Page 141 of Silent Vendetta (Vendetta Duet)

He nodded. “It was good working with you, Hunter. I’m glad you got the closure you were seeking, but I’m sorry it came with such an”—he looked at the grave—“unfortunate ending.”

Hunter glanced at his brothers, who stood together. “Maybe something else good can come from this.” His voice was quiet, speaking more to himself than us, I think. “I’ll be right back.”

CHAPTER74

Hunter

Grayson, Jace, Bryson, and I stood near our uncle’s grave.

I hated that we stood in silence for a bit, struggling for words. Because it wasn’t the grief stealing them from us; it was because in many ways, after Mom’s death, we had grown apart, into strangers. And not just because of things like Grayson’s mysterious absences or my secrets.

Hell, I got the vibe we all had secrets from each other.

But secrets were one thing.

Being emotional strangers at a time like this accentuated just how distant we were on the daily.

I guess over the past few weeks I’d confided in Grayson more—about my feelings for Luna. That was something, at least. A step in the right direction. But one that would vanish like a fog if we didn’t push ourselves to keep moving forward.

And it didn’t include my other brothers.

It was time we changed that—we were all we had.

“First our parents,” I said. “Now our uncle.”

“I can’t believe he’s the one that had Dad killed.” Grayson clenched his fists.

“And then he tried to step in like the noble father figure.” Jace shoved his hands into his pockets.

“I’ve been replaying the last few years in my mind,” Bryson said. “And something struck me. He was supposedly trying to be a father figure to us, but when Mom died, she had one wish: that we would never grow apart. Yet every time we turned around, Alexander was doing the opposite of trying to keep us together.”

“He inserted himself into our conversations with each other,” Jace agreed.

“And started taking us out of the house to supposedly get our mind off things, but he’d only take one of us out at a time,” Bryson said.

“Making him the sole person we leaned on. Instead of each other,” Jace added.

“He was too busy working on the Lockwood image to actually care if we stayed a family unit.” Grayson glared at the grave.

“Maybe he didn’t want us to be close,” Jace suggested. “Gave him more power over each of us. He had a huge secret to protect. Keeping us apart would make us easier to control.”

“Easier to influence,” Grayson agreed.

“And we let him do it,” I said. “We broke our promise to Mom.”

My throat swelled at our failure. While we hadn’t avoided each other per se, I wouldn’t count what we had as a close relationship, either.

“Maybe it’s about time we put in an effort to start keeping that promise,” I said.

We could step up for each other, and it would be cool to get to know my brothers more.

My brothers’ eyes swept over each other’s faces, and after a solemn silence, all three of them nodded in agreement.

CHAPTER75

Hunter

“You’re not going to believe my first case.”

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