Silence stretches, and something thick and ugly uncoils between the two of them. A power play laced in heat and something unspoken.
“What are you talking about?” Wells mutters, jaw tight. His voice says more than his words ever could.
Wyck just leans forward, brushing the tear tracks from my cheeks with the back of his knuckles.
“I’m saying the truth doesn’t get to sleep just because it hurts.”
Chapter Thirteen
Wyck
“This isn’t about the journals,” I say, tone flat. “But it damn well might be connected. I was going to wait, but timing’s a luxury we can’t afford anymore.”
They’re all watching me now, the air sharpening around us like a blade.
“Felix and Niko caught my father getting the shit kicked out of him by Karter and Onyx’s dads.”
“What?” Karter, Dash, and Wells snap at the same time.
“And that’s not the worst of it,” I go on, deadpan. “Turns out my fathersecretly married Athens. Drugged her to do it. She has no memory of it, nothing. He thinks she’s his golden ticket out of whatever financial hell he’s crawled into. I want to know what kind of money mess he’s in that requires selling her like that. What’s his fucking endgame?”
“So we’re just gonna glide past the fact our fathers are playing puppet master again?” Dash says, venom curling under his voice.
“Hell no,” I growl. “That’s why I said we needed to make this time with hercount. Because soon we’ll be knee deep in blood, and I intend to wade through every last drop.”
I let the next bomb drop. “We’re moving.”
Karter narrows his eyes. “Why?”
“Because The Devils of Cliffside are growing, and we need a compound worthy of what we’re building. Isolation. Secrecy. Power.”
“What about the staff?” Onyx asks, his mask unreadable.
“We’ll talk soon. Gage will scout it with me. I want an outside opinion, someone who’s not one of us.”
I glance over to Athens.
She’s too quiet. Too still. I know that look, she’s on the edge of crumbling, and if she breaks, none of us are walking away clean.
Her voice cracks. “I need to get the fuck out of here. I’m sick of the journals, the whispers, the fact you’retalking about melike I’m not in the room. And now… you tell me I’m actually married to thatmonster? I can’t.” She bolts up from Wells’ lap, rage and heartbreak bleeding from her every step as she storms out of the living room.
Dash watches her go, then mutters, “Well, guess that was the straw that snapped the spine.”
He’s not wrong. It was a lot. But it needed to be said.
I scan the room. “Anyone think I should’ve waited?”
Silence. Then one by one, nods.
Minutes drag.
Karter finally stands. “Come on.” No one questions it. We rise like shadows behind him.
We search the first floor, kitchen, den. Empty.
I stop. “I know where she is.”
I don’t wait for them to catch up.
