Page 86 of Forever Filthy

I turn to face her. “I’m so sorry, Nova. I know Ez promised you Thomas’s head on a silver platter but I wish I could take it all back?—”

“It’s not your fault, Vivian,” she says as she slowly turns to me. I see nothing but understanding in her eyes. “My mom was fucking incredible and she loved you. She wouldn’t have wanted you to blame yourself for what happened. I just miss her and Waylen so fucking much, ya know?”

I nod. “Actually, I do. I have an urn of my own now.” I explain to her about what happened to David and being the freaking amazing person that she is she offers me her support and tells me she is here for me always.

“You answering questions?” Vox asks as he suddenly appears behind us on the porch, scaring the fucking shit out of us.

“Seriously? That isn’t funny,” Nova scolds, earning a dry stare from my brother.

“What questions do you have?” I ask.

“A lot,” Archer says as he, Ez and Hayze join us on the porch. I nod and motion for them to follow me. We make our way around the wrap around porch. I claim the swing and Nova joins me, leaving the four guys to stand. I can hardly take any of them seriously wearing those fucking sweaters. They may be hard and ruthless but none of them are willing to insight their mother’s wrath by taking them off. My mom was even considerate enoughto buy one for Dawson, who unlike these four actually seems happy to wear his.

“Ask me whatever you want to know,” I say.

“Why did you make a company in our name when we…” Ez lets his sentence trail off so I finish it for him.

“When we weren’t even a thing?” He purses his lips and nods. “Honestly, I don’t know. I think a part of me always wished what we are now would be a possibility, but I never wanted to hope. Plus, the name seemed to fit.”

“How so?” Hayze pushes.

“The letterAwas used as a scarlet letter to mark women who were viewed as promiscuous. I felt it fitting since I had planned to take over a male dominated society and rule them,” I answer.

“Fuck yes, get it girl,” Nova praises. The guys all snicker at her remark which has me scowling at them.

“Look, I know you guys are still salty about what I did and how I did it, but this was the only way I knew I could end them once and for all and give our families freedom. Your fathers will never have to answer another call from the Saints, our mother’s will never have to bury another loved one. You guys can go to the school you want to and not the one they chose for you. I won’t be forced to marry someone I don’t love?—”

“Damn fucking right,” Ez adds, cutting me off. I shoot him a wink.

“Ezy A was my way of making sure they would never be able to rebuild and hurt anyone else.”

“How did you do it?” Archer asks. I can hear the curiosity in his voice.

“Dawson’s family dealt with a similar situation. I had a meeting with them and they helped me. Because of them I was able to funnel the money from the Saints into an offshore account that can’t be traced, then I funneled it back into Ezy A to fund the builds for the hotels like Lividica. Ezy A is alsofunding the build for the expansion of the high school and the build of the college in Hollow Hills. Because of Ezy A, we are able to offer kids an education. We didn’t have a local college but we will. These hotels will give thousands of people jobs. A shitty start because of the Saints, but it will end with a happy ending because of Ezy A.” I implore them to understand my reasoning.

“But you aren’t even listed as an owner, why?” I look at my brother and smile.

“I knew the feds would come knocking on my door as the lordess and I couldn’t have anything traced back to me and risk them shutting down everything I built. So I knew the only way to do what I did was to banish all of you.”

“Because you banished them, the feds would never look to them for anything because they were never involved. I’ll say it again, you are an evil genius.” I preen and smile at Nova’s compliment.

“Vivian, we can’t accept this, you worked so hard for this, not us,” Ezekiel argues.

I shrug my shoulders. “Too bad. I’ll help you all from behind the scenes but I can never be the face of Ezy A.”

“Why?” Archer pushes.

“Because the CIA is watching me. They can’t prove I’m the one who stole the money and they won’t stop hunting. I didn’t just take a few hundred thousand,” I admit.

“How much did you take?” Hayze asks skeptically.

“Three hundred million,” I mumble. All of them begin sputtering and choking on their own spit.

“Are you fucking crazy!” Vox shouts.

“Don’t fucking yell at her, asshole,” Hayze warns, earning a glare from my brother.

“Wait, how much is Ezy A worth with all the hotel builds and everything now?” Nova asks.

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