“The hell I—”
She didn’t get to finish because Bridge scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder.
“Well that’s one way of handling it,” I muttered under my breath.
Emma wasn’t inclined to go quietly, though, and she kicked up a hell of a storm. He smacked a hand on her arse and growled something to her that made her shut up.
Running a hand through my hair, I tried to think. “Bridge, take East’s car and get her the fuck out of here. Drew, see if you can get her car and drive it home for her. East, let’s do a check and make sure she’s not on any security cameras. We’ll reconvene back at East’s.”
Just like that, everyone took their marching orders. After all, I’d been giving them for a damn long time. It was my fault we were all here. And Emma was right. We were all responsible.
When Bridge turned, Emma lifted her head and glowered at me. “You have Toby’s blood on your hands, just like they do.”
I knew, deep down in my bones, she wasn’t wrong.
Ben
Two hours later we arrived at East’s. One look at my mates and I knew they were feeling what I was feeling. Raw. Exhausted. Maybe a little ill.
East and I had arrived first, and East had worked his magic wiping her from the feeds at the estate. Turns out someone had taught Emma how to work in the shadows. Only two cameras had caught her, and my guess was they only caught her because they didn’t run on the main feed.
Where the fuck had she learned to do that?
It was after East rubbed the back of his neck and muttered, “I cleaned all the feeds,” that Bridge and Drew walked through the doors.
My gaze flickered to Bridge, who sported a tight jaw and a scratch down his cheek. When I lifted a brow, he only shrugged.
Drew caught my gaze. “He wouldn’t tell me how he got that either. My guess is Emma put up a hell of a fight.”
I drained my glass of Lagavulin 16, the amber liquid burning all the way down. “Any of you seen her since?”
East answered first. “I used to go ‘round the house regularly. But then Pamma Auntie moved them to America. What was that, five years ago? I haven’t seen her since.”
Drew shook his head. “No.” He cleared his throat. “It was, uh, too painful.”
I was going to be sick. The vomit threatened, and I had to ease down onto one of the leather chairs, dragging in long deep breaths.
Bridge’s voice was low. “I check on them regularly. But since Emma told me to fuck right off, I haven’t seen either of them.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. We’d all failed her and her mother. Emma’s words rattled around in my skull. Why do you?
“She was right. We’d all walked away. Toby had died, and we’d all abandoned her.” My gut knotted and bile threatened. “He was the best of us. He should have been by our sides. Instead, we all moved on.”
Drew decided to forgo the glass and drank the scotch straight from the bottle as he threw himself, still suited and booted, across East’s couch. “Hard to pretend all is right with the world with the evidence sitting in front of us,” he muttered.
I swallowed around the lump in my throat. “Nothing has been right with the world since he died. Van Linsted was on overwatch that night. He should have protected him or something. Instead of facing repercussions for failing at his one job, he’s in line to be fucking Director Prime. How is that for justice?”
“Fuck!” Bridge threw his glass, and it shattered against the wall.
East scowled. “Oi! What the fuck, mate?”
Bridge rounded on him. “Fucking Van Linsted. Bram always said if he had his way Toby and I would never have been Elite. And then he got his wish.” For the first time since I’d known him, Bridge was well and truly shattered. Looked like I wasn’t the only one gutted by seeing Emma again.
I scrubbed my hand down my face. “We failed him too. I pushed all of you to say yes. I was the one who saw family and power and legacy. Fucking bullshit. We’re just as culpable as they were. And to make it worse, we all conveniently walked away from the Varmas.”
“So what do we do now? Emma is going to keep trying to get to the Elite members. And she’s going to get hurt in the process,” East said.
He was right. Emma would keep going after them. And I could give two fucks if the Elite burned. They talked so much shit about brotherhood and family and bonds. But it was all lies. “We show her we’re doing something about it.”
Drew sat up. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, Bram Van Linsted has been living the charmed life. The life Toby should have had. If someone doesn’t do something, he’ll be the next Director Prime. He stood there and did nothing to help Toby, and then our so-called brothers allowed Toby to be forgotten like he was nothing. So we’re going to be the something that stops him.”
East sat up straighter, the moonlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows glinting off his cufflinks. “So what are you saying?”
I met each of their gazes. “We’re the something that’s going to stop Bram Van Linsted. We’re the something that’s going to burn the Elite to the ground if we have to. For Toby.”
5
Livy
Present Day
I limped through the door with my shoes in my hand. Exhaustion permeated every cell as I forced one foot in front of the other. I’d taken off my shoes Britney Spears style. The good news was my feet were nice and cool. The bad news was they were now grimy. But at least I didn’t have that dull, persistent ache going on.
At the curb, the police officer who had driven me home waited until I punched the code in for the front door before turning on his headlights and pulling away.
When I shoved open the door, I found Dexter pacing. I didn’t even make it past the foyer before he was on me. “Where the fuck have you been?” The scent of gin on his breath was strong.
“Hello to you too, Dexter.”
“It’s bloody nearly two o’clock in the morning.”
“Believe me, I know. Perhaps you could hold your yelling for the morning.”
His gaze skimmed over me. “Were you with someone?”
“Really, Dex?” Whenever he wanted to spin out, that was his favorite line of questioning. “We talked about this.”
He sidestepped me, calling out, “Do you have my meds?”
I placed my shawl on the sideboard before turning to face him. “The chemist said the prescription doesn’t renew until next week.”
“You know I need them. My bloody hand hurts.”
“You know how to resolve that. It’s not my job to take care of you.”
He frowned, lips parting like he wanted to argue. But he knew better. His therapist had been clear about drawing boundaries. It was a line not to cross.
“It’s the least you can do. After all, you did this to me.”
The guilt clawed at me, and I beat it back. I tilted my chin up. “No. You were too wasted to drive. So I drove and we had an accident. We agreed with Doctor Kaufman that you wouldn’t throw that in my face if you wanted a second chance.”