Page 79 of Silent Secrets

Gabe bares his teeth at me, hands tightening for a moment before he lets go of Hunter and steps back. “The four of you think that you’re so big and bad now. You think you can threaten me? I’ve got news for you. You’re nothing. You’ll always be nothing, and if you keep it up? I’ll put you all in the ground.”

As much as I’d like to think that he wouldn’t do that, especially to his own son, I know better. I just declared war with Gabe and Kam—something that I’m not sure that we’re ready for.

Fuck.

“All the four of you had to do was get rid of one fucking girl, but you’re so useless that you couldn’t even do that. And for what? Because you wanted to get your dicks wet? You could’ve screwed the whore before you got rid of her.”

“Hadley was never going to leave Sorlphi, Father. That’s not who she is.”

“Then you should have fucking killed her then. Now that everyone has seen her, we’ll never be able to be rid of her. She will be the fucking queen, and we will have lost all the power that could have been ours. You’re all worthless.”

None of us speak as we stare at him and Kam as he moves to stand next to Hunter’s father. It doesn’t matter what we say at this point. It won’t change anything and it’ll just piss them off more than they already are.

“We could always have her killed now,” Kam says nonchalantly—like having someone murdered is an everyday occurrence. But I don’t let my shock or disgust show.

“It’s not like we can count on our sons to do it.”

It’s obvious just how disgusted Gabe is with us, and I can’t wait until we take him down. I don’t know how we’re going to do it, but we have to put an end to them—to their plans. We can’t allow them to hurt Hadley.

But hearing their words, I can’t help but wonder once more if maybe they had something to do with the death of the entire monarchy. Hunter swore up and down that there was no way that his father had anything to do with it, but he could have. Gabe and Kam are more power hungry than we’d thought. Can we really rule them out as suspects?

“Murder? Come now, Father. That’s a little extreme even for you, isn’t it?”

Hunter rolls his eyes as he lowers himself into an armchair, appearing nonchalant—but I know better. I can see the tension beneath the surface. He’s worried that Gabe and Kam’s words aren’t just words, but an actual threat. Could it have been one of them that left that message in Hadley’s room?

Why hadn’t we considered them when it had happened? We knew that they wanted her gone, and I wouldn’t put it past them. When had they gotten this bad? Had I just not been paying attention, because to me it seems out of nowhere. I mean, sure, I’m not around them regularly, but you would think that I’d have noticed that they’d started considering murder to get their way.

Gabe’s eyes narrow as he considers Hunter. We’re surrounded by tense silence for a few minutes before he scoffs.

“Of course, I won’t have her killed. Especially not after discussing it in front of the three of you idiots.” Shaking his head, he stalks over to the drink cart and pours himself a scotch. He takes a long drink before turning back to us. “The four of you had one job—get rid of Hadley. You failed. Now, to make up for your failure, you will make sure that you become her consorts. We will figure out a way to control that bitch.”

My hands clench as I bite down on my cheek to keep from telling him to fuck off like I want. I want to tell him to go take a leap off the roof, to tell him to stay the hell away from Hadley—but I can’t. Because I’m a fucking coward.

I don’t know what he’ll do to us if we attempt to stand up to him any more than we already have. I don’t know if we can take him down yet. Hunter’s magic is stronger than his—hell, all of our magics are stronger than our parents—but he’s trained longer and has better control. We can’t risk failing when it comes to taking down Gabe and Kam. We will only have one shot at this.

So I remain quiet, keeping my thoughts to myself. I can see that Marcos is struggling too, but Hunter is as cool as a cucumber. I find myself glad once more that Kai is with Hadley, happy that he’s not here struggling alongside us.

“Of course, Father. Whatever you need from us—of course we’ll do it. We live to serve.”

I can hear the sarcasm under his words, and I think Gabe might detect it as well when his eyes narrow in on Hunter once more. Finally, he nods before turning to Kam.

“Anything to add?”

“I’m not sure that marrying the boys off to the queen will get us what we want.”

My eyes go wide as I glance between the two men. Maybe we won’t have to worry about taking down both of them. Maybe they’ll take care of one another for us. Because there’s no way that Gabe is going to allow Kam to get away with questioning him. Hunter? Sure, they’re family. But anyone else? It would help us out if Gabe took care of Kam so that we don’t have to.

But Gabe just chuckles as he goes to pour another drink, handing it to Kam. “Don’t you worry, I have a plan. As long as the boys don’t fail us again. Because I won’t be so forgiving if you fail us again. Especially after you took something that belonged to me.”

Marcos opens his mouth to argue with Gabe, but I slam my elbow into his side. We don’t have to agree with him or actually do what he wants, but we need to let him think we will. Otherwise, I’m not sure that we’ll make it out of this room—heirs or not.

“Of course, Gabe. We won’t let you down.”

Gabe smirks. “At least one of you has some common sense.”

When he turns away from us, I know that he’s dismissed us. Hunter seems to come to the same conclusion as he stands and heads over to us. Marcos opens his mouth to speak, but Hunter gives a sharp shake of his head.

“Later.”

I follow my friends out, glancing over my shoulder to find Gabe and Kam with their heads bent together, devilish smiles on their faces. Shivering, genuine fear rushes through me. I think we might have been underestimating the two of them and their desire for more power. All I can do is hope that we can stop them and keep Hadley safe.

Otherwise, I think we and everyone in Sorlphi are screwed.

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