Page 44 of Cruel Secrets

Skyla brushesby me as I open the front door three hours later. “I’m going to go talk to Gia. You have fun with the two of them. They’ve done nothing but bicker since we started the drive up here.”

Fucking perfect.

Sean and Aiden both stand near the driveway. I jerk my chin toward the backyard and they both take off. I stuff my feet into a pair of boots before following after them, leaves crunching beneath my feet.

“Let’s go sit by the river.” I pull two cans of beer from the pockets of my hoodie and hand them out.

Aiden pops the top on the can and heads for the dock. “We’re having more problems with Noah.”

I follow behind him with Sean, hands stuffed in my pockets. “It’s so bad you couldn’t tell me what’s happening on the phone? You know it’s a risk for the three of you to be here.”

“Could’ve brought the whole family.” Aiden shrugs as we step onto the dock, sitting in the heavy wooden chairs at the end.

Sean snorts. “You’re not that stupid, even if you did want to come out here.”

My spine stiffens, but I do my best to remain neutral. “You didn’t think it was worth a trip out here?”

“I think by now we have to assume that Noah has people working for him that are hidden among us, which means that most of what we’re saying is probably getting back to him in some way or the other.” Sean downs some of his beer, setting the can to the side.

The breeze blows harder, an icy chill to the air.

Aiden looks out at the water. “It’s not long before there’s going to be snow on the ground. Should keep people from coming up here and looking for you.”

I study him for a minute, trying to figure out why he would want to come up here when nobody else around him thinks it’s necessary.

Does he suspect the truth about Bianca?

As of right now, he knows that there’s a child, but he doesn’t know that Bianca is my child. Would he come up here if he knew and wait to trap me in a lie?

Sean clears his throat, nestling deeper into the collar of his coat as the wind picks up. “You’re going to have to stay at the safe house with Gia for longer than initially planned.”

The best fucking news I’ve heard all day.

I shift, sitting taller and glancing between the two of them. “What happened?”

They exchange a look, neither one of them acting like they’re going to be the first to speak.

Finally, Aiden shifts in his seat. “Noah sent a group of people to attack an incoming shipment. Between that and him finding you at the other safe house, we know that there’s at least one rat, but we still haven’t been able to find them.”

“And you can’t risk killing everyone.” I press my fingers to my temples, trying to stave off the headache already forming. “Do you think he’s going to meet you for negotiations after this?”

Aiden shakes his head. “I don’t think he ever had any intention of meeting with us, but I’m going to keep trying. I don’t want to have to kill more people until there’s no other choice.”

Sean rolls his eyes. “He’s not leaving us much of a choice and you know it. Sooner or later, we’re going to have to kill him before he kills us, and I think we’re running out of time with how long we can wait.”

“I know.” Aiden shifts to the side. “There’s nothing I would love more than to destroy that fucker and his entire family, but this is about preserving ours.”

Which explains why you’re obsessive about them.

Though I don’t say it aloud, I’m thinking about it. I want to call him out, to tell him that I can see him slipping, but maybe it’s not that bad yet.

Maybe he’s just trying to pull himself together.

Sean rubs his hands together, trying to find warmth within the icy wind starting to dart through the trees. “It’s going to come to a full-blown war, and you know that. I think we should bring the fight to them before they have a chance to get to us.”

“You know, we don’t have to go to war.” I nearly choke on the words, already thinking about what this would do to Bianca.

She’s still a baby now, but what would happen when she grew up to find out one side of the family killed the other?

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