Page 183 of Hades

“It better fucking not.” Zeus turned to Lettie. “And my mother. If you hear from her⁠—”

“I’ll let you know she’s safe,” Lettie said. “But I won’t tell you where she is unless she wants me to.”

Zeus’ jaw tightened, but he nodded. “Fair enough.”

The tension in the warehouse eased slightly. Not gone, but manageable.

Zeus gestured toward Dakota’s body. “Did he say anything before he died?”

Lettie’s hand dropped from her necklace. She looked at him directly, and I watched her pull the words together. “He blamed you. All of you. Said the Gods of Mayhem destroyed Kronos.”

“We exposed him,” Zeus said flatly. “That’s not the same as⁠—”

“He didn’t see it that way.” Lettie’s voice was quiet but firm. “He said you made Kronos a target. That when someone else finished what you started, you just... watched him bleed out.”

“We didn’t know he needed protecting,” I said.

She looked at me. “Dakota was convinced you could have saved him and chose not to.”

Atlas shifted his weight. “What else?”

Lettie wrapped her arms around herself. “He said you killed Arizona. With your own hands.”

Zeus’ expression went cold. “We did.”

We didn’t. Alex did, but not a single man in this room would ever put that on her. I knew Eros well enough to know that if anyone outside the club asked, he’d take the hit to protect Alex after she saved his life.

“He knew that.” She paused, choosing her words carefully. “He was working with Kronos. With Arizona and Zephyr too. They were all trying to take over the Federation.”

“The Federation?” Kraken’s voice rumbled from the doorway. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“Consolidation of power,” Lettie said. “Across all the clubs. Dakota said Kronos taught him everything about how it worked.”

I felt my jaw tighten. “How what worked?”

“Whatever the system was...” She looked at me, and I saw something dark flicker in her eyes. “Devlin Scott and George Stone built it. A machine designed to—” Her voice caught. “To grind up women and children.”

Silence crashed down around us.

“Jesus Christ,” Hermes muttered.

“Dakota said the beauty of it was that it didn’t matter if one man died.” Lettie’s voice was steadier now. Clinical. “The system keeps running. Another man steps in. Another generation inherits the design.”

Zeus’ hands curled into fists. “And Kronos was part of this?”

“According to Dakota, yes.”

“What about George?” I asked. “What did he say about George?”

Lettie’s gaze shifted to me. “He mentioned Mimic. Said George had been training him to infiltrate the Silver Shadows. But Mimic grew a backbone. Didn’t do what he was supposed to.”

“Fuck,” Atlas breathed.

“Dakota said he’d pay for that.” Lettie’s voice dropped. “Him and his old lady. For killing Meredith. For killing Kronos.”

“Indie,” I said quietly.

She nodded. “He was going to kill her. Kill Mimic. Kill all of you.” Her eyes found Zeus. “He said when you were the last one standing, when you’d lost everyone you loved, then he’d finish you too.”