Page 10 of Reign By Wrath

“Winter sent one to me too. I never told Mom about it. In it, she told me everything.”

It was impossible to read his face as he took that in. “You didn’t tell your mother because you decided from the moment you read the letter to take them out one by one. You didn’t want her to suspect you when they turned up dead.”

He said it so plainly, I flinched. “So what if I did? They took the life of the best person in the world. They deserved everything they had coming to them.”

“I’m not criticizing, sweetheart. Just the opposite. I’m so proud of you, I want to dress down my father again for suggesting I get a paternity test. You are definitely my daughter.”

“You’re proud of me? I basically took a hit out on Owen. I tortured Wesley. I got Ashton Scott stabbed.”

“Well, yes,” he said, inclining his head. “You went easy on them, but that’s to be expected. You’re new at this.”

If there was something to say in response to his casual dismissal of murder and mayhem, I didn’t know it.

“I’ve shocked you,” he said. “Understandable because I haven’t gotten to the end of the story. What did I do to get the Rogues’ attention? I hunted them down, Luna.

“I did what my father, his father, and his father’s father tried to do for decades. I found every Rogue and either took over their rackets or shut them down. Within two years, there wasn’t a single one who wasn’t owned... by me.”

“But how could you do that? How could that be possible?”

“Money, deception, favors, bribes, informants. Whatever it took. You see, I wasn’t looking to be one of the Rogues. My goal was always to make the organizationmyorganization. The thing about Burkhardts is we’re not joiners—”

“We’re leaders.” I didn’t realize I choseweuntil it was already out of my mouth. “You’re the leader of the Rogues.”

“I am,” he said, the picture of nonchalance. “Over the years, I’ve made many changes to the organization. I got us out of the kind of vile businesses that founded us and brought order to a disjointed group of felons used to doing what they wanted, whenever they wanted. There was one such change that brought us where we are now, Luna. In this room.”

“What was it?”

“The Dumont brothers told you about their mother, yes?”

I nodded.

“What they may not know is that her killer taunted Sasha and Leon for months before they struck. They led them on a chase of random attacks and twisted clues that led to exactly what they wanted. That day, Leon thought he was cornering them—when it was actually a trap to get him out of his home. The plan all along was to kill his family.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, bearing the pain for my boys. “That’s awful.”

“It is awful. It’s even more awful that Leon and Sasha went through all of it alone. I don’t know if I could’ve made a difference to the outcome. Saved those boys from losing their mother. But I would’ve tried.

“As it was, all I could do for my friend was create a new system of protection for the members and, most importantly, for their kids. I hired people like Vanna O’Rourke to take an active, instead of passive, approach to tracking down threats against us before they get close. And if that failed, I told the Rogues to hang a purple flag. Anywhere and everywhere, hang the flag and the organization will know you’re in trouble. Help will come.”

“Everleigh made me hang the flag to get you to come,” I said, putting it together. “But I still don’t understand why it had to be me. Or Winter. That monster could’ve done it whenever she wanted.”

“She could, and...” He frowned. “I’ll bet anything she has. Over the years, we’ve had a few false flags in Regalia. The purple flag was hung, but when one of the members investigated, no one was in danger or knew a thing about it. Might very well have been her attempt to lure me out.

“It didn’t work because I never answer the call myself. I value my members, but they’re all a bunch of fucking criminals.”

I barked a laugh, startling me.

“The king who blindly comes running when summoned will have a short reign.”

“It made sense that you didn’t. You avoided exactly what she was trying to do—lure you into a trap. But because that didn’t work...” My voice faltered under my swimming eyes.

“She went after the people I wouldn’t ignore. If my daughters hung the flag, asking for my help”—Alistair knelt in front of me, taking my hand—“I’d come running even if I knew it was a trap.”

“But Winter wouldn’t do it.” I squeezed his hand unconsciously. “She wouldn’t hand you over to that psychotic bitch just to save herself. I knew Winter was protecting our family. In the end, she was stronger than Everleigh. Stronger than Levi. Stronger than Ashton. She never gave in and let them force her to do something she knew was wrong. She beat them,” I whispered. “It was me who failed.”

“You didn’t know.” He wiped a stray tear from my cheek. “Your mother and I thought we were protecting you. Me staying out of your lives. Her keeping the secret of who I am and what I did. It was all to protect you from my enemies, but all it did was leave you both vulnerable. The only one who failed is me.”

I shook myself, letting go of his hand. This wasn’t the time for a father-daughter bonding moment. I still needed an answer to the most important question. “All this to get revenge for Everton Starling. Why? What happened to him?”

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