My eyes fall to the carpet, and I take a deep breath.

My baby girl, a healer by nature, sweet and innocent and kind, nothing like us in that sense, yet everything we needed and dare I say, at the perfect time.

Royce needed someone to love him purely before he lost all hope in himself.

Maddoc, approaching fatherhood, needed affirmed proof of goodness in our dark, twisted world.

Raven needed hope, a reason to believe she’s worth the life she now lives.

My dad needed a second chance.

And me, I needed help fulfilling my purpose.

I’ve always felt like the father, even though my brothers are the same age. Like we’re witnessing more often with Zoey, my brothers and I each have natural instincts, whether we were born this way, or if our lifestyle demanded the skill, I don’t know, but for as long as I can remember, mine was to listen and learn, to teach and help guide. I think each of us has felt something missing at one point, and my missing piece was Zoey.

A lot happens in the course of a lifetime, and for whatever reason, becoming a father at fifteen was what I was meant for.

My eyes flick between Victoria’s.

The comfort Zoey felt so easily wasn’t simply because she’s young and unaware, but because she already loved us, each of us.

She gave this to me, to my daughter, to my family.

“You said when I finally arrived.” Raven steps closer, pulling my attention to her.

Victoria’s brows crash together, and she licks her lips.

“It was you...” Raven drags off. “You’re the one who told Collins Graven, the chosen grandson of the man who raped our mothers, the person who tried to tear me away from this place, take over this town and leave this family bleeding, who I was and when I’d be here.”

“The fuck?” Royce shouts, he and Maddoc hopping to their feet.

I jerk back.

She doesn’t deny it, shocking us all when she unapologetically admits an even bigger secret. “I was the one who convinced them to bring you home in the first place.”

Shock flies through me, stiffening my body as I try to make sense of her words.

Raven lurches forward but freezes in place when Victoria adds, “I knew you’d be taken care of, at your own hand or theirs. I could only protect one of you.”

Raven’s jaw is clenched tight as she glares at her sister.

Victoria lifts her hands. “I picked her... just like you would have.”

“Fuck you for what you did,” she whispers, and without warning, punches a hole through the wall at the side of Victoria’s head.

“Raven!” Maddoc barks, bounding toward her.

“And fuck you even more for being right,” she growls, rushing out.

“Goddamn it,” Maddoc hisses and chases after her.

I stare at the empty doorway, slowly swinging my eyes back to Victoria.

All the trouble we dealt with the last several months, the pain she caused my family, almost cost us my brother when he disappeared as Raven slipped from his grasp, both of us landing ourselves in the hospital...

My baby girl being safe and away from it all...

A heavy weight descends on my chest and I can hardly fucking breathe, can’t look at her.

I know I’d cave right here, right now, if I did.

I’d fall to my fucking knees, grab and pull her close, and maybe I should, but I don’t have to decide, and the struggle only gets worse when Victoria proves to understand me, walking out before I’m forced to face her.

Royce glares at the empty doorway.

It takes him a minute, but he locks his gaze with mine. “Maybe I’m more fucked up in the head than I even knew, but if she did what she just said she did, protected my niece like that, your daughter, then we owe her our respect if nothing else.”

My heart beats uncontrollably against my ribs. “She lied to our faces.”

He shakes his head, his eyes dark and tortured, angry. He walks for the door, pausing just outside it to glance back at me. “She lied, yeah, or more, hid shit—don’t ask, don’t fuckin’ tell type. I’m fuckin’ pissed about it, too, brother, believe that, but, man. That lie... who was it for?”

Who was it for...

My brows dig in and he nods.

Fuck.

Chapter 16

Victoria

It’s six in the morning, the sun just beginning to show its colors above the trees when Raven drops in the chair beside me.

I didn’t sleep for shit, so finally I stepped in the shower and here I am.

My eyes slide her way, spotting her hair is as wet as mine, so she must have had the same issue—a mind that won’t shut up.

She knows I’m looking at her, but she’s stubborn and holds still for a solid minute before finally facing me head-on.

“You were right yesterday.”

“You already said that.”

She glares. “Yeah, but there’s still a big-ass difference.”

A sourness coats my mouth, making it water. I don’t want to know what she’s thinking, but I ask anyway. “And what’s that?”

“I risked myself for them once I knew who they were, you did it having never spoken to them in your life.” Her frown deepens and she looks away. “I’m not sure I would have done the same for strangers.”

I scoff, not having expected anything remotely close to that to come from her. “Please, Rae.” I shake my head and stand.

“I’m serious,” she snaps, but there’s a hint of vulnerability mixed with her standard ‘fuck off’ approach.

“So am I. You didn’t risk yourself knowing who they were, Raven, you did it because something told you you should.” While she continues to face forward, her eyes find mine. “You saw what I did. We felt it, the pull toward them, deep in our gut, beneath our bones like nothing ever before.”

After a quiet moment, she whispers, “Why did we feel it?”

“Because this is where we belong. We were born Graven, Rae. Born part of this town, but this is where we belong.”

Her lip twitches the smallest bit. “You’re a leg out, Victoria.”

I chuckle despite myself and nod. “Yeah, but that means I’ve still got one in, right?”

“An optimist.”

“A survivor.”

Her features smooth and after a moment she nods, a faraway look in her eye as she faces forward.

“That’s all we do, isn’t it? One thing we’ll never escape, no matter where we are... or end up,” she adds for my sake. “We just… forever keep trying to survive and hope we don’t fuck up everything along the way.”

Raven looks at her wedding ring, a black band with a purple crown she wears on her middle finger instead of the traditional one, three tiers, three jewels, each representing the boys who gave her life meaning. Her hands then fall to her little bump and stay there.

I don’t respond, and she doesn’t say another word, both of us likely lost in thoughts of all the times we were forced to do just that.

We sit until the boys come searching for her, but they don’t speak, leaving her where she sits.

It’s not until Captain’s engine roars to life, and Maddoc steps around the house with her backpack draped over his shoulder that she stands.