I take a deep breath, fingers tightening on the phone until my knuckles turn white.“I know who killed him.”
The silence on the other end stretches so long I wonder if the call dropped.Then my uncle’s voice, lower now, dangerous, demands, “Who?”
“Slaughter,” I say, the name bitter on my tongue.“The Devil Souls enforcer.Zach.He told me himself, right to my face.”
Another moment of silence, this one charged with a tension I can feel through the phone.When my uncle speaks again, his voice is eerily calm.
“Where are you?”
“Gas station off Highway 16,” I reply.“Just outside Devil Souls territory.They ran me out of town.”
“Stay there,” he orders.“I’m coming to get you.We need to talk about this in person.”
“They took my gun,” I say, shame burning my cheeks.“Slaughter has it.”
“Doesn’t matter,” my uncle says, and I can hear him moving, car keys jingling.“We’ve got plenty more.And we’ve got family, real family, not whatever’s left of the Reapers.Riggs had friends in other clubs, people who owe him favors.”
Hope flares in my chest, pushing back some of the fear.“So we’re going after them?After Slaughter?”
“We’re going to make them pay,” my uncle confirms, his voice hardening with resolve.“All of them.Starting with that clinic and the doctor Slaughter’s so protective of.”
Relief washes over me, mingled with a vicious satisfaction.Daphne thinks she’s safe now, thinks she’s found protection with the Devil Souls.She’ll learn.They’ll all learn.
“How long until you get here?”I ask, already imagining the revenge we’ll take.
“Forty minutes,” my uncle replies.“Start making calls.Everyone in Riggs’s contact list.Tell them we found his killer, and we’re gathering tonight to plan.”
I hang up, fingers already scrolling through my contacts, a smile spreading across my face despite the lingering pain in my throat.Slaughter may have won today’s battle, but he’s just started a war he can’t possibly win.
Not when the combined might of Riggs’s connections comes down on him and everything he loves.
Starting with that doctor.
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
Xavier
The next morning,I wake early, my mind still lingering on Daphne’s situation.Zach is sprawled beside me, one arm flung across his face, his breaths deep and steady.I slip out of bed carefully, not wanting to wake him after he spent most of the night on the phone with Grey, arranging security for Daphne at Tiana’s women’s shelter that she took over for Kyle and Cassandra.
I remember in high school, how she spent a ton of time there after school volunteering.And my mom volunteered her time there, too, to help the battered women and kids.
I shower quickly and dress in jeans and a button-down rather than my usual scrubs.The clinic is closed today, a scheduling decision I’m now grateful for.I scribble a note for Zach explaining where I’m going, then grab my medical bag and the prescription I wrote last night for anti-nausea medication.Daphne mentioned throwing up constantly during our appointment, a common but miserable side effect of pregnancy that I can at least help alleviate.
The women’s shelter is on the outskirts of town, a nondescript building with excellent security.Another Devil Souls community project, though few realize the connection.I check my rearview mirror habitually as I drive, a new paranoia that’s lingered since the brick incident.The streets are quiet this early, just a few delivery trucks and early-shift workers on the road.
When I arrive, the shelter’s security guard, a prospect whose road name I can never remember, nods in recognition and buzzes me through the gate.“She’s in room twelve,” he informs me.“Had a rough night, from what Tiana said.”
“Thanks,” I reply, parking in the small lot.“Zach know I’m here?”
“Yes, sir,” he confirms.“Called him when you pulled up.”
I smile wryly.Of course Zach has them reporting my movements.After everything that’s happened, I can’t really blame him.
The shelter is quiet as I make my way down the hallway, most residents still sleeping.Room twelve is at the end, door slightly ajar.I knock softly.
“Daphne?It’s Dr.Blane.I brought something for your nausea.”
No response.I knock again, a little louder this time.Still nothing.
