If they don’t accept my explanation, it’s not just my life at risk. It’s my family. Rose.
“All right,” I agree. “I’ll tell them.”
It’s the only way.
“We’ll see what they really think in those moments in between,” Connor muses. “It’ll be good to know who we need to look out for next.”
“I’d rather know we don’t have to look out for anyone now,” Finn mutters. “I’d rather know Dmitri was the one causing all the problems.”
“I guess we’ll see,” Lachlan replies. “Let’s go.”
As we follow him into the building, I can feel a knot of tension in my chest. It’s not guilt or nerves. I know what I did was right and justified.
The tension isn’t for me. It’s for my brothers, for Rose. I know the reality of what could happen. Just enough votes on the wrong side, and my family could be fleeing the city before nightfall. My wife and child might never be able to come back to this place, to my hometown. I might never set foot in it again.
Or we may all end up dead.
The room is full when we arrive, minus Dmitri or anyone else from the Raven Syndicate. They’re all disgruntled, probably annoyed at being called to another emergency meeting so quickly.
A few glances shoot our way, clearly irked that our family seems to be stirring up so much trouble.
I stand with my brothers and wait.
The head of the Devil’s Disciples, Kade, is talking to Enzo. I wonder if Enzo is trying to organize a new alliance, since he’s lost faith in our family.
The gathered members all keep talking, their glances occasionally shooting to the door. It continues for five minutes, and then the conversation starts to die down. One unanswered question lingers in the air like smoke, clouding the atmosphere, brewing and stinging as the rest of the Assembly watch and wait.
They’re all waiting for Dmitri, but he’ll never arrive.
Lachlan shoots me a look and nods, and I raise my voice, my words carrying over the room.
“Dmitri is dead. I killed him.”
Something shatters, invisible and silent. The uneasy emotion in the room spins into something violent, reactive. I can feel it like electricity when a storm rolls in.
Kade is the first to speak. “What the fuck?”
“This is unbelievable,” Enzo snarls. He looks angry, but I can see the real emotion behind the anger—it’s triumph. He was just looking for a reason to cut ties with us. “You do this and think to come here? Tell us to our faces? What kind of ego—”
“You must have known what the outcome would be,” Donovan says carefully. He’s staring, looking for some kind of signal.
I respect the man more than I ever have. After all we’ve accused him of, all that’s been taken from him, he seems to have the brains to side with us. I think I know where Rose gets her strength from.
Before anyone else can speak, Lachlan leans over the table and slaps down a handful of folders.
“This is everything. We’ll walk you through it,” he says, his voice hard.
Connor taps one of the folders and flips it open. “Here’s the folder about the Messina family. Sabotage. This is all about the most recent deals your family has had, including informants and locations. We believe it was how our warehouse deal was hit.”
“What?” Enzo’s neck flushes red. His lips press into a line.
Connor stares back at him. “Sabotage. Someone planned for it to fail, from within.”
“I know what the word means.”
“Well, now you know where to look,” Connor replies evenly. “Someone in your operation was working for Dmitri. They leaked the information. All it took was one leak, and he was all over it.”
Lachlan jerks his chin. “That’s not all, though. Finn?”
