Page 70 of Kings & Carnage

"But my family isn't the only family responsible," Neo said.

My heart pounded in my chest like a war drum. After this, the target on our backs would be bigger than ever.

And Roberto wouldn't be the only one aiming for it.

Neo looked at the crowd, his gaze settling on the leaders of every house but the Queens.

Alexa Petrov was a massive bitch but her father was the head of the Russian family, and the other Queens had loyalties of their own. In this game, they would have to work with the Rooks, Knights, and Saints.

"There is at least one member of every family represented here who’s been party to the disappearance of Emma and the other girls." Neo let that sink in for a minute before he continued. "Take that in. Someone in your families has been kidnapping girls up here, probably killing them, and they've been doing it for years.”

"Yo, this is bullshit," one of the Saints shouted. "I don't give a fuck who you are, you keep talking shit about our families you're going to be the one who disappears.”

I held my breath, half expecting Neo to lose his shit. Instead, he nodded slowly, his gaze burning with conviction.

"You're with the Rojas family out of Columbia, right?” Neo asked the guy who'd spoken.

He nodded and held up two fingers in a peace sign. "Rojas forever.”

His buddies jostled him good-naturedly before Neo spoke again.

"Your shit is held under Neon right?" Neo asked. "All your big shit anyway.”

The guy looked stricken. “So?"

The fake companies set up by each of the families weren't common knowledge, but it hadn't been difficult to connect the dots once we knew what we were looking for.

"Before the fire that killed Dean Giordana, there were four cabins in the woods surrounding Aventine," Neo said. “We have reason to believe the missing girls were taken there before they were killed. The one that burned down was owned by the Alinari family. The other three are owned by Neon Corporation, Global Limited, and RAA Holdings.”

The last couple words in his sentence were drowned out by the commotion as everyone realized that he was implicating their families in the disappearance of the girls.

Neo held up a hand to quiet everyone. When that didn't work, Oscar let out a piercing whistle.

"Shut the fuck up!" Oscar shouted.

"I don't know why this would be so hard to believe given all the other shit our families are into," Neo said. "But I figured it would be a hard sell, so Rock is going to hand you a map of the cabins.”

Rock reached into his parka and removed a roll of papers held together by a rubber band.

"Each of the cabins are labeled with the names of the recorded owners, all of which are shell companies owned by our families," Neo said. "I don't know what the fuck has been going on up here, but I can take a guess, and even with all the shady shit that's a part of our business, I don't want any part of kidnapping and murdering girls. I'm hoping you don't either.”

"This doesn't prove anything," one of the Knights said, looking up from the piece of paper Rock had given him.

"No," Neo said. "The proof is up to you. And that brings me to game number four.”

"I'm so confused," Erin said. "What is he saying?”

Claire rolled her eyes. “He's saying someone in all of our families is involved in the disappearance of the missing girls." She looked at me. "You figured it out because of what I said about Liam working for RAA, didn't you?”

I nodded. "Sorry I couldn't tell you sooner. I wanted to check my theory with the Kings and then we were worried word would get out before we could give everyone the details.”

She reached for my hand and looked at me, her eyes full of sympathy. "Emma… I'm so sorry, Willa.”

I had to force air into my lungs against the crush of grief that threatened to collapse them.

Deep down, I'd always known something terrible had happened to Emma, but there had always been a sliver of hope that it was something else. Maybe she'd disappeared on her own after all, like my mom said. Or maybe she'd wandered off a cliff on her way back to Bellepoint.

It wasn’t that I loved either of those possibilities, but somehow they’d seemed less horrific than the possibility that someone had taken her.

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