"And Aiken was owner-operator for fifteen years; anyone would have to assume that he had a successor picked after all that time," Raf reasons. "Someone untainted and non-biased."
"Unless they take Eden out before she has put anything for her successor in place." My predator is baying for blood, ready to become unhinged on whoever is a threat to Eden.
Creed sits back in his chair with his brow pinched. "Let's go with the hypothetical situation that three Chamber heads are banding together for unholy purposes. Who would they be?"
"Lixin and Amazu," I answer without hesitation. Raf and I exchange a look.
And Massimo, being who and what he is, doesn't miss it. "What?"
I make a choice to come clean on another dark, dirty secret. "Ash."
"No fucking way," he instantly dismisses.
"Only because he may have reason to side against Eden."
Massimo's massive frame stills, and his right eye twitches. "Explain."
I glance at Creed.
He's too damn smart for his own good, and he puts the pieces together and pales slightly. "That night…"
Massimo steps toward me, menace and wrath rolling off him. "What. Did you.Do?"
"Creed played no role in it."
"Except pick up Eden's car," Raf mutters.
I sigh, then explain what happened the night Cutt and Jax attacked Eden. To his credit, Massimo listens stoically to the full story.
Then charges me like a bull.
It's Creed who jumps between us and stops him.
"You fucking killed an MC member?Ash's cousin?" Massimo spits, and his nostrils flare. "And dragged Creed into it?"
Creed pushes him back to widen the space between us. "I just picked up Eden's car."
"He made you an accomplice, baby brother."
Creed snorts. "Are we a court of law or something? Mass…" He grips our brother's face. "Listen to Vito. Hear him out. My feet are still on the other side of the line."
Massimo jerks back. "You shouldn't be in here for this discussion."
"You're the one who dragged my ass out of bed, remember?" Creed shoves his hand through his mussed hair. "This is about our family. I'm staying." He turns to me. "But no more fucking secrets."
I clench my jaw because I can't promise that.
Raf saves my ass in a manner of speaking. "Regardless of whether or not it's Ash, why would three Chamber heads band together for something so underhanded? They'd risk the collective alliance of all these years and war."
They'd have to gain somethingepic,but at this point, I had no clue what that could be.
In all honestly, I'm working on gut instinct and conjecture here.
"What about the tattoo?" Creed pulls us back. "You're sure it's the same one as Morales had?"
I open my phone and show Creed the picture Axin sent me. His face hardens as he studies it.
"First Morales' doppelgänger, now this." He looks at me, then Massimo. "Someone's toying with our family."