Slipped between his two fingers is a small piece of paper.

Her face falls instantly.

“Oh shit,” she gasps.

Yeah, oh shit is right.

Victoria

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.

“Ah, so the little liar recognizes this, then.” Royce sits back, cocking his head.

This, in part, is what I’ve been waiting for, but I wanted Captain to ask me directly. There’s no getting around it now.

The truth is all that’s left.

Still, with nerves running through me, I delay.

My eyes move to Captain. “You went through my things.”

“That should have been a given,” he replies.

It was.

“Didn’t think anything of it, at first,” Captain admits, an almost imperceptible hint of hope threaded in his tone. “But once it clicked, it all clicked.”

Not all of it or this conversation would have started much differently and without the game before it.

I look to Captain, at the strain around his eyes, and my pulse hammers against my temples. Everything will set in and quickly, he’s only had a moment to wrap his mind around what this actually means, after all, it was just a bit ago my lips were wrapped around him.

I’d been waiting for this, so why do I suddenly feel as if I’m not ready for it?

I don’t know why I ask myself this, the answer is clear.

He’s giving himself to me in small pieces, and I don’t want him to take any back, but I said I’d tell the truth if asked directly, and I will.

“All those times I thought you had eyes on Chloe or Mac, I was wrong,” Cap says. “It was Tisha you were staring at. You knew she was getting beat. You knew she wrote for the school paper and knew what Jason drove. You bought a toy car and newspaper, tore off the corner and waited for an opportunity to place it in front of us.”

I run my tongue along the backs of my teeth, not denying a thing.

Cap’s eyes bore into mine, and I see him working through this as he speaks the words aloud. Tension builds across his face and he licks his lips.

“The town, our people.” Captain’s eyes slide to his brothers, who clearly haven’t moved beyond this moment either. “Issues of all kinds used to go through head of security, shared with us only after things were handled so we stayed aware, but out of the trouble. Until we got to Brayshaw High. We were ready for more, wanted more, and all of a sudden little hints and tips were being dropped left and right. We were able to take control by being a step ahead.”

I swallow as Royce says, “People started to come to us because of it.”

“No...” Captain disagrees, his tone low, an achingly obvious sting of realization and single thread of awe, feared hope, burns in his eyes, now solely locked with mine. His brows furrow as he takes a step closer. “No... right?” he whispers.

My heart hammers in my chest.

Go on, Cap.

“The girls being treated wrong at school, the women abused by their husbands, daughters ruined by their fathers, the assholes abusing their power in our name.” Captain turns his head to his brothers, waiting until the last second to take his eyes from me, and only for the briefest of a glance. “I’d go as far as to say helping those people, our people, is how we earned the respect when at first it was given to us because of who we were.”

“You earned the love of your town.”

“And you made that possible,” he says just as quick. “Didn’t you?”

“Whoa, the fuck...” Royce slowly pushes to his feet. “Are you saying she… that there was never...”

“It was one person all along.” Maddoc glares.

Raven’s eyes widen.

Royce looks to Captain.

And Captain, he shuffles closer, never breaking eye contact. “Why?”

“Because she felt it,” Raven whispers, but only her husband turns toward her.

Her gaze lands on me, and she gives a small smile.

Captain’s knuckle presses below my chin, guiding my face to his.

His eyes search mine, repeating, “Why, Beauty?”

I answer his desperate plea.

“Because all my life I listened to the filth people had hidden inside them. I was the shadow behind their ugly, an unseen threat, felt and feared, but the second I realized secrets didn’t exist solely for blackmail, as I was told, my purpose shifted. I sought out every secret I could find and did what was needed to right the wrongs.”

Captain blows out a low, ragged breath, both hands lifting, sliding along my cheeks and holding my head in place.

The others watch on, not a word spoken, not a breath heard.

Captain’s eyes, a gut-wrenching, glorious green tonight, beg for something, but I don’t think it’s me they want something from.

It’s himself.

To believe in the words the little liar before him speaks when he so gently and torturously asks his one-worded question. “Zoey?”

Moisture builds in my eyes and I swallow, giving a curt nod, clenching my teeth to keep my jaw from trembling.

He shakes his head, coming closer, his forehead dropping to mine while his eyes keep mine locked in. “Say it out loud. Tell me you are the one who left me proof. Tell me you snuck those hospital records into my bag. Tell me you are the one who led me to my baby girl.”

My lips part on a sharp exhale.

Please, his eyes implore.

“Yes,” I whisper. “I put them there for you to find.”

His hold on me tightens, shakes, and then suddenly it’s gone, and just as quickly, he is too.

I’m left standing at the head of the Brayshaw table, Raven, Maddoc, and Royce staring right at me.

Raven catches me off guard when tears roll down her cheek, but she doesn’t swipe angrily at them, doesn’t fight the emotions she normally hates to show.

I look away, meeting Royce’s gaze as he takes three steps toward me.

“Three years, VicVee.” Royce’s words are coated with a heavy gravel. “You were here for three fuckin’ years, quiet as a mouse but as slick as a fucking fox.” He grabs my hand, pulling me into him. His lips find my ear as he hugs me. “Should we be proud or pissed, baby girl?”

“Did you know foxes hunt smaller than wolves,” I whisper. “And in return the wolves look the other way?”

He chuckles, releasing me and perching against the edge of the table.

Maddoc slides his arms around Raven, laying his palms across her stomach and hers lift to lace into his. He asks, “Are we fools for not seeing? You lived on our property. Went to our school. How’d we miss this?”

“Rich people see no threat in those who have nothing. You were taught to stare past a girl like me, not through. I was taught to focus where no one dared. I see what you can’t. You see what I want you to.”

“But you fucked up,” Maddoc adds the obvious.

A scoffed laugh leaves me, and I nod. “Yeah, well. It’s been a hell of a couple weeks.”

Raven’s lips twitch.

Captain’s voice cuts through the room, and our heads snap his way.

“We have rules.” He swallows beyond the strain in his words, and an airiness makes its way through my body.

Brayshaw rules.

I nod, and he continues.