“You’re right,” I tell her, exhaling and then flicking my cigarette into the fountain, the same one I stood by when I first brought Bernadette here. Her blond hair shone like gold in the sunshine and the frown on her sharp lips made me feel like I was being eviscerated. “It’s the only way.”

I turn away and open the back door of the club, slipping inside in a dark t-shirt and jeans, boots and bullshit. I didn’t dress up today, but now that Ophelia and Trinity are vouching for me, the front doors open like magic; the employees treat me like a god.

“How did it go?” Oscar asks when I pull up to Aaron’s house and sit on my bike for a while, smoking so I don’t have to go inside just yet. Bernie is likely to be a mood; I want to be prepared for it.

“We’re going to have to kill Ophelia,” I repeat, which I always knew was going to happen. My mother has never once taken her claws out of my back. Even if I managed to make it to my inheritance through her interference, she wouldn’t stop. We could never rest easy, never take a breath. “And Maxwell,” I add, thinking of the GMP’s leader. “We need them both.”

Oscar says nothing for a moment, standing there in his usual suit and tie, hands tucked into his pockets.

“She didn’t come back here last night,” he tells me, and we both know who ‘she’ is, so there’s no point in clarifying. I turn his way, nice and slow, in a way that gives most people the chills. Oscar doesn’t give a fuck, just stands there and stares at me, like he’s waiting for me to weigh in on that. “And they both skipped class today as well.”

“Where was she?” I ask, but I’m annoyed as fuck anyway.

“She was with Callum,” Oscar explains. “They just got here.” He pauses for a moment, and I sigh.

“Alright, fuck, give it to me. What’s the matter now?”

“Nothing,” Oscar replies smoothly, but he’s such a damn good liar that I wouldn’t know otherwise. “The police have uncovered Neil’s body. Bernadette found out when they delivered the search warrant to her mother’s house yesterday. Apparently, they went there to rob it.”

I climb off my bike in a blind rage, ready to strangle Cal.

The door flies open and slams into the wall, leaving a dent that makes Aaron curse colorfully from his spot on the sofa.

Bernadette is all cuddled up to Callum on the opposite couch, the one stained with her and Aaron’s blood.

“What the fuck were you doing at Pamela’s house yesterday?” I ask, hating that I was with Trinity, knowing that it’s for the best. I know I should probably handle things differently with Bernadette, but I can’t help myself. Doesn’t she understand that every move I make is for her? To keep her safe?

“We were getting my stuff,” Bernie snaps out, looking up at me from the safety of Callum’s arm. I don’t dare touch her when he looks like that. Even something as simple as grabbing her wrist and he might snap. I sneer at him, a growl building in my throat, but he doesn’t care. We’re all immune to each other’s posturing by now. “Stealing it, actually. Pam wasn’t there, so we climbed into the upstairs window.”

“You thought that was a good idea?” I ask Callum, looking at him instead of my wife so I don’t lose my shit completely. “Jesus Christ.” I turn away and swipe a hand over my face, closing my eyes against my own frustration. It all comes from the right place—from wanting to protect Bernadette, to keep her safe—but it takes every ounce of self-control I have to keep from blowing up completely.

Seeing Ophelia this morning scared me in a way that I haven’t been scared before. We had plans for the Charter Crew, for Bernie’s list, even for the GMP. But my mother? She’s a wild card that I thought I’d had all figured out. I did not expect her to get involved in the capacity that she is.

“Tell me about Neil,” Bernie says, and I hear the couch creak as she stands up. Hael moves in from the kitchen, staring at me with a cocked brow, asking me if I’m going to make an ass out of myself right now. The question alone gives me pause, so I take in a deep breath and turn slowly—very slowly—to look at Bernadette. By the time I do, I’ve calmed myself down enough to realize how upset she is.

We stare at each other, as far apart and close together as we always are. We’re so much alike that sometimes we repel one another. Sometimes we’re both too stubborn and prideful to just throw ourselves into each other’s arms and fuck away the hurt.

This is likely going to be one of those moments. I try, I really do, but nobody touched me or hugged me or loved on me as a child. It’s a struggle every goddamn day to remember how to behave.

“We always intended for Neil to be discovered,” I say carefully, exhaling as Bernadette’s eyes flame with frustration. I don’t mean to leave her out of everything. I really don’t. There are no lies in Havoc, no secrets. I just want to take care of her. Why the fuck can’t she see that?

“I don’t believe you,” she retorts, and I raise an eyebrow. She’s so fucking obstinate, so goddamn stubborn. It’s one of the things I love most about her. It’s also one of the things that pisses me off like nothing else. She almost died at Kali’s hands because she didn’t listen to me. Kali, of all people. A nothing, a nobody.

I put my hands on my hips and stare down at her.

My wife.

The only woman I would ever marry—inheritance be damned.

I’m just playing a game here, that’s all. It’s all I ever do, play games.

“You don’t believe me?” I ask, and I hear Hael snort from somewhere behind me. Piece of shit. Of course he finds this funny. “And why is that?”

“Because when Sara was sniffing around the cemetery, you said she had to die. Well, if you wanted her to find Neil all along then you wouldn’t have said that.” Bernadette holds my gaze in a way that no other person on this earth can. She both challenges and enthralls me. I feel like her master and her slave, all at the same time.

I smile, and I can tell by the expression on her face that she doesn’t like that. She thinks I’m patronizing her. Really, I’m just amused.

“Bernadette, we’re going to frame your mother for Neil’s murder,” I say bluntly, and she blinks back at me in surprise.

“You … what?” she starts, dropping her arms by her sides.

I look up to see the remaining letters of Havoc watching me. We understand each other, my brothers and me. That’s why we’re all still here together, because nobody else in the world will ever understand the way we do things. We live in the dark, but we crave something from the light. We don’t do what we do for money or pussy or power; it’s all for her. It’s all for Bernadette. It’s a single-minded focus that few would ever be able to comprehend.

“Pack a bag,” I tell her, turning away from her. “You like having sleepovers with Hael and Callum? Well, you’re gonna have one with me. Tonight. Now.” I take off for the front door as she curses me out from behind, but at least this one time, this one motherfucking time, she actually follows my orders.

“Where’s your dad?” Bernie asks, stepping into the house with her backpack slung over one shoulder. My eyes find the spot on the wall where we first fucked, where I shoved her into it and mounted her like some wild animal in a thrall. I scoff, but it’s more for myself than for her.