Page 168 of Tempting Little Thief

A pinch of embarrassment heats my chest. I might not have mentioned this exact part to my friends, not for any reason other than it was unnecessary. So, as I undo the three buttons of my blazer and allow it to slide down over my shoulders, Alto stepping up behind me to ease it off my arms to keep it from falling to the floor, I try not to stiffen or cringe or to have any other reaction. Especially not when my father gripsmy sleeve at the hem near the shoulder and shreds it all the way down to my wrist.

His eyes lock on the hand-shaped bruise there and his nostrils flare. It’s momentary, the smallest sign of a break in his ever-present armor, and then his eyes snap over my head. I can only assume he looks to Damiano, perhaps putting the blame on him, but he isn’t my guard. I’m not his responsibility. My father likely sees it as otherwise since the man was bold enough to ask for my hand, knowing he would be turned down exactly as he was. This only cements my father’s decision to deny his request further.

I know instantly Sai will be reamed for this, but it’s my father’s own fault he wasn’t there watching in the wings. He’s been pulling him from what Sai has said.

My every step has been watched; my dad is the one who told me this. That’s how Otto knew where I was going and when I was leaving that night in time to stop me.

The others quietly slip from the room, the air inside it shifting, and then it’s only Revenaws left. My father, my sister, and me.

Our father wastes not a moment of our time.

“The boy will die,” he promises.

Uncertainty washes over me. “Dad—”

“The boy,” he booms, cutting me off, attention still locked on my skin. “Will die.”

I swallow the words locked in my throat because a warning of what that could start isn’t one he needs. He knows good and well what killing the son of a council member could cause. In his mind though, it wouldn’t be murder.

It would be a reprimand, the only kind he’s capable of.

Finally, his eyes come up to meet mine, a scary kind of hardness within them, and he gives the smallest of nods. “Finish today’s classes, find your sister, and together, walk to my car. I will be parked where Sai is normally parked, and we will head home as one.”

I know instantly that his comment from the night he forced us to move back into his mansion is now finally coming fullcircle. He said we would speak, and he held off on what he had to say for as long as he could. He can’t anymore.

Which means that I was right.

Otto Henshaw has something on my father, something his son was well aware of, and with him missing, it’s bound to come to light.

Mr. Henshaw undoubtedly believes we’re responsible for his son going missing.

And I think maybe we are …

Bass

My phone beeps in my pocket, so I pull it out, waiting till the very last second to move my eyes to the screen to find the third Brayshaw brother’s name there.

Captain: Raven’s ready to end this. Get here.

My insides fucking flip as I hold my screen up for Hayze to see, eyes sliding right back to the high glass windows.

“So, this is it, huh?” he asks.

I nod, eyes narrowing on the blond head that appears.

For the last four years, I’ve given my loyalty to the town and family that took me in, even if it was for their own benefit more than mine.

Nah, that ain’t true. It benefited the shit out of me, got me out of trouble, kept me out of juvenile hall, maybe even straight-up prison based on how I maniacally laughed and added a second bullet to a dead man right there for all the cops and firemen and shit to see. But then again, they did bring me because they needed hands, and they like to use the rough street rat ones in Brayshaw. But the puzzle pieces are falling together in this place, so it’s time to make the jump, especially knowing what I do now.

I waited a long fucking time for this.

Maddoc has no idea about the bomb he dropped on me, but then again, maybe he does. Maybe that’s why he told me in the first place about thiscounciland the men who sit on it, about what Mr. Henshaw does. It makes sense now. Unexpected, that’s for damn sure, but a circle is a circle, so I shouldn’t be too surprised.

There’re still some gaps, but I’ll get those filled in …one way or another.

A smirk pulls out my lips, and when I tap the dash, Hayes pulls out and back onto the road, heading back to Brayshaw for what will be the last time as one of theirs.

Things are about to change. The minute I release myself from the family I work for, nothing will be the same.

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