“I don’t,” I state honestly, a cruel smile on my lips. “You weren’t quite that good, sweetie. Though you did try. All I want to know is where my brother is. Where Phillip is. It’ll be a swift and merciful death if you’re just honest.”
His cheeks puff up, his face turns red, and the anger he normally contains so well appears.
“Fuck. You,” he bites out.
I slide to a halt, lowering my face to where his is. My guys keep him on his knees, the barrel of the gun still firmly pressed against his temple.
“You did fuck me. Then you fucked me over.” I straighten, skating backwards again as my music gets turned up louder. “Now I’m going to return the favor.”
I cut my eyes to Smitty as Thomas raises a protest, telling me I’m not capable of this. Swearing to me he knows me better.
He’s entirely too wrong.
And Blackbird will be twice as fierce when the word gets out that a cold-hearted bitch in a gold mask and roller skates is running the crew. One so cold she killed the man she cared for. They’ll possibly even assume I loved him.
“Kill the others. They shouldn’t even know who I am,” I say to Smitty.
His lips twitch as he nods, vengeance driving him as it drives me.
“And him?” Smitty asks, pointing at Thomas who glares at me, still thinking he knows me too well.
“He knows something. Don’t kill him until you’ve made him talk,” I say sweetly, watching as the blood drains from Thomas’s face. I feel…nothing. I felt more when I came in than I feel now.
“As you wish, Blackbird,” Smitty says, a dark smile on his face. “It’ll be my pleasure.”
“I never fell in love. That’s the difference between our stories,” I tell Sledge, looking back at him as I shake out of the memories. “When I saw the video proof that I’d been a pawn and I’d been played, I was ready for war. Something inside me was broken in that instant. I watched my father’s oldest friend collapse and bawl like a child the night before. He sobbed as hard as I did. We sobbed together behind closed doors so that no one would see us as weak. The next day, we became monsters. Can you be a monster where Liza is concerned?” I ask him.
His lips thin, and he slowly nods. “Drex has stood by me, always respected me, and always trusted me. Same for the other boys you’ve gotten to know. Liza didn’t just betray me; she betrayed them, too. It’s not just for me that I need to do this. It’s for everyone I care about.”
“But you were together for so long,” I say softly.
My parents’ bond was unshakeable. It was the thing I strived for. Now it seems almost like a unicorn—nonexistent.
“Time doesn’t make something realer. It’s either real or it’s not,” Sledge says on a breath. “The way Drex and Eve are? Liza and I have never been like that. Hell, I envy the kid for having that. And he would have killed you on the spot for suggesting Eve was part of it, even if it was blatantly obvious she was suspect. Though you’d never have to worry about that, because Eve would rather die than ever hurt Drex. The second he fell for her—that’s when our lives changed. That’s when he saw his Pop for who he really was. The right person makes you stronger. The wrong person forever drags you down, making you weaker. Liza made me weaker. I already feel stronger just knowing it’s my turn,” he answers.
Understanding what he’s saying, I just stare at him.
He leans back, his eyes still on me.
“So you had them executed and him tortured to death. Did you know all the others?”
I nod hesitantly. “We’d been with Phillip for a long time. But too many of his guys knew me, as well as the other Family kids. They all needed to die, and they died quickly simply because I wanted it over. Troy, Smitty’s eldest son, was the executioner that day. He had tears in his eyes, and was ready for bloodshed. You don’t realize how close we are with our loyalist families. My parents were like Smitty’s siblings and Troy is like my adopted brother. Smitty’s very young daughters are my goddaughters, and therefore my chosen heirs, should I not have children of my own. Smitty gave Troy all of the quick executions, while he took Thomas below to torture him for days, dragging out all the information he could.”
We sit in silence for a few minutes, letting the heaviness of the conversation settle between us.
“What happens with you and Axle now? I’m prying by asking, but how serious are things between you two? Obviously things have gotten severely stickier here. We’re not able to protect ourselves at this moment, let alone someone as important as you are. What’s keeping you here? Sarah? Or do you actually care about him? Because I know he cares about you. I never thought I’d see him care for anyone the way he does you.”