Page 8 of Forever Filthy

“Lordess, a package was delivered to your home address.”

He’s stalling. “David, tell me what the fuck was in the package now and stop putting it off. I’m tired and?—”

“The DA’s head was in the box, Lordess. We believe the person behind these letters is Alexander Denver.” My breath stalls, my vision turns hazy and I turn ice cold. David and I had assumed the letters were coming from an unhappy member of The Brotherhood, someone who just wanted to scare me into stepping down but this… this is terrifying.

“H-how could it be him?” I stutter out.

“Even behind prison bars, Alexander Denver is still known to run things in the outside world. He has a partner, or so the rumors go, but no one knows who it is.”

“Why the fuck is The Butcher coming after me?” The tremble in my voice shows my fear. I swallow a couple of times to try and control my erratic heartbeat and calm myself but I can’t. I never thought sending Alexander that letter telling him that Nexus was the one that killed his sister would result in this happening!

“I don’t know, but I am working on it, Lordess, and so are the other members.”

“Those bastards would be loving this, they want me gone just as much as The Butcher clearly does,” I force out.

David sighs. “You would be surprised how most of them have changed their tune since you opened Lividica. A lot of them are singing your praise, Lordess, they have even noted that theirwives are happier.” That brings a smile to my face, a lot of the men think their wives are using thefree spaat the hotel but Tate, David and I know better. As soon as their husbands disappear through that red door, they are rounding the corner to the other entrance to visit the ladies only side. After another five minutes, I agree to cut my trip short and return to Hollow Hills in four days.

I have a meeting with the board of CHU that I can’t miss.

Chapter Six

Archer

Seeing her again after so long has my head all fucked up. Vivian has always had that type of hold over me, all she had to do was enter a room and I would lose all train of thought. She became my sole focus.

Then she went and fucked me over.

She married Ezekiel, my best fucking friend. I used to dream of the day she would becomeVivian Malik. Thanks to her need for power and revenge, she went and blew my fucking dream out of the water. She isn’t mine anymore—she’shis.

“You fuckers are going to stay away from my sister.” Vox sneers as he glares at each of us. Nova turns her back to Vox and faces us with a pleading look in her eyes. I don’t get it, even after all the fucked up shit he did to her—Wedid to her—she stillstands here defending him, loving him and wanting him by her side.

I had that.

“What Vox is trying to say is?—”

Hayze cuts Nova off before she can finish. “You don’t have a fucking say in what we do, asshole.”

Vox scoffs and rolls his eyes like the condescending prick he is. “When it concerns my sister, I have every fucking say…” He lets his sentence trail off as he studies the three of us. When his eyes narrow and his lip lifts in a snarl, it hits me. When I look over at Ez, his mask is resting on the top of his head and poking out from under the hood of his jacket. “You motherfuckers hunted my sister, didn’t you?” It’s posed as a question but none of us answer.

Nova snorts, drawing our attention to her. “A favor asked is a debt owed.” She snickers as she recites the line of the Filthy Few. We were once a brotherhood of our own until… everything went to shit. All our hard work, the pain and suffering we went through was for fucking nothing. The whole point of the Filthy Few was to find the proof we needed to get rid of Thomas and Nexus but our cause changed and became about protecting Vivian so she would never have to be blooded in. Before Nova showed up we knew Thomas was trying to find a way for Vivi to marry his cunt of a son to secure his place as the Lord of the Haven Saints.

“Why the fuck are you three going after my sister and forcing her to ask a favor?” The cold tone of Vox’s voice pulls me from my thoughts.

“We’re not,” Ez answers.

“Bullshit! Why the fuck are you bringing out the masks?” Vox has a hero complex right now and its starting to grate on every one of my fucking nerves.

“Because the Filthy Few isn’t just about you, dick, it’s about all of us and if we want to push her to ask a favor we will. As I recall, you managed to force Ezekiel’s sister to do the same thing,” I taunt but instantly feel like an asshole when Nova drops her gaze to the ground. Vox wraps his arm around her waist and pulls her flush against him as he shoots me a look I know all too well, he wants to break my face.

Bring it on.

I don’t have to hide now, he knows how I feel about his twin and I’m done hiding that shit. It’s time he realizes he doesn’t call the fucking shots around here anymore.

“Both of you shut the fuck up!” Hayze snaps, I turn to my brother and scowl. “Don’t fucking look at me like that, Archer!” He doesn’t give me a chance to respond before continuing. “Ez set us all up, can’t change that shit now, can we? I’m gonna be straight with you all, I want Vivian.” My jaw unhinges, Ezekiel looks just as shocked but it’s Vox who holds my attention. He doesn’t seem… surprised, nor does Nova. She just smiles proudly which is fucking weird. “I get it, you want to break our jaws then go ahead because I’m done playing this game where I act like I don’t notice her. I stepped back because I know Archer is in love with her.” I don’t get a chance to interject before he is pushing on. “I was okay as long as she was happy but then Ezekiel went and married her and fucked shit up.”

“What’s your point?”

“My point, Vox, is that I’m not backing down this time. I’m telling you this because of the friendship we once shared and that’s it.” Hayze steps forward only stopping an inch away from Nova, sandwiching her between them both. “Try and stand in my way or put a stop to this, I’ll breakyournose and forget all about you once being my brother.” Hayze brushes past them without a backward glance.

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