Page 133 of Love & Heart Braking

“If our theory is true, then we have them,” Devereaux said grimly.

“Three of them,” Gug grunted. “The Cinereses, Doquus, and Opifis.”

Incorrect. I glanced up. “The Doquus aren’t aligned with the Cinereses. If the Cinereses and Opifis are involved, then so are the Arbintos. If the Doquus are involved, it will be on the Ventrams’ orders, and that would mean the Utatios are also in this. And if two of the four top families have stakes in creating a Nepos-wide addiction to Shade…”

“Then the others are too,” Devereaux finished.

Gug gaped at me. “What did you just say?”

“What part?”

“About the alliances in the twelve.”

“Each of the top four have two other families they ally with…” I trailed off, glancing around. “Is this news?”

Gug shot to her feet. “That’s the link I’ve been missing.” She ran to the dresser in Devereaux’s room which was littered with papers.

Apparently that was news.

“Where to now?” Lerome asked. “This is huge. We can’t screw it up.”

Devereaux gripped the packet, careful not to spill the gray, powdery contents. “We collect more food.”

“And take them to Sol’s guy?” I asked.

“No, I’ll be able to smell the blend in food now I’ve scented the original packet.”

Maligni looked at me. “What happens after that?”

Was I the actual leader now? I’d preferred faking it. “We can’t just take down four of them. We’ve known that from the start. We need to prove how all twelve families are linked in.”

Devereaux grabbed his notebook. “Let’s start with the one of the top four. The Hucses. How could they be involved?”

That one was a no-brainer.

Lerome answered for all of us. “They use their siren voice.”

“Get evidence of abuse of power.” Devereaux jotted next to their name.

“The Ventrams,” I mused. “Landowners. Earth guardians.”

Devereaux grunted. “Some of the Opifis’ factories we just raided are on land leased from the Ventrams.”

Maligni’s voice was tight with the excitement. “Can you get evidence of that?”

“Yes. That’s simple enough. What we really need is evidence of their intent to lease the land for the purposes of the Opifis’ manufacturing Shade.”

Dang. “That makes things harder. What about the Dethnels?”

“Criminal network to distribute the drug,” Devereaux answered again. “We’ve booked plenty of descendants dealing Shade already, but we don’t have anything on those at the top. Those working with the Dethnels are always tight-lipped.”

“Let’s go through the smaller families then,” Lerome said. “The Plorexes.”

“Transportation,” Maligni replied.

I smiled, and Lerome did the same. The twelve had branded themselves so successfully that they were making our job easier.

Devereaux murmured as he wrote, “Transporting Shade. Evidence needed. That might be easier to get evidence for.”

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