Chapter 30 Dredyn
THIRTY
DREDYN
Iwatch from the front steps as they walk up the path from the street.
I lead them inside, through the main foyer with its wall of composite photos—decades of OCK brothers, all smiling, all successful, all part of the machine. My father’s photo is up there somewhere, so is Anthony Thorne’s.
Not for much longer.
We head to the library. Mara’s already there, standing by the fireplace in jeans and a sweater. Talon has his laptop set up on the massive oak table, and Jasper stands by one of the tall windows.
The moment Mara sees us enter, her posture shifts—less guarded, more relaxed.
Talon immediately moves to her side, his hand finding the small of her back in an unconscious gesture of comfort.
She leans into him slightly, and he presses a brief kiss to her temple before returning his attention to us.
“Make yourselves comfortable.” I gesture to the leather chairs arranged around the table.
“We’re good,” Milo says, but his attention is entirely on Mara. He crosses the room quickly, pulling his twin into a tight hug. “You okay, sis?”
“Better than okay,” she says, hugging him back.
When they pull a part, I cross to her, and she steps into my space immediately, her hand finding my chest as I wrap an arm around her waist.
“Of course.” Milo glances at the rest of us. “Though I have to say, publicly claiming three fraternity brothers at the inaugural dinner was ballsy as hell. Also, possibly suicidal.”
“More suicidal than the—”
“Mention the leashing incident and I will throw up,” Milo says. “You’re my fucking sister. But now the whole world knows the breakup with Chase is official. The speculation about you and OCK is rampant, and our father is losing his mind.”
“How bad?” Mara asks.
“Bad. He’s been on the phone all morning with advisors, trying to figure out how to spin this. The Syndicate is in full damage control mode.” Milo pulls out his phone, showing us a screenshot. “They’re planning an emergency meeting—tomorrow night. All leadership in attendance.”
I lean forward to look at the phone, which brings me closer to Mara. My hand tightens on her waist unconsciously. Talon moves to her other side, and Jasper positions himself just behind her, one hand resting on her shoulder.
We’re bracketing her, I realize. Claiming her, even in this moment. Making it clear to everyone in the room exactly where she belongs.
“Where?” I ask.
“They haven’t announced the location yet. But Kade thinks—”
“The catacombs,” Kade finishes, and his eyes flick to Valen briefly before returning to us.
“How do you know that?” Jasper signs, his hand moving from Mara’s shoulder to her other hip, steady and grounding.
“Because I’ve been there. My father took me once, when he was trying to recruit me into the inner circle—showed me the tunnels, the meeting rooms, the whole operation. Wanted me to understand what I’d be inheriting,” Kade says.
“And you said no,” Valen observes.
“I said I’d think about it. Then I met Milo, and suddenly everything they stood for seemed… wrong. All of it. The control, the way they treat people like assets instead of humans.”
Mara shifts against me, and I feel her take a breath. “Welcome to the resistance. We’re all here because we figured out our fathers are monsters.”
“So, what’s the plan? You didn’t ask us to walk over here just to commiserate about shitty dads,” Valen says, getting us back on track.
“No,” I agree, reluctantly stepping back from Mara so we can all sit down around the table.
But Talon immediately takes my place at her side, his arm draping across the back of her chair.
“We called you here because we’re going to take them down—the Syndicate leadership—and we need your help to do it. ”
“Take them down how?” Milo asks.
“We’re going to kill the three seats of power. James Steele, Edmund Mercer, and whoever holds the DSN proxy position,” Mara says.
Silence.
Then Valen starts to smile. “I’m in.”
“Just like that?” Talon asks.
“Just like that. My father has been planning to marry me off to some legacy bitch since I was sixteen—wants to secure an alliance, strengthen his position. I’ve been looking for a way out for years.
If you’re offering me a chance to kill him and make it look like collateral damage instead of patricide? Yeah. I’m in.”
“Milo?” Mara looks at her twin.
“You even have to ask? They were going to use you as leverage against me. Force me to stay in line by threatening to hurt you. I’m done living under that threat.”
“Kade?” I prompt.
“Where he goes, I go. Where they go, I go.” He pauses. “Besides, I have a sister too—younger—still at Ashen Grove. If the Syndicate gets wind that I’m helping you, they’ll use her against me. Better to end the threat entirely,” Kade says.
“Okay, then let’s figure out how to do this without getting ourselves killed in the process.”
