Page 4 of Judgment Day

Lincoln and I had a history, and it all boiled down to this: He couldn’t save his woman from his father, so I did. Twice. She was broken, and I put her back together. Twice. Then I brought her back to him, where she belonged. And instead of athank you, I got afuck you. But that was Lincoln, rough edges and hard lines.

I walked over to the bar cabinet and poured myself another drink. Then I broke the silence. “Have a seat,” I said as I made my way back to the middle of the room, my eyes locked on Lincoln’s.

He didn’t move.

I stopped behind where Caspian sat on the sofa.

“As soon as Liam gets here, we can wrap this up and you can all get on a plane and go back to whatever you were doing.”

“My wife.” Lincoln’s eyes sparked as one corner of his mouth curled in a smirk. “I was doing my wife.”

If he was trying to be coy, he missed the mark. Technically, she was stillmywife.

Lyric Matthews no longer existed, and Lauren Winchester was still Lauren Van Doren in the eyes of the world. And the law. Six months ago, Lincoln sped off with her in Caspian’s boat. Four days ago, they had a makeshift ceremony with handfasting and blood vows—right after we discovered the location origin of the Crimson Sin website. I wasn’t invited. Then again, I knew I wouldn’t be. Lincoln and I were civil for Lyric’s sake and for the good of the Brotherhood, but we were far fromfriends.

He needed her. In his own sordid way, he loved her. Nothing could ever convince me he deserved her. But she loved him, and that was enough for me to keep my mouth shut and let him have his moment.

Lincoln’s face twisted into a hard glare. “Sorry, we bypassed tradition and didn’t invite you all to the honeymoon. Lyric preferred to celebratewithoutan audience this time.”

My hands clenched the glass until my knuckles turned white. My heart thrashed in my chest at the memory of that night—the night the Brotherhood took a piece of my soul and Lyric’s. Until that moment, I’d never betrayed Sadie with another woman. It had only been my hand, my cock, and her memory. Now, here Lincoln was, drudging up pain like a thief in a graveyard.

“Yeah. She told me all about that,” he continued. “How you let my own fucking dad watch you rape her.” His tongue flattened against his teeth as he looked at Caspian. “Hopefully, that’s the first fucked-up ritual to go once we take over.”

I focused on my breathing as I narrowed my eyes. “Say that word again, and it will be the last time you open your mouth.”

“Ra—”

Chandler jumped up and clapped a hand over Lincoln’s mouth. “I don’t think he’s kidding.”

I wasn’t.

I downed the rest of my whiskey, then let out a deep breath. Where the fuck was Liam? I was ready to get this over with so that Lincoln could get the fuck out of my house.

I clapped a hand on Caspian’s shoulder from behind. “The Tribunal knows you’re alive. It’s only a matter of time before the rest of the Brotherhood knows, too.” I walked around to stand between the two sofas and focused on Caspian. “It’s time for you to take your place at the head of the table.”

His jaw flexed. “Why can’t you do it?”

“It’s not my birthright.” I shoved my hand through my hair, then cupped the back of my neck, frustrated. “You are all new to the Brotherhood. I was born into it, bred to uphold its traditions.”My father was nothing like yours, I wanted to say but didn’t. I paused and dropped my hand as I glanced at Lincoln. “Mostof the traditions. I don’t believe in raping women or marrying them off against their will.” I steeled my spine and tugged at the cuff of my shirt. “I do believe we need aunified—” Another glare at Lincoln. “—and organized system of authority.”

My father believed that, too. He preached it, instilled it within me.

And then I was sent away, and he died.

“A Donahue founded the society. A Donahue sits at the head of the Tribunal. That’s the way it’s always been.” I wasn’t sure the members would accept it any other way. They had until now, but that was only because they thought the bloodline had ended. Once they found out Caspian was alive, they would expect him to lead. We didn’t fuck with the hierarchy.

“I hear you, man. I do. But out of all the people in this room, you’ve earned the right to do this. They took your girl, your family, your freedom. If anyone deserves revenge, it’s you.” He downed the rest of his whiskey, then set the glass on an end table. “Listen, if you want to burn this whole goddamn thing down, then stand on the ashes, I’ll hand you the match.” He met my gaze. “And if you want to rebuild, then okay. This is your show.Yourun it. Birthright be damned.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but he held a finger up as his eyes shot to his lap. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Liam,” he said after swiping his finger across the screen.

I stepped forward and tucked my hands into the pockets of my dark gray dress pants. We all watched and waited while Caspian listened to whatever it was that Liam was saying.

Caspian cut me a look. “I thought we were all going together.”

Silence.

“Fine. We’ll meet you there,” Caspian said, then set his phone on the couch cushion. “He’s going straight to Edinburgh.”

Winston had called an emergency Brotherhood meeting. I’d known this was coming since the day Liam burned down the cottage in Ayelswick. That was why I called them all here now. It was why I’d asked Liam to get me information from his father’s study, meet us here, then we were going to that meeting. Together. And he’d changed the plan.

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