“We had nothing to do with it,” Kai says, stepping forward.
“That’s bullshit, and we all know it,” I tell him. “I practically grew up around you guys. I know how this shit works. You scared them off on Friday, and so they came with the whole fucking calvary on Saturday. The question is; why didn’t you stop it then?”
“Babe …” Sebastian says, the guilt spread far and wide over his face.
“No, don’t ‘babe’ me. I don’t need your excuses because I already know the truth. It was too many for the three of you to go up against, so you asked Nic to use the Widows, and he said no, didn’t he?”
The boys glance at each other before Eli finally nods. “I’m sorry, O. We really fucking tried but he said that you’d made your decision, and to let you do your thing.”
I turn back to the water and kick my foot out, watching as the water sprays across the surface. “That’s fucking bullshit,” I tell them.
“You don’t get it,” Kai says. “Nic feels like shit. He knows he fucked up, and if you want to bring the Wolves in to fight your battles, then he’s prepared to face the firing squad.”
I shake my head. “You don’t fucking get it,” I tell them. “It’s not just Nic that they’re going to take down. They’re fucking planning on wiping out the whole Widows name.”
“What?” Sebastian says, looking at the other two boys before grabbing my arm and spinning me around. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
I cringe, feeling as though I could throw up. “I’m not supposed to tell you. I’m a Wolf now.”
Kai steals my attention. “I don’t give a fuck who you belong to. You’re our sister first. What’s happening?”
I drop down into the water and bring my knees up to my chest, curling my arms around myself and trying to find some sort of comfort there. “I fucked up,” I tell them all. “You were right. I should have come to you guys first, instead of trying to stand against you, but I knew deep down that you couldn’t go against Nic. He’s too strong, he has too much power—”
“Ocean, what’s going down?” Sebastian demands, crouching down to meet my eyes. “What did you do?”
I drop my eyes, looking down at my hands, far too ashamed with myself. “Russo is planning an attack. It’s not just war but a full-on extermination. They’re planning a fucking ambush.”
Panic rises in all of their eyes. “When?” Eli snaps.
I press my lips into a hard line, feeling as though I'm only moments from throwing up into the lake beside me. “He doesn’t know yet. He’s been calling in all the boys and gathering ammunition. He doesn’t have enough yet, which is why they haven’t made their move, but I doubt it’ll take a guy like Russo long to get what he needs.”
Sebastian drops to his ass, staring out at the water as Eli begins pacing, his hands raking through his hair as he starts trying to put together a plan. Kai just stares at me as though I'm a stranger, and it kills me the most.
I look at Sebastian and meet his horrified stare. “I don't know how to fix it,” I whisper. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Run,” he tells me, his voice flat and void of all emotion. “If this goes down, Nic will kill you, but if it doesn’t, and Russo finds out that you squealed on Wolf business, you’re just as dead. You know how this world works. The Wolves won’t protect you like we would have.”
My head falls into my hands as my tears drop into the cold water around my waist, feeling absolutely helpless, and for the first time, I find myself doubting his words. Colton had told me that when they showed up at his place to tell him where I was, none of them were prepared to go with him to come and get me, not that it would have helped, but the boys I once knew would have walked through fire just to get to me.
We all sit in silence, lost in our own thoughts until Eli walks up behind me and scoops me out of the water. He walks back to a small bench and takes a seat, putting me down beside him. “I feel like we’ve let you down,” he tells me, glancing up to look at the boys who are blatantly listening in on our conversation. “We should have known about Nic and your dad. Maybe we could have done something to stop it. He should have known that stepping against your father would start a war.”
“I don’t know,” I tell him. “I always used to be able to read Nic so easily. I knew what he did … what you all did. You never hid that from me, but my father? I never thought he was capable of hurting me like that. When it happened and Nic held me, I never dreamed that I was standing in the arms of my father's killer. And right now, I can't distinguish between what hurts more; his betrayal or the fact that my father is gone.”