BY THE TIME Lev got to the cabin last night, I was passed out. I didn’t realize how tired I was until I sat on the couch to wait for him.
It’s morning now, and I’ve been filling him in on everything I heard yesterday.
“No.” Lev sighs. His hands are pressed to the kitchen counter in the cabin, his head hung low. “Just fucking no. There isn’t a chance in hell my dad would ever hurt your mom. They have to be wrong.”
“Heard it with my own ears, man. Why would all three of them make this shit up when they didn’t even know anyone was listening.”
His head shoots up. “Hell if I know, but there has to be a reason. Sure, my dad was a Punisher, but I just can’t imagine him hurting anyone, let alone killing someone.”
“There’s a lot our parents did when we were kids before we knew about the roles of The Society. They hid that part of themselves. It was a job and he had an assignment. Believe it or not, but according to your uncle and Maddox’s father, he killed my mom.”
I’m not surprised Lev is having such a hard time wrapping his head around this. No one wants to think their parents committed heinous acts of violence, let alone murder. Since we were kids, we knew there was a dark side of The Society, but it doesn’t make it any easier for us to accept that now. I remember us eavesdropping to find out some of the secrets, but we never heard anything too incriminating. Still to this day, there is likely so much we don’t know.
“We can’t be like them,” Lev quips. “You’re still in this fight, right?
‘Of course I am! That’s exactly why we’ve been fighting since we were fucking teenagers. That’s the whole point of everything we’ve done. The only way we can take these fuckers down is from the inside, and in order to do that, we have to play their game for a while. We get our assignments and we fulfill them. We become Elders and we move the chess pieces around so that, in time, we can destroy those fuckers.’
Lev drags a chair across the dingy floor, then lowers himself into it. Leaned forward, his elbows rest on the splintered tabletop and he drops his face in his hands as he speaks. “You took an assignment at the start of the school year to find out who killed the governor, but you never had any intention of completing that assignment, did you?”
“At first I did…until I saw her. The second I laid eyes on Riley, I knew I would not only fail, but I would do everything in my power to keep her secret from The Elders.”
“But they know now. It was all for nothing.”
“Nah.” I sweep the air with my hand. “They’ve got nothing. The only evidence is the stuff you stacked against her and any good Sleuth or Elder would be able to recognize planted evidence. The only reason they’re pushing this is because one of The Elders wants it to be pushed. I’m certain I know who that person is. I just can’t figure out why.”
“Who do you think it is?”
I’m still pissed the fuck off. He’s the last person I ever would have suspected until today.
“Stanley Crane,” I stammer.
Lev’s eyes shoot up. “Maddox’s dad? No fucking way.”
“I don’t make jokes about this shit, Lev.”
He chuckles. “You’re telling me the same guy who drove three hours to rescue a box of puppies is the one who wants a sweet girl like Riley to be punished? I’m not buying it. It’s my uncle Austin. I can promise you that.”
“Nope.” I shake my head. “Your uncle wants you.” Pointing a stern finger at him, I make it clear. “Stanley wants Riley. I’m telling you, man. I heard it all.”
A heady growl escapes him. “What the fuck did he say about me?”
“Well, he’s determined to find you, so he must need that money for something big. He must not think you’re guilty of anything extreme or else he would be using it against you in order to take your family’s money, but he does seem desperate.’
“I say we just kill ’em both and solve everyone’s problems.”
“Your uncle, hell yes. But Maddox’s dad?” I shake my head. “Not sure he’d ever forgive us for that one.”
Lev smacks his thighs then jumps up. “Your car or mine?”
I don’t even have a car here, so it’s a stupid question, but that point is moot. “You’re serious? You think we’re just gonna walk out there in the light of day and kill the fucker?”
“Why the hell not? Not like you haven’t done it before.” He shrugs as he grabs his keys and heads toward the door.
“Everything I do is well thought out and never spontaneous,” I say as I get up to follow him, apparently going along with his insane plan.
“First time for everything. Grab your shit and leave no trace you were here. I’ll meet you in the car.”
Killing Lev’s uncle was the last thing on my to-do list for today, and it pisses me off that even ending him will in no way bring us closer to finding Riley and Maddox. Unless, he and his wife know more than they were letting on during their conversation with Stanley.
“I’ve missed this girl.” I pat the dash of Lev’s fucking awesome ride. “One day I’m gonna have one of these.”
It’s a dream that will never come true, but one can wish. I’ll never have the money Lev does, or even Maddox, but at least I get to relish in all their goods when I’m with them. Such as now—the window down, my hand hanging out, and the breeze in my hair. The rumble of the car vibrates through my body and I’m so fucking tired, I wouldn’t be surprised if it lulled me to sleep.
“It’s just a car.” Lev shrugs.
I mock him. “‘Just a car,’ he says. You know the things I’d do for a car like this?”
“Lose your whole family so you inherit all their money. Ten out of ten do not recommend.”
I tsk. “In case you’ve forgotten, my family is gone, too.”
“Shit.” Lev sighs. “Sorry, man. It’s just, you know how much I hate materialistic stuff.”
“Why’d you buy it then?”
He’s quiet for a minute before he glances quickly at me. “You really wanna know?”
“I’m just asking because it’s a nice fucking car for someone who hates materialistic shit.”
“I got it for Emery,” he says softly, and it’s a tone I don’t hear often from Lev. It’s also the first time he’s said his little sister’s name since she died. I don’t say anything because I’m sure he’s not done talking, and because I don’t know what the hell to say. A smile creeps across his face. “She fucking loved these cars. I remember her coming into my room and flipping through my car magazines just so she could circle all the Bugattis she wanted. I told her one day I was going to buy her one.”
