Page 414 of Filthy Elites

“Yeah.” I looked at each of them, the events and emotions of the past few days crashing over me with a dizzying mix of revulsion and regret. “We’ve been so awful to each other.”

“We instigated it,” Lucan said with a wince. “We were trying to come down on you hard from the second we found out you’d shown up. If we’d had any idea—”

“You thought you were defending your family,” I said. Could I really blame them for that when I’d come here for that exact reason myself? I understood better than they could have realized.

Every vicious moment made perfect sense. I couldn’t summon the slightest flicker of anger over it, especially not when the horror at their actions was written so clearly on their faces.

We’d both been fucked over by a woman who was years out of the picture. I’d have liked to punch Holly in her immaculate face given the chance.

Darius growled under his breath. “That isn’t an excuse. Weknewyou—we should have realized it couldn’t be true. All these fucking years…” He held my gaze, the mix of apology and heat in his eyes making my pulse wobble. “Those years should have been better. They should have been more.”

What would my life have been like if their stepmom hadn’t destroyed our fledgling romance right after it’d really begun? Would Dad have decided to solidify the alliance between the Nobles and the Hell Kickers by arranging a marriage with one of the brothers after all?

Somehow I couldn’t help suspecting he’d still have decided he had more to gain by reeling in Clyde. My preferences had never been a factor, that was for sure.

But now… now we knew. The vibe in the room had changed as the truth had spilled out. I was abruptly, starkly aware that my main reason for holding these guys at arm’s length, for teasing our mutual attraction but resisting fully giving in to it, no longer applied.

But only the main reason. And it wasn’t even the main reason I’d come.

It seemed my mind wasn’t the only one that’d slid in that direction. Lucan cleared his throat. “Is that why you came here? To get revenge for what you thought we’d done to you?”

At his words, the tentative relief that’d started to soften the tension inside me fell away. My gut sank.

They’d just found out they were wrong about me spying back when I was sixteen. But Ihadcome to spy this time.

How could I tell them that? Somehow it’d feel like even more of a betrayal, even though I was more than justified after the crap their people had pulled. I wasn’t even totally sure they didn’t know about their dad’s schemes.

They hadn’t been monsters to me seven years ago after all, but I hadn’t seen them in all that time. I didn’t really know what kind of men they were these days, other than very capable of vengeance when they felt they’d been wronged.

“Maybe a little bit,” I said, offering up as much of the truth as I felt I safely could. “My brother did kick me out of our home. I needed to go somewhere. I didn’t have a whole lot of options.”

Darius’s expression had gotten more intense. “You said something when we talked earlier—about us going to war against the Nobles. What was that about?”

Did he really have no idea, or was he testing me to see howIknew?

“I’ve been listening around the house,” I admitted, raising my chin as if daring them to take issue with it. “It’s obvious everyone here isn’t happy about the Nobles. I wanted to make sure I’m actually safe here. I’ve overheard some things… like your dad and that guy who’s hanging around him a lot, Griffin, talking about taking over the Noble-run business here in New York.”

Felix snorted as if he thought that idea was absurd.

Lucan’s brow furrowed. “I could see them considering the possibility—”

“No,” I broke in. “It’d already happened, from what they said.” No need to mention that I’d gone out to see for myself, spying on the Hell Kickers outside this house too.

“Bullshit,” Darius said. “Dad wouldn’t take a step like that without involving us at all.”

“Without involving you, you mean,” Felix said wryly.

I paused and decided it worked in my favor to reveal one more tidbit. My gaze slid to Darius. “I think Griffin’s been trying to get between you and your dad. I heard him saying something about how he’d tried to talk to you about helping with the takeover and you blew him off. But obviously if you didn’t even know they were planning it, that was a lie.”

Fury flashed in Darius’s eyes. “Of course it’s a fucking lie. That prick. Who the hell does he think he is?”

Lucan’s voice came out quiet but even. “He thinks he’s someone who’s gotten Dad’s ear more than we have it—and it seems like he’s right about that. We’ve just assumed… I didn’t realize he’d ingratiated himself so much. Maybe we should have been reaching out to Dad more.”

“Fawning over him,” Felix said with a hint of a sneer. “We shouldn’t need to butter him up. We’refamily. I know I haven’t done much for the business, but you and Darius have earned your spots. He shouldn’t be shunting you aside over some asshole who puffs up his ego.”

“But that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t,” Darius said grimly. “I should have stayed more on top of things.Fuck.”

I wavered. They hadn’t known about Marcel making plans for war—but did that mean they also had no idea that the deal gone sour had been a setup? They might be hiding that from me just like I was hiding my real purpose here from them.

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