“Just as well. I’m sure I’ll have a hell of a good time finding out.” His eyes narrow, dominance rolling off him.
“Do your worst,” he taunts, all too comfortable with what he believes is his upper hand.
And that’s when I step away and drop the leather between us. He flicks his attention down, and I revel in the light of surprise when his eyes widen on the wallet in the grass. Dashing out of his reach, I retrieve my pocket light from where I dropped it, lifting the ID into view.
“Jeremy taught me this trick,” I smirk as I study the ID. “Charm them in the front while you fuck them in the back. I’m a quick study, Ezekiel Tobias…”
No. No. No. No!
“King,” he says, the victory once again his as he slaps the flashlight from my hand before ripping his ID from my fingers. “Tobias King. Dominic’s brother.”
The truth stabs me like a dull blade.
“That’s not…he would have…”
“Told you? No, he wouldn’t. And now it’s your cross to bear too. So, I wouldn’t fucking disclose that information to anyone if I were you.”
“I don’t know anything.”
“Sean told you plenty.”
Praying to God I didn’t flinch at his words, I toss my shoulders back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, you don’t? Is that why you inquired about your father’s safety in our first conversation? Lying to me is not helping your cause. But damn near everything he told you is common knowledge in this town.”
Sean also told me my father was enemy number one, which led me to the theory that my father is most likely the reason behind The Ravenhood.
Think of it as a promise.
A promise. A promise between two young orphans and their friends to exact revenge at just the right time. Dominic told me he was six when they died. Tobias isn’t much older. Sean had said they’d been patient. Because they had to be, they had to grow up first, educate themselves, build an army.
“But you don’t look…” There’s not much of a resemblance aside from their hair and skin color. Where Dominic is sleek in his features, Tobias is hard lines and broad planes. I assumed they were related somehow due to the French connection, but never brothers. Sean had confessed at the plant that Dominic’s mother was fleeing her ex-husband.
“You’re half-brothers.”
He tucks his ID back into his wallet, ignoring my question.
“I’m right, aren’t I? You share a mother.”
“Doesn’t fucking matter, he’s a weakness,” his voice is lethal when he speaks, his warning clear. “And yours too, so if you mean what you say, you don’t utter a word to anyone.”
Anyone with a grudge could use Dominic to get to Tobias.
“No one knows? I find that hard to believe. You grew up here.”
He’s old enough to have left Triple Falls years ago. And he wasn’t close. If so, it wouldn’t have taken him so long to find out about me.
“You weren’t here in the US. You weren’t close. Were you in France?”
He remains mute, confirming my suspicions.
“That picture wasn’t you, it’s your father, right?” He’s not even using a real picture in a government-issued ID? Or is it fake? This shit is something out of a spy novel, not real life.
“So, you share a mother? But you took Dominic’s father’s last name? Why?”
More silence. But if his mother fled France because of his father…
“I’m guessing your father is more of a monster than you are?”
“Watch it,” he snaps. I’ve hit a nerve, a very big nerve.
“So, you were in France the whole time? Doing what?” I run my hands through my hair. “Jesus. How far does this go?”
“You don’t want to know.” He cocks his head. “We’re not playing a game with toy guns, extra lives, and Monopoly money. We left the fort and torched any trace it existed a long time ago, Cecelia.”
It all makes sense. He’s remained faceless in a faceless and nameless organization because he’s the man behind the curtain. I’m sure of it.
And in order to reign, if he is the mastermind, then there’s definitely a pecking order. If so, Sean is the equivalent of a foot soldier, and Dominic is both brains—and by his behavior—the henchman.
But Tobias is the devil you meet only when you’ve fucked up to the point of no return.
There’s a change in his tone, and it’s grave. I take it at face value. This goes so much further than anything I could have imagined.
And I want no part of it. Not anymore. Not without them.
I’ve lost half my mind due to heartbreak alone.
“I can’t pay for my father’s mistakes. It’s hard enough being his daughter. But I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry about your parents. And for whatever part Roman played. It’s not my place to apologize, but it’s not my place to pay for it, either. Your war is with him.”
I sigh, my limbs drained from the struggle. “I’m here for my mother. I’m here to ensure she’s cared for and will want for nothing. She’s ill. I’m sure Sean told you as much,” I close my eyes briefly. “Or maybe he didn’t, but that’s my purpose here, the reason why I’m still here. She’s my priority, and I can’t imagine losing her. So, I’m sorry it happened. But for the last time, I’m not your enemy.”
Skin stinging from his bite, body swollen with desire, I shake my head in aggravation.
“I know you don’t give a shit about me because you just ripped any amount of safety you yourself could guarantee from my neck. Jesus, this is so fucked,” I walk to the edge of the clearing, intent on keeping what’s left of my sanity. “I’m done, okay? I’m done. Just stay the fuck away from me.” Gathering myself, I turn in the direction of my house.
“You’re safe.” His words stop my retreat and wrap around me like a balm. I turn to see him standing close as if he’s silently followed me.
“Yeah, well, you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t believe you. The kingdom is all yours. I’ll be gone by the end of the summer.”
“I’ll make sure of it.”
Utterly exhausted, I let him have the last word. I feel his gaze on me the entire walk back to the house.
Days later, I sit at my vanity gaping at my neck, and the puncture marks at the top of my breasts. I look like I was viciously attacked, and in a way, I was…until I wasn’t.
The morning after our run-in, I spent an hour trying to cover the bite on my neck before I discovered the bruises on my wrists and called in. The bite marks have gone from red to purple to fading yellow, but they are still there, and I am nowhere near okay enough to fake it through a shift with Melinda.
I’ve been mostly holed up in my bedroom the last few days, unable to escape the constant replay of that kiss while deciphering all that was revealed to me.
Dominic’s brother.
I kissed him.
But it wasn’t just a kiss.
I betrayed their memory with that act, and that’s hard enough to face, but my head is still splintering with questions. Behind that, guilt drags me along, a heavy weight continually tugging on the chain shackled to me.