Mara reaches up and takes Jasper’s hand where it rests on her shoulder, then extends her other hand to Talon, while I remain seated across the table, watching the woman I love surrounded by the two men I trust most in the world.
My family.
And we’re about to go to war to protect it.
“First question, when? You mentioned they gave you forty-eight hours. That’s not a lot of time to plan an assassination.”
“They gave us forty-eight hours to publicly end things with Mara. Which means at hour forty-nine, they’re planning to take action against us. Probably coordinated strikes—make all four of us disappear,” Talon says.
“So we need to move before hour forty-nine,” Kade says.
“The emergency Syndicate meeting. If they’re all going to be in the catacombs at the same time—”
“We create a diversion. Something big enough to pull security away from the meeting location, leaving the three leaders vulnerable, with minimal protection.”
“A diversion like what?” Jasper signs.
An idea hits me. A terrible, absolutely insane plan.
“We burn down this house. We throw a massive party—invite everyone, make it the biggest rager of the semester. Then we have someone crash it. Make a scene. Start a fight that ‘accidentally’ ignites the fire.”
“You want to burn down your own house as a distraction?” Valen raises an eyebrow.
“Buildings can be rebuilt. And think about it—a fire at OCK house during a massive party? Every emergency responder in the area will respond. Campus security, the local fire department, probably even news crews. The Syndicate’s security detail will split.
Some will stay with the leaders, but some will have to respond to the fire, especially if there are reports of students trapped inside. ”
“That’s actually brilliant—the chaos, everyone will be focused on OCK. Meanwhile, the three leaders are in their secret bunker beneath PTO, thinking they’re completely secure,” Milo says.
“But with reduced security,” Kade finishes.
“We’d need to evacuate the party first,” Talon says.
“And we’d need someone to start the fight convincingly enough that the fire looks accidental,” Mara adds.
“DSN. We get DSN boys to crash the OCK party. It’ll look completely natural—inter-fraternity rivalry, everyone’s drunk, someone throws a punch, things escalate, something catches fire in the chaos.”
“DSN hates the Syndicate right now—after what happened with the murders. But would they agree to help?” Milo points out.
“Not the officers, but Sable might,” Kade says.
“What about her boyfriends?” Valen asks. “Levi, Kai, Silas, Dayton—they’re not going to want to be involved after everything they’ve been through.”
“They won’t have to be; she has enough influence over the other DSN brothers—the ones who are angry, who feel like they got screwed by the Syndicate. She can convince them to crash the party, start the fight. Her actual boyfriends can sit it out.”
Talon pulls out a notepad. “So, let me get this straight … Tomorrow night, we throw a massive OCK party. Sable convinces DSN brothers to crash it and start a fight. In the chaos, a fire starts—CJ rigs it to look accidental but ensures it spreads fast. Emergency responders flood the area. Syndicate security splits their forces.”
Valen continues. “Meanwhile, the three leaders are in their secret meeting room beneath PTO, thinking they’re safe with reduced security. That’s when we move in.”
“How do we access the secret room?” Talon asks Kade.
“There’s the main entrance near the engineering building—the one the leaders will use—but there’s also an emergency exit inside the PTO house, hidden behind a false wall in the mechanical room.
My father showed me in case of an emergency.
” Kade’s smile is sharp. “We go in through PTO, down through the emergency exit, and we’re right there. ”
“While everyone’s focused on the fire at OCK,” Milo says.
“And while the Syndicate’s security is spread thin, responding to the crisis,” Valen adds.
“Three targets, minimal security, element of surprise.” I look around the table. “This could actually work.”
“The Syndicate meeting is scheduled for nine p.m. tomorrow. That’s when all three leaders will be in the room together.
So we start the party at seven—let it build.
DSN crashes around eight thirty, a fight starts, fire begins, and chaos ensues by eight forty-five.
Emergency response floods OCK by nine p.m., right when the leaders are settling into their meeting. ” Milo lays it out all for us.
“We move in at nine fifteen—give them time to feel secure, let some of the security detail leave to help with the fire. Then we go in quietly, take out whoever’s left, and end this,” Talon says.
“Three men, one room, no witnesses. We all in?”
“In,” Milo says immediately.
“In,” Kade confirms.
“In,” Valen agrees.
Mara looks at me, then Talon, then Jasper. “We’re really doing this? Burning down the OCK house and committing triple homicide.”
“We’re ending a war,” I correct. “And taking back our lives.”
“Then I’m in too.”