Page 71 of Filthy Few

“I don’t know,” he answers.

“You said you had her in your letter.” He reels back and shakes his head.

“Thomas gave me the letters you sent,” I add.

Nikoa’s face slackens. “I meant I hadheras in, I had Nova in my sightsnotKelly.”

“Oh God, Mom!” Nova screams as the boys continue to dig as fast they can.

“This was a trap,” Nikoa breathes out as he spins around in a circle. Suddenly the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and I get the sense we are being watched. I remain stoic and unmoving, knowing that she can’t handle more than what has already happened tonight. Ez and Hayze switch out with Archer and Nikoa and keep digging. Nikoa keeps looking around and pulls his hood over his head, if we are being watched they would have already seen him and heard what we discussed.

When we hear a thud everyone stops moving, Nova tears free of my hold and jumps into the shallow grave. I dart forward and look down, watching as she swipes away the dirt. Nikoa and Archer climb out of the hole and stand on either side. Whoever did this, wanted us to find this and made it easy enough that we didn’t have to dig more than a few feet. When Nova clears the dirt from the head of the casket a strangle sound escapes her. The top is ajar and I see four fingers poking out. She shifts to the side and flips the lid off.

The second she does, everything turns cold around us. Her broken screams rent the air and we can all feel her pain. She brushes the dirt from his face and tries to pull him up but rigor mortis has set in and he is stiff. Waylen’s eyes are a cloudy white and his mouth is open, filled with dirt. He wasn’t only buried alive, he was clearly beaten, then suffocated and choked on the dirt when he pried the lid open.

“Come on, just wake up. This isn’t our plan, we still have to go to Rome,” she sobs out. A hollowness settles inside me as I watch her claw at her best friend's lifeless body. I run my gaze over Waylen and cringe. His clothes are torn and look like they are the same ones he was wearing the night she sent him packing. I’m guessing he never made it on that flight. The smell is intense and suffocating, he’s clearly been dead for a few days but Nova doesn’t seem to register that as she keeps screaming for him to wake up.

“Vox,” Ez hisses. I turn to him. He flicks his gaze toward the lid of the coffin, I follow it and my features slacken. There, scratched into the pine wood lid of the coffin.

4221 RUN.

Waylen knew what was coming and rather than blame Nova for what was happening to him, he sent her one last message. He was telling her that he loved her and to run.

“Please, don’t leave me. You’re all I have. I need you and I need Mom, Way, please,” she begs as she flops forward onto his body. I slam my eyes closed, unable to deal with the sight of her breaking. I can only imagine the pain that is coursing through her right now, losing Ez, Arch or Hayze would break me.

They aren’t just my best friends, they are my brothers.

The sound of sirens wailing in the distance has all of us snapping out of it. I leap into the hole and try to pry Nova off Waylen but she continues to cling to him.

“We have to go,” I snap.

“I’m not leaving him!” she screams.

“Vox, they’re getting closer,” Archer hisses. I try to pull her again but she won’t budge.

“We have to go, man,” Hayze snaps.

“I’m not leaving my sister,” Ezekiel sneers.

“All of you go, I will get Nova out of here,” Nikoa says. I look up at him and the resolute look in his eyes has something inside me trusting him to do as he says. “Get home to your families, they have all lost enough.” I war with myself for a few more seconds before I release Nova.

“This isn’t over, witch.”

When she peers back at me I see nothing but hatred and loathing in her eyes. “I’m burning it all to the ground and I will take all of you down for what you did.”

“I never touched him, I swear.”

“You didn’t have to. If you had stayed away from me then Waylen would be here. I hate you and everything you stand for. I’ll kill Thomas and Nexus, then I’m coming for theFilthy Few. Your deaths will all be by my hands and I will beForever Filthy.” The promise in her tone has me steeling my spine and walling off my emotions, we not only have the war against the Saints to fight but it appears we have another contender.

Taylor Tempest is coming after all of us.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Nova

Secrets and Lies…

They bind you and rule over you until eventually. You have no choice but to give in and live in the reality that your bullshit created.

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