Page 24 of His Forever

Creed leaned forward; his skepticism was replaced by curiosity. “You’ve been running his empire for two years? And no one knew?”

I nodded. “I didn’t need anyone to know. I didn’t want to involve anyone... until now.”

“And why now?” Princeton asked, his tone still laced with sarcasm, though I could see the wheels turning in his mind.

“Because things have changed,” I said, repeating the same line but knowing they needed more. “Candace has been after you guys for years. She wants control. She wants what she thinks is hers. When you killed Brandt, it sent her over the edge.”

“No shit,” Murphy chuckled, shaking his head. “The chick has a fucking screw loose.”

“Hold on,” Apollo interrupted, leaning forward with suspicion etched across his face. “How the hell did you know Candace was after us?”

All eyes turned to me, and I felt the weight of their stares. The truth was simple enough. Still, they needed to know.

“She came to Guy a few years back,” I began, “wanting to strike some type of deal.”

Leo, who had been quietly observing, suddenly sat up straighter. His attention sharpened in an instant. “What do you mean?” His tone wasn’t demanding, but it was clear he wasn’t going to let this go until he had the full story. I had left this little tid bit out earlier.

“Oh, finally, some surprising shit you didn’t know about?” Apollo muttered with a smirk, glancing at Leo.

Leo waved him off, his focus entirely on me now. “What deal did she want?”

I took a breath, knowing this was going to land hard. “She offered him intel on you.”

Leo squinted, the lines between his brows deepening. “And what the hell did she want in return?”

“In.” I looked him straight in the eyes. “She wanted in on the Maranga empire.”

The silence was thick as the room processed that bombshell. Princeton was the first to break it.

“Candace would be fucking nobody to Guy Maranga,” Princeton pointed out, his voice low with disbelief.

“She was nobody to him,” Sig added, arms crossed over his chest, as if the mere mention of Candace disgusted him.

I nodded in agreement. “He barely gave her enough time to get the offer out of her mouth before he turned her down.”

Murphy, always looking for the lighter side of things, leaned back in his chair with a smirk. “Should I be insulted that intel on us wasn’t something Guy wanted?”

I raised an eyebrow, sensing the humor in his question.

Murphy continued, “I mean, I’m glad he turned her down, but I’d like to think intel on us would be valuable.”

Before I could respond, Sig chimed in. “Guy already had intel on you. More than Candace had, I’d bet.”

Murphy slapped Princeton on the shoulder, the impact loud in the otherwise quiet room. “You hear that? Guy Maranga had intel on us.”

Princeton winced, rubbing his shoulder, glaring at Murphy. “I’m not sure that’s a good thing, Murph.”

“Why did Guy have intel on us?” Leo asked, cutting through the banter. His voice was calm, but there was an undercurrent of curiosity—and something more. I wasn’t sure if it was concern or satisfaction.

Sig shrugged, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Guy had intel on everyone. It’s what he did. You don’t build an empire without knowing who’s a threat and who’s an ally.”

There was a brief pause as Sig’s words settled over the room like a storm cloud. It was the truth. Guy had always been steps ahead of everyone because he knew where to look and what strings to pull.

Sig’s eyes flicked between Leo and me before he added, “It might also have to do with you and Brynn being an item at one point.”

I stiffened slightly at the mention of our past. The room felt smaller suddenly, the air thicker. My eyes darted toward Leo to gauge his reaction. His lips quirked in a small, almost pleased smile, like the idea that Guy had been keeping tabs on him made some sort of twisted sense.

Leo tipped his head, not saying much but clearly pleased with the notion that Guy had known about us. I couldn’t tell if that satisfied him because it meant he’d been a bigger player in my life than even Guy might have liked—or if it was something else entirely.

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