Page 67 of The Devils' Darling

“What are you saying?” I ask. “That we need to go to Nataniele’s quarters?”

“Yes, all of us, together. Let him know we’re not to be messed with.”

She straightens her shoulders, and I realize I’m so fucking proud of her. The three of us were nothing before she came along—just a bunch of kids screwing around. She’s made men of us all.

“I agree,” Kirill says. “We stand beside each other. Always.”

There seems to be some of the old light back in his eyes. I’m glad. I miss my old friend—the one who loves to dance and who’ll start a fight in an empty room. I’ve missed his fire.

I take a step forward. “Okay, let’s do this.”

Kenzie and Kirill spin on their heels, and together we leave.

But, to my surprise, we meet Dom in the corridor, heading toward us.

“What’s up, D?” I ask. “Everything all right?”

“We were just coming to find you,” Mackenzie says.

“Dad was distracted, so I got out of there. I went for a walk outside to clear my head.” He seems shaken, and he’s paler than usual. His hair is all messed up as if he’s been raking his hand through it repeatedly.

He thrusts a piece of paper in our direction.

“Look what I found.”

I frown. “What is it?”

“A letter my mom wrote to my dad the night she died, saying that she was leaving him. It says she overheard him telling another woman on the phone he loved her, and she couldn’t live like this anymore.”

“Fuck,” I curse. “Does it say who the other woman was?”

Dom cocks an eyebrow. “No, but I can take a damned good guess.”

“My mom,” Mackenzie says.

He smiles wryly. “Unless he’s got a third woman on the go, yeah, I’d say so.” Dom closes his eyes briefly. “The letter also says she’d planned to send for me later, if I wanted to leave, too. She didn’t want me to grow up like him.”

“Have you spoken to your father about the letter?” Mackenzie asks.

He shakes his head. “Not yet. I’m still not sure what it means. It doesn’t prove anything, does it?”

“Doesn’t it?” She gives him a sympathetic smile. “It sounds to me like she left voluntarily, that she was upset, and it was the middle of the night. Maybe she was crying, and she misjudged the road.”

Dom lowers the letter and knots one hand in his hair. “Fuck, I don’t know what to think.”

“It’s definitely your mom’s handwriting?” Kirill asks.

“Yeah, it is.”

“So you know she did want to leave,” Mackenzie points out.

Dom sucks air over his teeth. “But what if he didn’t let her? What if instead of letting her leave, he drove her off that bridge? Maybe he thought if he couldn’t have her, then no one would?”

“You’re going to have to talk to him, dude,” Kirill says. “If you want to know the truth, you need to ask him. Your dad isn’t exactly a saint, but compared to some men, he’s not all bad.”

Dom twists his lips as though he doesn’t quite believe that, but Kirill’s got a point.

“My papi is the same,” I add. “He’s a hard man, but he’s not evil, not in the way Grigoriy was.” I grimace. “Sorry, Kill.”

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