
For me.
“Trent told me Kent was trying to expand his operation, and he’d moved it to San Jose.”
A bolt of lightning sheared through my middle.
San Jose was where we lived growing up. While my mother was sick. While I’d struggled and tried to provide for Dereck and myself in the time he had slid.
“I finally was going to catch up to that bastard,” Silas spat, clinging to my face as if it was the only thing that kept him grounded.
“Phoenix traveled up there with me. He was the only one I knew and trusted enough to get his hands dirty with me fully for the sake of retribution. I feared Trevan would have tried to stop me. We followed Kent from his mansion and across town to this run-down neighborhood.”
My insides shook.
“Only thing I had on my mind that night when we tracked him to this abandoned house was blood. His drained on the floor in front of me. I wanted to fucking bathe in it. What I didn’t expect to find was this girl mangled on the ground. I couldn’t even see her face. Had no idea how old she was or what she looked like or what her dreams might be…”
Air started to cleave from my lungs.
“But this unseen girl struck me. Pierced me like a fucking arrow. She reminded me that maybe there was a purpose in the world beyond wrath and retaliation, and the only thing that mattered then was stopping them from hurting her more than they already had.”
“Silas…” His name knotted in my throat as the significance of what he was saying stole like vapor into my consciousness.
“I couldn’t wait for Phoenix to get into position. I knew what these bastards intended, and I had to stop them. And yeah, I fumbled and they got away, but it didn’t matter, because that girl was still breathing. It was the only thing that had mattered inthat moment. And as her ambulance shouted through the night, a new call settled over me. A new direction.”
“Oh God, Silas,” I whimpered, trying to form words. To catch up to it. “You were there? I…”
He stroked his thumb over my cheek. “I was meant to be there, Brinley. I know it now. Just like I know you were meant to show up on my property all these years later.”
He inhaled a steadying breath. “After that night, I left that MC and started my own. Crimson Crows. Named after the town where my mother was slain. We fronted it like any other MC. Drug and gun runners. Raiding. Stealing. And yeah, there are times we have to see those runs through, but it’s a façade for what we really do.”
His thick throat tremored, and the brightening heavens shivered around him. “We infiltrate those criminal organizations and decimate them. Track their activity. Hunt them. We chase them down until every single one of them are dead.”
His words sharpened to blades.
“We pillage them of all the dirtied riches they possess and anonymously pour those funds into privately run social programs and nonprofits. Women’s shelters and rehabs and food banks. Whatever we can pinpoint needs it.”
I didn’t even know if it was shock that punched through me.
I guess it was just catching up to the reality that had been billowing around me all along. A hazy dream that I hadn’t quite been able to see through.
Because I’d long since realized Silas wasn’t all cold blood and killer.
