Page 179 of Riot

“She would’ve hated all of us in her shit,” I said.

We all laughed because we knew it was true. My mother was protective about her stuff.

“You ever wonder how Havoc pulled it off?” I asked. “The poisoning. The slow decline. You’d think we would’ve seen something.”

Creed nodded toward the den. “The security footage is still saved. Tessa never deleted anything. She liked having eyes on the house.”

My brother and I headed for the media room, flipping through months of footage. Family dinners, meetings, birthday gatherings, normal shit. Havoc barely showed up, and when he did, he was always with someone. Never alone. Never long enough to do real damage.

“You seeing what I’m seeing?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Creed said, frowning. “It ain’t Havoc.”

We scrubbed back a few clips. Watched again.

Then we saw it.

Abra.

Pouring something from a small brown bottle into Tessa’s tea.

Another clip she was scraping powder into the collagen shakes Tessa drank every morning.

Another she was pressing pills into her vitamin case while pretending to clean.

I stood up so fast the chair scraped back across the floor like a gunshot.

“She fucking did it.”

Creed’s jaw was tight. “She poisoned her.”

We stormed into the living room. Abra looked up, all grace and fake innocence.

“You got something to tell us?” I asked, voice low but deadly.

“What are you talking about?”

“The footage,” Creed snapped. “We saw you. In the kitchen. In her bedroom. Dosing her food. Her tea. What the hell were you doing, Abra?”

She froze. A beat too long.

Then her shoulders sank.

“I’ve given my all to this company and you all just use me over and over. I wanted a board seat. I wanted money. I deserve it!”

“So you poisoned her?” I growled.

“It wasn’t supposed to kill her,” she cried. “Just… weaken her. Enough to make her step down. I didn’t know it would get that bad. I didn’t know?—”

“Bullshit,” I snapped. “You dosed heroften.You knew exactly what you were doing. She fuckin’ suffered! That shit gave her cancer.”

Tears spilled down her cheeks. “I just wanted her seat. Her power. I wanted a legacy that was mine.”

“You’ll get it,” Creed said flatly. “In the damn obituary section.”

I turned to Allure, who’d stepped in silently. Jasir on her hip, eyes wide, but calm.

“Take him outside,” I said softly.

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