Page 82 of Cup of Lies

“What’s next?” I ask, stifling a yawn. Having half-ass slept on an uncomfortable pleather hospital couch two nights in a row is catching up with me.

“I have an idea to kill a few birds with one stone,” Koyn says, dark eyes glimmering with excitement. “We’ll need your woman, though.”

Pride fills my chest.

“I’m sure she’ll be happy to help,” I assure him, this time unable to stop the wide yawn that comes out of me. “Sorry, man.”

He clamps a hand on my aching shoulder. “Get some sleep. You’re going to need it. In a few days, we’ll regroup and get this shit in motion.”

I can’t wait.

Because when this is over, my life as a free man can finally begin.

Romy

Two weeks later…

“Dad has gone dark.”

I jerk my head to see Theo frowning at his phone. Caius stiffens slightly, but not enough to alarm Nova, who’s nestled in the crook of his arm, sleeping and sucking on her pacifier.

“Dark how?” Koyn asks, glancing up from his laptop. “I thought you had him convinced you were looking for Caius.”

“I did,” Theo mutters. “I even spoke to him on the phone last night. It seemed like everything was fine with him.”

I rub at the ache in my temple. “You’re a terrible liar, Theo. He knows you’ve switched sides.”

He scowls. “He can’t. I was so convincing. I swear I didn’t say anything to make him think I was with Caius, or you for that matter.”

“He’s scared,” Caius offers with a small shrug. “Arrogantly putting everything out in the open is his natural way of doing things. For him to hide means he knows he’s about to go down.”

Everyone is tense and serious as we sit around the conference table. Even Dragon and Bizzy are focused. We all want to get this over with. I hate how long it takes to get justice, even the lawless vigilante kind.

Nova starts to squirm, which means she’s getting hungry. Caius passes her to me and I efficiently pop her onto the boob. Anytime I nurse in front of these men, Gibson never fails to turn red as a tomato and refuses to make eye contact. It’s kind of funny that it embarrasses him.

“Okay,” Bermuda says, sitting up straight and rubbing his palms together. “It’s ready. Question is, are we ready to push the button? There’s no withdrawing it once it starts.”

Koyn glances my way. “Your call, Romy.”

I look down at my little girl, relieved that she’ll never know the hell me and Caius went through as kids through adulthood. Even Kaitlyn and LuLu have known horrific things no kid should go through. Nova will be safe and have a normal life. We’re doing this for her and all the other kids who might become victims one day if we don’t.

“Do it. Burn it all to the ground.”

Bermuda clicks on his keyboard and then leans back in his seat. “It’s done. I’ve created a crawler virus that will interrupt broadcasting and force the video out. It’ll then start posting to thousands of dummy accounts across the web so when VEIL cuts the feed, people can run to the internet to see the rest.” He claps his hands together, making Nova jolt in surprise. “Who’s hungry for burgers? I’m about to get dinner started.”

He leaves us thinking about his fantastic cooking and what kind of damage our operation is about to do.

Last week, we created a compilation video where we laid it all out on the table. Our identities were hidden via a blur and voice changing software, but our stories were the cold, hard truth. The more I talk about my experiences and what happened to me, the easier it gets. Knowing I might save someone else by exposing the monsters was gratifying.

The video has my story, Caius’s, LuLu’s, Kaitlyn’s through what me and Caius know, Theo’s parts, and even Megan’s. It didn’t take much convincing to get her to do a video call and tell her story.

We dropped names of people and organizations, locations, and horrific details that will turn anyone’s stomach. Nothing was left out. Nothing.

And now it’s in the wild.

Dad and Bastian are most likely freaking out that their network has been hijacked.

“Oh shit,” Theo mutters. “Dad responded.”

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