“He’s the reason we left Faulkner,” Devlin says.
“Which is the reason for all of this,” Harper says. “The reason your brothers are all fucked beyond repair, and the streets are running blue with this fucking Alice in Wonderland shit.”
“He wouldn’t pay anyone who tried to help find you,” Colt says. “Our family paid them off so they’d stop looking because we hoped you were out there alive, and you’d live in peace if they stopped trying to find you. We knew he’d kill you both if he found you.”
“You knew we were alive?” Crystal asks.
“No,” Colt admits. “Preston never gave up, but I figured you would’ve come back if you were alive. But it doesn’t change what your dad did. Our family is in ruins, and for what? Because our dads threw yours out of a party twenty-five years ago?”
“Or because Crystal and Devlin left,” Harper says quietly. “Maybe he didn’t want you found, either.”
I stare at her, hating her for voicing the thought I’ve kept at bay since Crystal stepped out of that car. Everything we’ve done… I did it all for her.
But if she’s alive, we didn’t destroy the Darlings because they took our sister. It’s all for Dad, to keep the Darlings from claiming a part of his business. He knows they have a legitimate claim, and the more profitable Dolce Sweets becomes, the more likely they’ll come to collect. They came up with the first recipe, after all.
Of course it was about that. It’s always business first.
The Darlings didn’t kill my sister or even kidnap her. Dad’s the one who would have sacrificed her that night, framing the Darlings for kidnapping her. If I hadn’t stepped in, she’s the one who would have endured what I did. I would never let him risk her, so I helped him set them up. I paid the price, but he didn’t care. It made no difference to him which of his children he risked, as long as we got the job done.
When it all went wrong, and they found me before the cops, he helped me get revenge. But he never gave me what I needed.
Harper did. She’s the one who found my sister, who brought her back to me.
And Crystal, she’s happily wifed up with fucking Devlin Darling, popping out abominations that mix our blood with theirs. She looks perfectly happy about it, too.
They never hurt her.
We did.
And we hurt them, the family that didn’t do more than fight back when we stepped on their turf. We annihilated them—killed and maimed and drove them to suicide and insane asylums.
It wasn’t because of what their grandfather did, despite what Dad thinks. I could have survived what they did to me. I couldn’t survive losing Crystal, too. That’s what broke me. Dad knew that all along, knew how to use us to his advantage, twist us to fit his sick ambitions, to keep his empire running.
All Devlin did was make my sister fall in love with him. He didn’t use her up and toss her the way I thought he would. I thought he was using her to get to us. But when we were a danger to her, he took her out of harm’s way. He kept her safe—safe from us.
The Darlings aren’t our enemy. They never were.
Dad is.
thirty
Harper Apple
“What are you going to do to him?” Duke asks from the small crowd. Everyone from the parking lot is here, along with DeShaun and Cotton, who must have joined after their swamp expedition. They gape around at the impressive operation—basins and pans, popcorn kettles that must be from the movie theater across the hall, the long stainless-steel tables, catering pans, and other industrial kitchen supplies, all put to good use making drugs.
“We’re going to decide together,” King says. “All of us.”
“We already decided,” Royal says quietly. He’s still standing behind his father, but he’s lowered the gun.
“Not everyone was there then,” King says.
“This isn’t about everyone,” Royal says. “He fucking touched my girl.”
“I think Duke needs to be on that side of the table with him,” I say. “He’s obviously on your dad’s side.”
“What?” Duke protests. “What did I do?”
“Um, you just tried to kill me?”