A minute or two passes of complete silence before I finally say, “I bet she’d love it.”
“Yeah.” He nods with a smile, eyes on the road ahead of us. “I like to think so.”
“Lev?” I say with a gentleness to my tone. His eyes widen in question, so I continue, “Who do you think did it?”
I don’t even have to explain what I’m talking about. He knows.
He rolls his neck and takes a deep breath. “That question has been heavy on my mind every day for years, and to this day, I still don’t fucking know who to suspect.”
The weight of the guilt on my chest is so heavy that I fear I’m going to burst at the seams if I don’t say what I’m thinking—or what I know to be true.
“It was my fault,” I blurt out.
Lev’s eyes snap to mine and his eyebrows pinch together. “Why would you say that?”
We come to a stop about thirty yards from the closed gate on campus and Lev shifts the car into park.
He turns to face me, still wearing a look of confusion.
I can’t even face him as I say what I need to say, so I look out the window to my right. “I didn’t realize it until yesterday, but your dad killed my mom because he was sentenced to punish her. It was an order, and I know that. Nothing personal, and I’m not taking it that way. I don’t blame him. I blame them, and they will all fucking fall for what happened to all our family members.”
“Don’t beat about the damn bush, Ridge. Just tell me why the hell you think it was your fault that my family was killed.”
I nod repeatedly. “Right. Well, from what I heard yesterday, everyone assumes your dad was murdered for what he did to my mom. And he was only sent on that assignment because of what I did.”
“You’re not making any fucking sense.”
“Remember when I was eleven and I killed that man who was beating on my mom?”
“Yeah. So what about it?”
It’s not normal how either of us can talk about murder and death so casually. As if it’s an everyday occurrence in our lives. We are clearly beyond fucked up.
Lev snaps his fingers, pulling me out of my thoughts, and back into the memories of what I heard. “Out with it!”
“My mom was punished because she took the blame for what I did. In the eyes of The Society, she killed an innocent member. So if your dad was murdered out of revenge for taking my mom’s life, then it was my fault.”
There. I said it. It’s out in the open. He can fucking hate me if he wants to.
There’s a moment of silence before Lev surprises me by bursting into laughter. “You have way too much time on your fucking hands, Ridge. Quit thinking so damn much.” He shifts the car back into drive and presses a button on his steering wheel. “Call Asshole Austin.”
“Calling Asshole Austin,” comes through the speakers and I laugh.
“Where the hell are you?” is the first thing his uncle says when he accepts the call.
“Question is, Uncle, where the hell are you?”
“You better be calling to tell me you have an update on your new assignment, Lev, because so help me God, if you fuck this up and don’t bring that girl in, you’ll be the biggest disgrace ever born into our family.” His voice booms with rage. “You’ll be finished! Done for! You hear me?”
“What assignment?” I whisper, but he shushes me with a finger over his mouth.
“Oh, I hear you.” Lev leans his head back and looks at me with a shit-eating grin on his face. “But not loud enough. Meet me out front of the main building on campus in, say, five minutes?
“You best have some news for me, boy.”
The call drops and Lev stretches his legs out beneath the steering wheel. “Hold the fuck on.”
The next thing I know, he’s gunning it and we’re driving eighty miles an hour straight at the wrought-iron gate.
I grab the ‘oh shit’ handle on the door and flatten my arm on the center console, bracing myself for impact. “You’re gonna fucking kill us, Lev!”
“Since when are you scared of anything?” he shouts over the roar of the engine.
With a loud crash, the metal barred doors fly open. Shards of rusted metal rain down as we barrel through, leaving a trail of destruction in our wake. Lev pushes down harder on the gas pedal as he drives full speed toward the center of campus, while choosing to ignore the five-miles-per-hour speed limit.
“Holy fuck,” I roar. “That was insane.”
“It ain’t over yet.” He howls in excitement, the most emotion I’ve seen on his face since his family died, and it brings a smile to my face.
We fly past some of the student housing, and Lev shows no signs of slowing down.
“Dude.” I drag out the word. “What the fuck are you doing?”
Up ahead is Austin, standing outside the building. He glances back and forth at his watch until he finally sees us. He freezes, eyes wide with fear. Stumbling back in a desperate attempt to get away, he trips over the cement slabs of the staircase before awkwardly getting back to his feet.
One look at Lev and I can see victory in his eyes. A broad smile is plastered on his face as if he’s entering his own redemption story.
The next thing I know, Austin is smashed against the bumper of the car and thrown onto the hood. It all happens so fast as Lev maintains his speed, ripping through campus as if it’s his own personal playground. He drives straight over a few bushes at lightning speed, sending his uncle sliding up the windshield and over the car.
My head whips around and I see Lev’s uncle’s body hit the pavement with a thunderous clap.
“That’s my fucking boy.” I slap a hand to Lev’s shoulder, grinning like a schoolboy.
“Take that, you fucking asshole! That’s what you get for drugging me and destroying all those years of my life. Try and take my money now, you little bitch!”
I sink back in my seat and watch Lev as an array of emotions passes over him in waves. From sheer joy, to pain, back to happiness. Maybe a little regret. He licks his lips, swallows hard, eyes darting from his trembling hands, back to the road, then finally when the car slows, he just smiles, pleased with himself for ending the madness that threatened his future.
“Where to now?” I ask him, certain that the reality of what he just did is front and center in his mind.
“Now we get the fuck out of here and find our girl.”
Our girl. Is that what she is? I know she’s mine. I’m positive she’s Maddox’s too. Can I really trust Lev enough to allow him to have a place in her life? Assuming she’d even want him.
I still don’t know, but I can’t find it in me to burst his bubble right now. I guess only time will tell.
