Page 52 of The Viper
I leaned forward, my elbows on my knees. "Dad knew Dominion Hall?"
"More than that," Ethan said, his voice dropping. "He had another family."
The words landed like a bomb, exploding in my chest. "What? No. That's impossible. We would've known."
Ethan shook his head. "He kept it hidden. Until recently."
My heart pounded, a roar in my ears. "Is he alive? Dad's alive?"
"No," Ethan said, his eyes steady but sad. "We don’t know what happened to Dad. He's gone. But before he went, he did things in the shadows—built another life, another family. Noah and his six brothers… they're our half-brothers."
Seven brothers. The number hit me like a wave, drowning out the room. "Seven? That's … that's bullshit. How? Why didn't we know?"
"Dad was good at secrets," Ethan said, leaning back. "He left them billions, Lucas. Built an empire here, made enemies along the way. The kind that don't forget."
Billions? Enemies? My head spun, the suite closing in. "What enemies? What the fuck are you talking about?"
"We don't know who yet," Ethan admitted. "But they're coming. That's why I'm here—to convince you to stay. Help us fight."
I stood, pacing the room, my boots thudding against the carpet. "Fight what? For a father who lied to us? Who abandoned us? He stole, he hid, and now we're supposed to carry his burden?"
Ethan's voice was calm, steady. "No. He left us a family. Good men, all of them. Noah, the others—they're like us. Fighters. Protectors. This isn't about dad; it's about blood."
Blood. The word echoed, pulling me back to that grizzly attack again. Ethan standing tall, blood pouring from his arm, refusing to back down. "We're family," he'd said through gritted teeth as we bandaged him up. "We protect our own."
But this? This was different. This was a bombshell that shattered everything I thought I knew.
"I have a life," I said, my voice rising. "A career. Responsibilities. Delta?—"
"Delta's not everything," Ethan cut in. "I thought the same. But this … it's bigger. Stay, Lucas. See for yourself."
I shook my head, grabbing my jacket from the chair. "I love you, brother. But this is too much. I need time."
Ethan stood, his massive frame filling the room. "I get it. But if things keep going like they have, you might not get a choice."
Fuck that. I slung my pack over my shoulder, the weight familiar, grounding. "I'll decide my choices."
He nodded, no argument, just that quiet understanding that made him the big brother. "Be careful, Lucas. And think about it."
I left, the door clicking shut behind me, the hallway blurring as I strode toward the elevator. My mind was a storm—brothers I didn't know, billions I didn't want, enemies lurking in the shadows. Dad alive in secrets, dead in reality, probably.
It was ludicrous, a bad dream I couldn't wake from.
And Lexi. What would I tell her? Fuck. Lexi. The thought of her hit me like a lifeline.
But heaven? If this was heaven, it was the kind with thorns.
19
LEXI
Back at the rental house, I scrubbed my face so hard the skin went pink and the mirror fogged over again. The hot water had long since run out, but I stood there, palms flat to the counter, listening to the quiet press in around me.
Hannah was doing a very specific kind of avoiding: the kind where you move through the same rooms as someone without ever intersecting. Her coffee mug sat, pristine, on the counter; her tote bag was by the door; her schedule printouts lived face down on the kitchen table like a stack of sealed indictments. We didn’t fight. We also didn’t speak.
My phone lay beside my toothbrush, face up because hiding from it hadn’t helped. National outlets had moved the story into a sleeker font. Variety:Mystery Man Protects, Then Whisks Away Lexi Montgomery in Charleston. People:Montgomery’s New Love? Sources Say It’s Complicated.USA Today:Bar Brawl Hero? Hotel Escort? Photos Suggest Same Man With Montgomery.
They ran the same grainy frames side by side—one from Pelicangate, my cap low, Lucas’s shoulder and jaw turned justenough to look heroic and anonymous at once; one from the Palmetto Rose, me in that soaked dress, his hand on my back as we slipped through a side entrance. The headlines never said his name because they didn’t have it. They didn’t need it.Unidentified companiondid the work.
