Page 16 of Dark Consequences

Only a handful of our closest men knew about last night’s mission. Each one arguably as close as family to us. If it is one of them, the betrayal will be terrible and the punishment even worse.

“Leo, look into the men,” Dad orders his brother and waits for him to nod before looking at me. “This girl and child you took from Xiao. Is it true she’s his wife and the girl their daughter?”

“She’s not his wife, but the girl is their daughter.”

“You’re certain?”

“I am, and I think it’s safe to say she hates the man.”

“What makes you think that?” Dad asks.

“He was abusing her.”

“Even husbands abuse their wives,” Leo reminds the room solemnly. “She could be lying. You could have brought a snake into your home.”

I turn a dark look to my uncle, not caring much for his tone or implication. “Then, it’s a good thing it’s my home.”

Uncle Leo turns to Dad, gesturing to me with a hand. “Dante, we know nothing about this girl. She could be a spy planted by Xiao himself. Why else would he have kept her around for so long? You should throw her into—”

Dad holds his hand up to silence his brother. Uncle Leo does begrudgingly with a frown. He turns to me, and I meet his identical light hazel eyes, a strong family trait we all share. “What has she said to you?”

“She said that he is nothing but a narcissistic man who enjoys raping and abusing women,” I recite her words out loud. “You didn’t see the fear in her eyes, Dad. She genuinely hates him and has agreed to help in any way she can to take him down.”

“How exactly does she expect to do that?” he asks.

“She said he’ll come for them.”

“And when he does, we’ll be ready,” Michael adds, having already heard the plan on the ride over. “We’ll finally get rid of this rat.”

“Do you think maybe she was trafficked?” Dominic tosses out the idea. “Some girl he got pregnant and then kept around for some reason?”

“If she is, then that would explain why we knew nothing about her,” I add bitterly. “In all our research, neither of their names came up.”

“Okay, fine. If everything she says is true, what does she want in return?” Leo asks with an edge of challenge lacing his tone. “What do we do with her when Xiao is gone?”

“I offered to help her and Mei start a new life once Xiao is dead,” I answer his challenge with a steel look not to fuck with me.

Dad releases a hard breath before pushing back from his desk and standing. He rubs his eyes and runs a hand down his tired face. “Alright. Bring Lily and Mei here to the house. We can guard her better here. If Xiao doesn’t already know we have them, we need to let it leak and—”

“No. She stays with me.”

Dad swings his gaze to me. “And why is that, exactly?”

I struggle to come up with an answer, and my eyes flick to my brother for help. He sees my plea and glances at his phone like he’s just received a message.

“Rose says Lily won’t talk to her.” Michael glances at me briefly, and I know right away that’s a lie. “She says she’ll only talk to Raphael.”

Dad’s lips form a tight line, revealing his annoyance, but he doesn’t push the issue. “Fine. Do what you can, Raphael, but make it quick. Something tells me that Xiao won’t take kindly to us having them, and he will retaliate. Soon.”

The elevator opens to the foyer of my penthouse. Except for the hum of a television show playing, it’s quiet inside. When we round the corner, I immediately see why. Rose rests on the couch with Liam fast asleep on her chest.

And they’re alone.

“Hey, where’s Lily and Mei?” I quietly ask, aware of the sleeping baby.

Rose turns her head to look at us, her face breaking into a huge smile when she sees Michael. He leans over the couch to plant a kiss on her lips.

“Missed you,” she whispers, reaching up to run her fingers up his face and into his hair before tugging him back down for another kiss.

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