“You didn’t prove that,” Dante said. “You showed the world and every single member within that you can never be trusted. The first opportunity available to you, you took advantage. That doesn’t show great leadership.”
“It shows cowardice. You hid behind your wife, beating her, forcing her to submit to you. You’re not a real man,” Mateo said.
Sian screamed as Alexander slid the knife across her cheek. The wound wasn’t too deep, but it was a warning shot, and it wasn’t going to be one I ignored.
“Stop, fuck, stop it.”
Alexander looked at each of us in turn. “You’re all pussy-whipped. I should have known it.”
“Put the girl down, Alexander. This is over.”
I spun around to find my father, Harrison, George, and Justin step into the hallway from the direction of my father’s office.
Lucas held a gun pointed straight at Alexander. With Sian in the way, there was no way I could risk my dad firing that gun, not without it potentially hitting Sian.
“Dad, stop,” I said.
“Yeah, Lucas, it would seem history is repeating itself, only this time, it’s my daughter in the firing line. You couldn’t protect Joan back then, and guess what, you can’t protect Sian.”
“Dad, stop it,” Sian said.
“You will shut your whoring fucking mouth.”
Tears filled Sian’s eyes as she looked at me. They were pleading for me to save her, but I didn’t know what to do.
“This is where you’re wrong. What I’m doing now is right the wrong I should have let unfold years ago. You were supposed to be dead, Alexander. That was the beating you got, but I stopped it, remember? The thanks I got was you taking our woman from us, and now targeting our sons, and then hurting your own daughter. I would have gladly let you take your pain and anger out on me, but not my boys, not Joan, and certainly not her daughter. Your brand of terror ends tonight.”
Alexander laughed. “Do you think you’re going to be able to forget the last nineteen years? I fucked Joan so fucking good she can’t even stand to be touched.” He threw his head back as more laughter spilled from his lips. The madness was so clear to see it was so fucking scary. “Joan is ruined for everyone. Good luck trying to get her back.”
“I’ve got her back,” Lucas said. “That’s all that matters.”
“And you are leaving here in a body bag,” George said.
Alexander jerked toward him, and then I watched as Sian clenched her hand into a fist, drew it forward, and then slammed it back, landing right against her father’s crotch. She acted within seconds, falling to the floor, and then the sound of gunshots. Not once, but three times.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
I watched as Alexander went down. His body lifeless.
Lucas had fired the gun.
Sian had given him the right shot.
It was over.
I rushed toward Sian, pulling her into my arms, as did Dante, William, and Mateo. We held her close.
“I’m never letting you go,” I said.
She held on to us and sobbed.
“We’ll take care of the cut,” Lucas said. “You will not be scarred.”
“The body?” I asked. The wounds seeped blood onto the pristine wooden floor.
“Go upstairs, take her with you, and don’t ever say a fucking word of this to anyone. Are we clear?” Lucas asked.
I nodded, we all did. There was nothing we could do.
As my father turned away, he tossed a crumbled-up note onto the body. It was by order of The Society that Alexander Roberts be terminated. The note had unfurled enough for me to see the time, date, and location.
The Society had known he’d come here.
Our parents had followed us as they knew Alexander would be waiting. Tonight, they had ended nineteen years of pain, but as I stared at his useless body, I knew his brand would stick for a lot longer, but we had each other.
That was what we had, and he was never going to take it from us again.
Epilogue One
William
Five years later
“I’m getting the goddamn turkey. You know I am even though I couldn’t give two fucks about the meat seeing as our woman doesn’t eat it,” I said.
My dad was shouting shit down my ear, telling me it was going to be an amazing Thanksgiving, but if I forgot the turkey, it would all be ruined. In the end, I had no choice but to hang up my cell.
Five years.
Holy fuck. I couldn’t believe we’d been together in peace and happiness for that long. Technically, we were six years, but we only considered the time after Alexander’s death the start of our relationship.
After his body had been cleaned away and I tried not to dwell on the who, where, why, and how, Gideon, Mateo, Dante, Sian, and I went off to college. That was what we did. We went to school to study.
The guys and I studied business with Dante taking additional art classes. Sian took on English literature and creative writing courses. Her dream of becoming an author was a long way off, but only because of the time it took to write a book. She was good though. Every spare moment, she was typing away at her laptop, creating wonderful worlds.
What she didn’t know was that I knew her password and when she wasn’t around, I’d sneak away with her laptop and read those words. She created such magical places, and I also happened to notice she loved to have a happy ending.
I knew I loved to have a happy ending, and that was what I’d been having for five years. At the end of the day, kissing my woman, holding her in my arms, it was a fucking dream. Sian was everything, and I didn’t know how The Society knew what it was doing, but I never doubted it.
It was a year ago I realized why I had to accomplish my first task when it came to that girl. I’d been doing some studying when a newspaper article had magically appeared on our apartment doorstep.
Mateo had gotten the mail, I’d opened it up, and sure enough, there was a newspaper of the girl winning some kind of spelling competition. Highlighted were the words gifted young star.
The Society had gotten me to save a girl, to give her a future, and I saw the proof of that.
Speaking of The Society, we were all fully fledged-in members. Our ink complete, our lives bound to each other and to what we did. None of us talked about our missions, the requests. They were always secret, but we had each other, and that was all that mattered.
With the turkey packed away, I climbed into my car and drove back to Gideon’s house.
On arriving, I couldn’t even believe this was the same house. It was noisy.
I made my way to the kitchen to drop off the turkey, and Joan was there, tasting what the cook wanted her to. Now Joan and our dads was a whole different thing altogether. Joan had gone to rehab, she felt she needed to, in order to learn how to be part of society again. After that, she’d taken a couple of additional courses to bring her degree back up to speck, and then she’d gone back to work.
As for our dads, well, they each got divorces. Amicable ones, and if I wasn’t mistaken, they were all chasing after Joan. I wasn’t sure if they’d caught her yet, but I’d say from the way they were always watching her, something was cooking between them all.
I laughed as Joan let out a moan of pleasure. “This is so good.”