Page 254 of Wicked Brutal

“I love you,” she whispers.

Every ugly thought in my head goes silent. “I love you too.” I look at her hand. “Both of you.” Her eyes get shiny again.

“We love you too.”

That one gets me. I swallow hard. “Goodnight, baby.”

“Goodnight, Ry.”

The screen goes black.

For a few seconds I sit there staring at my own reflection. Then I pick up my phone. Tobias first. Jane’s injuries. Then Ally. Sweet Ryan gets exactly as long as Ally needs him. Roman gets the rest.

I save every picture into a folder and back it up. Then I send Arthur all of it — every photograph, every detail, every note.

Celeste Fournier. Marianne. Agreement. Roman keeps everything. Victor gets something. Roman answers to Victor.

Need you at my house before school. Bringing everyone.

I open the group chat. Kaid. X. Danny. Iz. My fingers hover over the keyboard. Roman thinks what happened tonight happened inside his house. Behind his walls. Where nobody could see it. That’s probably how he’s gotten away with it for so fucking long. Not anymore.

My house. 6:00. Bring your dads.

At four seventeen in the morning, headlights sweep across our living room windows. Then another set. Then another. By four twenty-five, the driveway is full.

Nobody rings the bell after the first person. Dad leaves the door unlocked, and they come in looking exactly like people dragged out of bed in the middle of the fucking night. Kaid with Callum and Thomas. X next, with Gideon. Danny between Clifford and Theodore, hood up, hair sticking out beneath it. Iz behind Arthur, last. No girls. No moms. Just the five of us and the men who’ve spent the last year helping us clean up one disaster after another.

Arthur shuts the door and looks at me. “Everyone’s here.”

“Dad gestures toward the dining room. Nobody complains. Nobody really talks, either, and that alone makes this feel wrong — usually putting the five of us in one room guarantees somebody starts shit inside thirty seconds. This morning Kaid takes one look at me and doesn’t bother. X drops into a chair. Danny stays standing beside Clifford. Iz leans against the wall. The dads spread out wherever there’s room. Dad sits beside me. Arthur stands at the end of the table and looks around once.

“Everyone saw yesterday’s video?” A round of tired, irritated yeses. Of course they did. Half of Edgewood did. “Anything important it missed?”

“He showed up without warning,” I say. “Ally didn’t know he was coming. The planner and the ring were before any of it started.”

“Then Tremblay called Harrington like a dog,” Iz says, “Harrington failed obedience school, and we all watched a grown man come apart because an eighteen-year-old wouldn’t heel.” He shrugs. “That’s the short version.”

“It is,” Kaid says.

Arthur nods once and lets it go. Thank fuck. Because yesterday at Edgewood isn’t why we’re here.

I put my phone on the table. “Ally called me at one.”

Dad turns toward me. “She okay?”

I don’t answer right away. Every person at the table notices. Arthur already knows — I sent him everything. The rest of them don’t.

“Roman came home pissed. He knew Victor had gone to Edgewood, knew what happened with us, was already trying to clean it up.” Callum’s expression hardens. “But that isn’t what happened first.” I unlock the phone. “Tobias asked if he could live with Ally after she gets married. Told Roman he didn’t want to live there anymore.” Nobody moves. “Roman slapped him.”

Danny’s head snaps up. “What?”

Kaid straightens. X’s tired face empties. Iz comes off the wall.

Dad doesn’t move at all. “What did you just say?”

“He hit Toby.”

I open the first picture and slide the phone across the table. Dad gets to it first. I watch his face — the mark across Tobias’s cheek, then the swipe, the bruises on his arm. For one second he doesn’t breathe. Then his chair goes back.