Page 126 of Steel

“What are you talking about?” My throat burns as I stare into the eyes of the devil. “Where is she?”

“Where she belongs. Burning in hell for lying to me.” Dimitri glances to a dark corner of the basement where there’s a lump underneath a blanket.

He stands up, walking over to it, grabs the edge, and pulls back. Bile rises in my throat at the sight of my mom’s mutilated face. Her skin is gray, and her eyes are empty. But her face is battered from whatever they did before slitting her throat.

Even after seeing the video of her at the house, I held out an ounce of hope. That someday, she’d explain everything, and it would all make sense again. Now, she’ll never get the chance.

This isn’t like before when her death was an illusion. It’s the cold truth staring at me. She’s gone. She isn’t coming back. I really am the only family Austin has now.

My fingers tremble as I brush my hands over my legs. Goosebumps prickle my skin as a tear rolls down my cheek. I’m fighting to hold them back, but it’s useless.

“Why?” I shake my head; tears stream down my face. “I just saw her—she was alive.”

“She was.” Dimitri tosses the blanket back over her body, turning to face me. “Made an awful fucking mess when she changed her mind that night and tried to stop us. But the doc managed to patch her up long enough for her to get me what I needed.”

My head is spinning, and it’s taking everything in me to hold back the vomit. “What could she possibly have that you needed?”

Dimitri tilts his head to the side, watching me.

“The envelope?” I answer my own question.

“A birth certificate,” he snaps. “Proof.”

I shake my head, trying to process what he’s talking about. “Proof of what?”

But even as I ask the question, a sour feeling settles in my gut.

“She never told you, did she, Tempe?” He grins, and it’s filled with malice. “Why do you think Austin isn’t down here with you? Who do you think she was trying to protect?”

My heart races as I put the pieces together.

Mom refused to talk about Austin’s dad, and the few times she did, I got the impression she was scared, but I didn’t know why. Now I do.

“You’re his father.”

For the first time, I see it. The shape of his nose—a little sharp at the end. The thick eyebrows and the strong cheekbones. As much as I hate to think it, Austin looks just like him, and I don’t know how I didn’t put it together before now.

Once more, Dimitri squats down, his eyes gleaming. “You’re not as stupid as your pretty face makes you appear. But you’re as blind as she was.”

I pull away when he reaches for me, but he doesn’t let me get away. His hand grips my jaw so hard it hurts.

“Where is my brother?” I ask again, even if he refused me an answer the first time.

“Don’t worry. My son is safe now that he’s free of you and your fucking Twisted Kings. He’ll be raised with the right colors on his back now that he’s home… You, on the other hand, have served your purpose.”

“So you’re going to kill me?” I swallow hard. “If that was the plan all along, why didn’t you just shoot me in the kitchen and take Austin when you had the chance?”

“That was the plan until you decided to be a little bitch and hid him from me.” Dimitri’s teeth clench. “Besides, Titan needed something done, and with your mother being a defiant whore, you were the next best option. Lucky for us, it worked out for the best.”

“But they caught me.” I shake my head.

“That was the fucking point, Tempe.” He stands up, pacing the room, watching me. “They were always going to catch you.”

I swallow hard, processing what he’s saying. “What did you do?”

“The real rot always starts from the inside.” Dimitri sneers. “Steel should have learned that lesson after his vice president turned his back on his club, but lucky for us, he didn’t. It’s one thing to attack from the outside, but to make it really hurt—to destroy someone—you have to rot them from the inside out.”

“I don’t understand.”

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