I look across my brothers, swiveling around when my dad’s voice interrupts.

He steps through the doorway, farther out onto the porch.

“Go on, Perkins.” He gives the man permission to tell what he must have hidden. “He asked you a question. Answer.”

Slowly, we look back to Perkins.

“Mero could have taken any girl and turned her into his little revenge machine, but he wanted to add insult to injury.” Perkins glances over our heads once more and then back to us. “He wanted the daughter of the Graven maid, the innocent infant girl your dad tried to save as a noble man would, when he refused the innocent son of a maid of his own, a son of Brayshaw.”

“What...” Royce draws out.

Panic and anger knot in my chest.

Refused a son...

Perkins locks his eyes on mine.

“Victoria came here, found out what she needed to know, and went back, lied to Mero,” I repeat what he told us. “How did he know she was lying?”

Perkins nods his head in confirmation. “She had a shadow.”

“Who did he have watching her?”

Our dad makes his way down the porch, stepping around us to stand at Perkins’ side.

The four of us turn to face him.

He licks his lips and says, “His son.”

Victoria

I swallow the last drop of water from the bottle I’ve been sipping on for the last hour right as the door opens, and in he walks.

“I’ve gotta say, I’ve missed your lavender scent, Garden Girl.” His smile is soft, and I don’t doubt his words for a minute. “It’s been three days,” he says gently. “Ready to talk to me yet?”

“You left those gloves for me, didn’t you?” I ask him. “The ones in the planter’s box at the park?”

He nods, eyes bright with pride. “You should never have to dig in the dirt like that again.”

“You built the wall, did you kill Maria, too?”

He tenses. “Man, straight for it, huh?”

When I say nothing, he gives a curt nod. “I’m sorry, but I promise she didn’t feel a thing. I needed you to know I was here, that I was waiting for you, but it took you longer than I thought it would to realize.”

I eye him a long moment, and in the end, I have to look away. “You shouldn’t be here.”

Confusion drives his voice. “I’m here for you. You said you needed time to save the little girl, I gave it to you. Time is up.”

“Don’t be a fool.” I shake my head. “I told you I was staying. Get out of here before they find you.”

His chuckles have me turning toward him. “Nice try. I know you’re on the outs. Don’t forget, I exist to watch over you. From the start, my life was spent protecting you.”

I push the hair from my scalp, raising a brow as I force him to look at the small gash the fore-end of the gun left, and shame covers his face.

Suddenly he’s on his knees in front of me, gripping my hands in his fists. “I never wanted to hurt you, but I knew if you yelled, they’d come running, if for no other reason than to know why.”

“You didn’t want them to spot you.”

His brows lower in a deep scowl. “I’m not afraid of them.”

“You should be. They’d cut you into pieces and fry you up for the wolves if they knew who you were.”

“I heard what he said, what they think of you.” His animosity toward Captain is front and center. “He told you to go. He doesn’t care.”

“I didn’t say they’d do it for me.”

He shakes his head. “Another reason for us to take off now.”

My head tugs back. “I’m not leaving.”

His forehead tightens and then he nods. “And I’m not leaving without you. Victoria, he didn’t choose you.”

“He’s angry.”

“He doesn’t deserve you.”

My shoulders fall. “And I don’t belong to you.”

His eyes harden, his grip on me following, but I don’t show him the sting it causes. “We came into this together. For years, they overlooked you, and then she came in and became God. She didn’t even have to work for it, Vee.”

“You have no idea what she did and would do for them, but this isn’t about her. This is about me, what I want. You’ve known from the minute you followed me here I had every intention to stay. Nobody asked you to come back.”

“I came back for you! Everything I have ever done has been with you in mind.” His lip curls, his hands trembling on mine, and I wince when a bone in my knuckle cracks. “I have loved you all my life.”

“I wasn’t yours to love.”

“You were supposed to be. When I found you, when I lead him to you, he promised you’d be mine, and she’d be his. But he took you as his instead.”

“He manipulated us, both of us.”

He throws my hands away, shaking his head as he stands and begins to pace. “I want... I can’t leave you here. Mero is gone, I’m here. We have the money, what you didn’t give Mallory anyway. Let’s go.”

“You’re forgetting, I’ve had the money all along. I don’t want it.”

“Come with me.”

“You don’t need me. Just… go.”

He shakes his head, dragging a hand over his mouth. “I never should have allowed things to get this far.”

My eyes narrow and he steps closer, his hands sliding along the base of my neck, eyes falling as he runs his fingers down my shoulder before flashing to mine.

“He doesn’t want you,” he whispers, flicking my hair. “But I do, we’ll help you see.”

My muscles freeze, and it doesn’t go unnoticed.

His smirk is slow, and my pulse hammers out of control.

“We.”

His arms wrap around me, pulling me against him, and I’m too shocked to stop him. “Don’t look so nervous, baby. I’ve got it all worked out.”

My throat begins to close. “What did you do?”

“What I had to do to make sure you have everything you need to be happy.” His fingers run along my cheek, and he leans closer as my body grows heavy. “Go to sleep, sweetheart,” he whispers as my vision begins to blur. “And when you wake up, we’ll be a step closer.”

Chapter 34

Captain

“His son,” Maddoc draws out slowly, his feet carrying him closer to our dad. “What fucking son?”

Our dad’s eyes soften, regret heavy within them. “We should go inside, sit.”

“No,” I say, looking to Perkins. “He doesn’t get to come inside.”

Our dad nods. “You boys know I tried to save your fathers the night Brayshaw was ambushed eighteen years ago, you know my brother was with us during that attack, and I left his body behind believing he was dead. We all know now that wasn’t true.”

“Enough with the backstory.” Royce crosses his arms. “What are we missing?”

“Mero knew our plan was to raise you boys as our successors. Three boys, from Brayshaw’s top three men—a new future for this town.” Our dad looks to Perkins and back to us. “A few weeks before the murders, my brother came to me to tell me he was expecting a son.”