Chapter 23 Mara
TWENTY-THREE
MARA
I’ve spent my life watching my father play god with people’s lives, smiling across mahogany tables while he dismantled empires with his words as a politician. I hated him for it.
Hated the ice in his veins.
The way he could look a man in the eye and ruin him without blinking.
I swore I’d never let that coldness touch me.
But tonight? Tonight I’m grateful for every poisoned lesson he ever taught me.
Because these two, stubborn, broken men I love are hemorrhaging their partnership and I’m done watching them bleed out.
“Get them,” I say to Talon.
He nods once and vanishes down the hall.
My pulse is a war drum. This could explode spectacularly.
Jasper could shut down completely. Dredyn could double down on his martyr bullshit.
They could decide I’m the enemy for forcing this, but I’m past caring.
James Steele wants us fractured? Fine. I’ll solder the cracks with my bare hands if I have to.
I’m done losing the people I love to monsters.
Jasper appears first, looking like he’s been dragged through Hell and left there to rot. When his gaze lands on the ring box that’s on the dining table in front of me, something visceral twists across his face.
He stops dead in the doorway.
“Sit.”
His jaw ticks, but he moves and drops into a chair.
Then Dredyn staggers in. He looks like he’s spent the night trying to punch his own soul out of his body. When he sees Jasper, the guilt hits him so hard he actually sways.
He freezes.
“Sit,” I repeat, colder this time.
“Mara—”
“I said sit the fuck down, Dredyn.”
The words snap across the room like a gunshot. He circles wide, putting the entire length of the table between him and Jasper, and collapses into the opposite chair.
I let the silence stretch just long enough to make them uncomfortable. Then I lean forward, palms flat on the table, and smile the way my father taught me.
“We’re doing this once. You will sit your asses in those chairs, you will listen, and you will speak when spoken to. If you can’t give me that, I will duct-tape you to this table and make you regret it.”
No one speaks.
I arch a brow. “Do. You. Understand?”
“Yes,” Dredyn mutters.
Jasper gives one sharp nod, eyes burning holes in the tabletop.
“Good boys.” The words drip sarcasm.
I pick up the ring box, rolling it between my fingers. “This little piece of shit started the fire, so we start here.”
I pin Dredyn with a stare sharp enough to draw blood. “Talk—all of it. When did Daddy Dearest recruit you into his murder club?”
His throat bobs. “Nineteen. First semester. He called me home, poured me a drink, and told me the family legacy wasn’t private security. That we were the Syndicate. Always had been.”
“And Evie?”
“I didn’t know it was him.” His voice fractures. “Not until a few months ago, when my dad told me I was to inherit his seat in the spring. We knew the Syndicate was always to blame for Evie’s death, and it wasn’t hard to figure out he was probably the one who called that shot.”
Jasper signs, “So you’ve known for months?”
“Yes.”
“And you buried it.”
“Yes.”
“Explain the logic, Dredyn. Convince me why you thought playing God was the move,” I say.
He looks straight at Jasper. “Because I know you. The second you had his name, you would’ve gone nuclear. All you needed was a name. You would’ve died for her justice, and you would’ve taken everyone you love down with you. I couldn’t—I couldn’t bury you too.”
Jasper signs, “You stole my choice.”
“I stole your grave. And I’d do it again,” Dredyn fires back.
I don’t give Jasper time to speak. “Blind revenge would’ve gotten you a bullet and a shallow grave.”
Jasper glares at me.
“What would Evie want, Jasper? Your corpse as a trophy? Or you, alive—here, with us—ready to make them beg when it actually matters?”
No response.
“She’d want you breathing. She’d want you vicious, not dead.”
I straighten, looking between my two broken kings. “James Steele is laughing somewhere right now, thinking he’s already won, that he’s turned his son against his brothers. That he’s isolated all of us. Don’t give the bastard the satisfaction.”
Talon’s voice cuts from the doorway. “He’s taken enough. Don’t hand him what’s left.”
Dredyn bows his head, shoulders shaking. “I’d lie a thousand times over if it kept you breathing, but I’m done choosing for you. The evidence is yours. The war is yours. Lead or burn me … I’ll follow.”
Jasper stares at him for an eternity, then signs, “We end this. Together.”
Dredyn nods.
“Together, we bury your father. Then... then I decide if you can ever earn my trust back.”
“I’m sorry. I know it’s worthless, but I am,” Dredyn says.
Jasper then stands. “Lie to me again, and I’ll end you myself.”
“I’d kill myself before I ever lie to any of you.” Dredyn breathes.
I push back from the table and look at Talon. I turn to Dredyn first. “Get up.”
He lifts his head slowly.
“We have one little bonding thing we can do tonight.”
Talon grins and steps closer, clapping Dredyn on the shoulder.
“Everything’s already prepared downstairs. This is one problem we can take care of right now. Together,” I say.
Talon leans in. “Chase has been waiting long enough. Let’s go remind him what happens when you touch what’s ours.”
Tonight, we start collecting debts.
Tonight, Chase Harrington learns what real mercy feels like.