Page 97 of Montana Falls
They had shit to sort. Talk about. Feel. They needed their time, and they had it and I… I hoped it worked.
Hoped it healed what was broken.
Misha and Kody came in next, both making their way towards me. Kody had a mug of hot chocolate in his hands, that he slid into mine with a kiss.
“I added extra cream for you,cica.” He grinned.
“Thanks,papi.” I smiled back as I inhaled the mug, only pausing so I could reciprocate Misha’s soft and delicate kiss against my lips.
They all settled into their spots around the table, the energy in the room shifting as they cracked jokes and nudged each other. It was good to see them like this, after everything we’d been through. After the tears, the anger, and the desperate nights when we weren’t sure any of us would make it. It might have been undercut by tension and pain but there was still a lightness there I knew would one day be wholly real.
The door creaked again, and Beau stepped in, followed closely by Raya. He didn’t say much as he took his seat, but hiseyes met mine, and in that brief look, I could feel everything he wasn’t saying.
I could feel that he loved me, and he really was okay now. Things were okay.
Raya gave me a small nod as she sat down, her expression unreadable. Yeva arrived shortly after, her entrance quiet but noticeable. She sat down with a grace that was both intimidating and elegant, her violent gaze sweeping over the room before settling on me. She’d come a long way from the day I’d met her—everyone had—but there was still a tension there, an unspoken understanding that not everything had healed yet. But she was working on it. She was doing what needed to be done to and oddly enough, Atlas was going to be helping her.
It turned out that my secret sister’s brother was more than eager to take on an apprentice to show the darker side of the world, too. He was dealing with some shit for a few more weeks, but then he was going to help Beau, and everyone else, take on Yeva’s training. To help turn her into the woman she wanted to be.
And sure, did I think sending a girl with a temper and desire to murder to what was essentially an assassin training camp was a little insane? Yes. But if it worked — if it helped her contain and train the darkness in her soul? Then hell yeah. She could learn how to be the most wicked woman in the world and I would fucking smile about it.
When the other girls were older or needed similar help, they could go to. Or they could do a plethora of other things that they needed to heal from their trauma and figure out their place in this world.
I would help them do anything they needed.
“Hey, beautiful, you miss me?” The door opened as Widow – and his ridiculous mouth - Kellan and Darius rounded out the group, each of them taking their places around the table. Dariusmoved slower than usual, a cane by his side, his leg still healing from the explosion. But he was smiling and seemed happy enough to be with us.
“One day I am going to cut your tongue out and kill you.” Kody drawled to Widow as he reached under the table, wrapping his hand around my thigh from the seat next to me. He might have been joking, but the fact I knew he would cut a man’s tongue out for me made me shiver.
I loved it. It was such a turn on.
“Can you choke me out instead, pretty boy?” Widow winked at him. “With your hands or-”
“Okay.” I cut him off with a laugh. “There was a reason I summoned all of my minions today.”
I looked around at the faces seated at the table—people I trusted, people who had fought alongside me, bled alongside me. These were the people who had stood by me through the worst of it, and now, they were here to help me rebuild.
The Montana dynasty – the Red Diamonds one – was starting fresh. Rebuilding old things as new, building up new things in general.
We were going to go bigger and badder and doing all the things I wanted to do in this world.
All the things that would make my parents proud.
“Okay, so to be blunt,” I said, my voice steady but quiet, “you’re all my new board for the Red Diamonds. Either gang things or regular business. Everyone in this room is officially part of my inner circle and the only other person being included is Ivy Quinn, but I didn’t feel the need to make her travel so far for this.”
I owed my old classmate for her aid in England, and I also enjoyed having more women on my board. Plus, it meant I could start branching my businesses in the United Kingdom and thatwas going to be a fun ride that would be easier with a psychotic English girl backing me.
A ripple of surprise went through the room, but I held their gazes, one by one. Then, I reached under the table and pulled out a stack of manila folders from my lap, passing one to each person seated. “In those folders, you’ll find everything you need to know—details about the new structure, our plans, and your roles.”
They took the folders, flipping them open to glance at the contents, but the room was still, everyone waiting for me to continue.
“I owe each of you more than I could ever put into words,” I said, my voice catching slightly, but I pushed through. “You all saved me—saved each other—and I’m hoping this is a good place to start paying that back.”
I looked at Beau as I said the next part. “I intend to bring the other Montana girls into the fold once they’re old enough. They’re being groomed to take part when the time comes. But for now, this is us. This is the board and who will make the decisions that are best for my company and beyond.”
The room was quiet, everyone absorbing what I’d just said, the weight of it settling over us all. Then, one by one, I was thanked. Questioned. Whatever else. Almost an hour spent convincing people that I had not made a mistake – they were who I trusted and wanted by my side for the future. Only when the sun began to set outside did they start to leave, nodding to me as they filed out to go do other things with their evening, leaving just me and my guys.
The tension shifted as the five of them exchanged glances. They weren’t angry, not exactly, but there was something unspoken hanging in the air.
