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Before Leon could answer, the door was pushed open. Our youngest brother, Mikhail, walked in, his steel-gray eyes looking between me and Leon.
“Shucks! Did Leon tell you already?” he asked with a huff as he stomped across the room.
Mikhail was a lost case when it came to being a shadow. He was always too loud and too impatient, but he picked up the slack by being a master at gathering intel.
A silver cross dangled from his right ear as he sat down on the couch beside Leon. His long legs were encased in skinny, ripped jeans. An oversized jacket hid his arms that were covered in tattoos.
“What are you talking about?” I said, fixing my gaze on him. “Do you have news to share as well?”
Mikhail glanced at Leon before looking at me. A slow grin spread across his lips. “So, youdon’tknow.” He cackled. “If you did, you wouldn’t be sitting down so calmly.”
“What is it?” I asked, feeling my insides writhe. “Did Baldwin Sr. die or something?”
“Nah,” said Mikhail. “The old man’s still breathing.”
“It’s Lucia,” said Leon. “She’s getting married.”
“What?” I spat as rage and despair collided inside me at once. How could she belong to anyone else but me and my brothers? We didn’t go to hell and crawl back out just to lose the person we’d been coveting.
“To whom?” I asked, barely able to keep control over my emotions.
“Word on the street is that Freddy Stone’s getting married to her,” said Mikhail. All humor was wiped off his face. “But that’s not the interesting bit.”
“What do you mean?” Leon asked.
“Freddy Stone is gay,” said Mikhail. “Everyone knows that.”
“Wait,” said Leon, holding up a hand. “Is it the same person I’m thinking about? He was in the same grade as Lucia. Sort of a pretty boy, loved wearing pink and sparkles, and always changed his hair each summer?”
“Yep,” said Mikhail. “The same guy who was chummy with the hottest cheerleader in their grade.”
I tuned out my brothers as they talked about the kids in Lucia’s school, sounding like they’d attended the same high school as her. All they did was spy on Lucia and map out the people surrounding her.
They shouldn’t feel like they belonged to her world.
My heart turned into stone the night I failed to protect my brothers from Callum Baldwin. It’d been my own fault for being lax about Lucia’s brother.
I should’ve known better than to trust a stranger. Instead of surrendering to Callum, I should’ve told my brothers to run the first chance they got.
I closed my eyes, momentarily getting lost in the memories of that nightmarish night. The smell of rotting garbage still lingered in my nostrils. My skin still felt the warmth of my blood as it trickled down the cuts in my face.
I was going to make Callum Baldwin regret everything he did to me and my brothers. He was going to pay in blood but before that, I was going to snatch away his most prized possession.
His sister. Lucia.
We worshipped her. Watched out for her. Gave her our hearts and trust.
She’d be paying back for her betrayal as well. We were going to break her and send the pieces to her brother and watch him cry tears of blood over her.
It was the only way we’d come close to being even.
“Why have you gone so quiet?” Leon’s voice stirred me out of my thoughts.
“I was just thinking,” I said, bringing the tips of my fingers together. “Why would she get married to a guy who was openly gay?”
“Money,” said Mikhail. “Stone’s grandfather wouldn’t hand him his inheritance if he refused to have a proper marriage. I’m pretty sure that’s the sole reason Callum’s getting his sister married to him. He gets a cut of Stone’s inheritance and his precious sister stays untouched by another man.”
“That’s fucked up,” Leon scoffed.
