Grayson’s father narrows his eyes. “That’s not how we do things around here,” he tells me in a tone that his son is all too good at replicating. “You have no proof that Royston had help, and the same goes for the attack in the woods. Who’s to say that wasn’t an outside force? You’ve made plenty of enemies in your short eighteen years.”
“Who do you take me for?” I ask him. “I’m no fool, and I know when someone is conspiring against me. I will get to the bottom of this. The Royston threat may be gone, but I’m not some stupid girl who’s just going to assume that all of my issues died with him.”
“And what if they did?” Mr. Danforth comments. “What if Royston was behind the attack?”
“Then nobody in this room should have anything to fear. If you’re all innocent, then I won’t find any evidence to suggest otherwise. So, in that case, what does it matter if I look into it?”
I see heads nodding to my right while there’s nothing but blank masks coming from the left. “Do what you need to do,” Earnest says beside me. “You will have our full support and cooperation. Dynasty has been filled with corruption for far too long, and it’s time to weed out the weak. If someone in this room is guilty of an attack against our leader then we need to know. However, the matter of Sam Delacourt is out of our hands. We do not get involved in criminal matters or revenge plots. That is not what we are about. We stepped in solely to keep you safe, but now the matter has closed, and we will have no part.”
My mouth drops as I stare at him, and as I slowly glance around the room, I find sixteen faces staring back at me, all in agreement. “Are you serious?” I ask the room as I watch Carver clench his jaw and subtly shake his head. “Do you have any idea what kind of bullshit I went through at Sam Delacourt’s hands? I won’t just sit back and let him do this. Every day, he’s finding new girls to take off the streets, away from their homes. What if this was one of your daughters?”
A few of the men flinch at the thought, but not a damn one speaks up to make a change, or to be the difference that Dynasty so desperately needs. We have the technical power to change the world at our fingertips, and these fuckers are saying bullshit like ‘that’s not what we’re about.’
Fuck that.
The desperation pulses through me and my control is quickly slipping. I glance back at Carver, needing his guidance despite how ashamed I am of myself for having to ask.
He discreetly nods his head toward the door, and just like that, I stand, looking out at the men before me. “Like I said, I’m not here seeking your approval. I’m going after Sam Delacourt, and anyone who stands in my way is going to feel my wrath.”
Then without another word, I walk out of the council chamber with Carver right on my heels.
He straddles my bike, and not a second later, I climb on behind him, my hands gripping his waist as he takes off like lightning in a deadly storm.
CHAPTER 12
My hand slams down on the table as Carver, Grayson, Cruz, and King stare up, finally watching me as though I’m an equal, not that bitch-ass girl they would constantly pull their armor on for. “I’m done waiting. Sam has gotten away with this for too long. We have to do something about it. I won’t stand by any longer.”
Grayson leans forward, catching my gaze. “What happened in that meeting?” he demands. “This issue has been there all along, why come to us now?”
I flick my gaze toward Carver, and I see the explanation on the tip of his tongue, but I beat him to it, knowing damn well that he’s going to sugarcoat Dynasty’s bullshit, just as they’ve always been trained to do—but not me. “Those dumb fuckers back there aren’t going to let me go after Sam. They won’t support me, and I’m sure as hell that means they won’t lend me those fucking big-ass computers to find him either. But I’m not backing down on this. I won’t stand by and let Sam continue to get away with it when we can do something to stop him.”
Cruz stands and meets my pissed off gaze, the anger I already hold for him from keeping the truth about the Ducati from me only making matters worse. In fact, it makes it worse for all of them. They should never have kept that from me, but now is not the time to pull apart the reasons for their deceit. “I know how much this means to you, but Dynasty has never done this before. They don’t get involved in criminal matters. That’s just always been the way we’ve operated. If we get involved with this, what’s to stop others from asking us to do the same with their issues? Before you know it, Preston Scardoni is going to be demanding that we fuck up the drug dealer who sold meth to his son last summer. It won’t end well. It’s an endless cycle, and eventually, Dynasty will get caught.”