Page 106 of Chaos Kills

“I don’t care.” She immediately halts and spins around, her dark hair hitting her in the face, but it doesn’t stop her from raising her chin and catching my eyes. “He’s not here. He’s not running anything because he can’t. He’s dead.I’mthe one who has to make all the decisions for my family.I’mthe one who has to make sure they’re taken care of.”

I nod. “I know.”

“Youdon’tknow. I’ve been forced into a marriage to a man who won’t even speak a whole sentence to me. Fuck that I don’t know him or what he’s fully capable of, but I got a pretty good idea when Reeve told me he barged into my house to murder my father.”

“Bay—”

“Pleasestopplaying with me,” she practically begs, wrapping her arms tighter around her body. “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t—” I move for her, and she takes a well-needed step back.

It’s her voice cracking that severs something inside me.

She doesn’t have faith in me.

She shouldn’t.

I’ve done nothing but tell her to back the fuck off, and look where she is now. Even though I didn’t do anything, I’m still linked to the men she was involved with.

However, the reason why she’s here has nothing to do with them now.

I’ll handle Reeve and Torin. I just need her to be on board.

“What are you scared of?” Bay doesn’t look at me. She’s too lost in her own head. Too overwhelmed by everything that’s happening. “What did he do?”

Her blue eyes pilot back to me, but she doesn’t utter a single word to help me here.

Slowly, I take one small step, and she doesn’t counter it. “I know you, Bay Astor. I know how strong and resilient you are. I know more than you think I do. So, what the fuck happened?—”

“Nothinghappened,” she spits out. “Just my father dying and my sisters being here. What did you think that was going to do?”

“Honestly, shit,” I reply wholeheartedly. “That wasn’t my idea. My father was afraid Emilio would use you because you are so blinded with grief and what you’ve got going on. You can believe what you want, but Roger and my father were friends. Why do you think Wharf Bay has always stayed out of the civil war between South Shore and The Landings?”

“Then you know I’m not staying here.

“I do.” She’s not stupid. Bay recognizes all my intel comes from Ozzy.

“So, why am I here?”

“Because you are South Shore.”

She slowly begins to rock her head back and forth. “No. It’s not the same. He’s—it’s gone. Everything is just…” Her jaw trembles, but she refuses to show me she’s capable of crying.

Bay Astor is a warrior. She’s a prideful, little thing who refuses to allow anything or anyone on the outside in.

However, what she doesn’t know is that, if she would’ve let Torin and Reeve in for a little bit longer, she would have.

“I’m not falling for this,” she objects rigidly. “I appreciate what your family has done, but it changes nothing. You don’t trust me, and I don’t trust you. Keep me out of your plan of fucking me over?—”

“I don’t plan on it.” A scoff runs through her whole body, clearly still on the other side of the fence siding with us. “There’s no gain from it, Bay.”

“There would be plenty of gain from it,” she retorts. “My death would soothe Torin?—”

“Your death wouldkillTorin,” I interject right before she glowers at me. “You can look at me like that and call it whatever you want, Little T, but listen to me and listen to me good…you are South Shore. You are my ticket to peace for my family. You are the answer to all my fucking prayers for ending a reign of terror that’s only going to get worse. Because, my sweet little South Shore princess, Emilio will kill you. Especially when you don’t fall in line with all his plans.”

“I won’t be here,” she mutters, holding my stare with glossy blues.

“And you don’t think he’ll look for you?”

“I’ll change my name. All of ours.”

---