Chapter 47 #2
“I’ll let you know she’s safe,” Lettie said. “But I won’t tell you where she is unless she wants me to.”
Zeus’ jaw tightened, but he nodded. “Fair enough.”
The tension in the warehouse eased slightly. Not gone, but manageable.
Zeus gestured toward Dakota’s body. “Did he say anything before he died?”
Lettie’s hand dropped from her necklace. She looked at him directly, and I watched her pull the words together. “He blamed you. All of you. Said the Gods of Mayhem destroyed Kronos.”
“We exposed him,” Zeus said flatly. “That’s not the same as—”
“He didn’t see it that way.” Lettie’s voice was quiet but firm. “He said you made Kronos a target. That when someone else finished what you started, you just... watched him bleed out.”
“We didn’t know he needed protecting,” I said.
She looked at me. “Dakota was convinced you could have saved him and chose not to.”
Atlas shifted his weight. “What else?”
Lettie wrapped her arms around herself. “He said you killed Arizona. With your own hands.”
Zeus’ expression went cold. “We did.”
We didn’t. Alex did, but not a single man in this room would ever put that on her. I knew Eros well enough to know that if anyone outside the club asked, he’d take the hit to protect Alex after she saved his life.
“He knew that.” She paused, choosing her words carefully. “He was working with Kronos. With Arizona and Zephyr too. They were all trying to take over the Federation.”
“The Federation?” Kraken’s voice rumbled from the doorway. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“Consolidation of power,” Lettie said. “Across all the clubs. Dakota said Kronos taught him everything about how it worked.”
I felt my jaw tighten. “How what worked?”
“Whatever the system was...” She looked at me, and I saw something dark flicker in her eyes. “Devlin Scott and George Stone built it. A machine designed to—” Her voice caught. “To grind up women and children.”
Silence crashed down around us.
“Jesus Christ,” Hermes muttered.
“Dakota said the beauty of it was that it didn’t matter if one man died.” Lettie’s voice was steadier now. Clinical. “The system keeps running. Another man steps in. Another generation inherits the design.”
Zeus’ hands curled into fists. “And Kronos was part of this?”
“According to Dakota, yes.”
“What about George?” I asked. “What did he say about George?”
Lettie’s gaze shifted to me. “He mentioned Mimic. Said George had been training him to infiltrate the Silver Shadows. But Mimic grew a backbone. Didn’t do what he was supposed to.”
“Fuck,” Atlas breathed.
“Dakota said he’d pay for that.” Lettie’s voice dropped. “Him and his old lady. For killing Meredith. For killing Kronos.”
“Indie,” I said quietly.
She nodded. “He was going to kill her. Kill Mimic. Kill all of you.” Her eyes found Zeus. “He said when you were the last one standing, when you’d lost everyone you loved, then he’d finish you too.”
Zeus’ hands were shaking. I could see it from where I stood.
“He’s dead now,” Atlas said into the silence. “Threat’s eliminated.”
I nodded slowly, then looked at Zeus. “We need to call the other presidents. King, Montana, Reaper. They need to know Dakota’s dead.”
Zeus’ jaw clenched. He let out a long, controlled breath through his nose. “King. You want me to call the man who put a gun to my fucking head.”
“It needs to be done.”
“I know it needs to be done.” Zeus ran a hand through his hair, grimacing. “Doesn’t mean I have to fucking like it.”
“You want me to make the call?” I offered.
Zeus looked at me for a long moment, then shook his head with a dark smile. “No. I’ll do it. Might as well hear his voice gloating about it.” He paused. “After we deal with the woman.”
“What woman?” Lettie asked.
“Carol. Claire. Whatever the fuck her name is. I had Rykard lock her up,” Zeus said. “Told him not to hurt her. She’s in a holding cell at the clubhouse.”
“She’s at the clubhouse?” Lettie whispered.
“Yeah.” Zeus’ expression was unreadable. “Figured we’d need to question her. Find out what she knows about Dakota. About the kidnapping. About all of it.”
Lettie looked at me, then back at Zeus. “I want to go home.”
“Okay, baby.” I reached for her. “Let’s get you cleaned up and—”
“I want my mother delivered to my house.”
I froze. “What?”
“My mother.” Lettie’s voice was calm. Too calm. “I want her brought to my house. Alone.”
“No.” The word came out flat and immediate. “Absolutely fucking not.”
“Hades—”
“She kidnapped you, Lettie.” I stepped closer and lowered my voice. “She’s not your mother. She stole you from your family. Lied to you for twenty-five years. And you want to be alone with her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I need to hear it from her.” Lettie’s eyes met mine, steady and resolute. “I need to hear the truth. Why she did it. What really happened. All of it.”
“You can hear it with me there. With the club there. With—”
“No.” She shook her head. “This is between me and her. I need to do this alone.”
“It’s not safe.”
Atlas stepped forward, his voice quiet but weighted. “Let her do it.”
I turned to look at him. “What?”
“Let her do it,” Atlas repeated. He looked at Lettie, understanding in his expression. “She needs to hear it from the woman who raised her. Needs to look her in the eye and ask why. You can’t filter that for her, Hades. None of us can.”
“Atlas—”
“I know what it’s like.” His jaw tightened.
“Finding out your parents aren’t who you thought they were.
That everything you believed about where you came from was a lie.
” He paused. “I don’t fucking care where I came from, but if I did, and someone tried to stand between me and the truth, I’d burn the world down to get to it anyway. ”
Lettie’s eyes glistened. She didn’t look away from Atlas.
“She deserves answers,” Atlas continued. “Real ones. Not secondhand. Not through us.” He looked at me. “And she deserves the choice to face this on her own terms.”
Zeus was quiet. Watching. Calculating.
I wanted to argue. Wanted to refuse. But Atlas was right, and I fucking hated it.
“She won’t be restrained,” I said finally. “Claire. When she’s brought to the house, she won’t be zip-tied.”
Lettie nodded slowly.
“But she’ll be guarded,” I continued. “Brothers outside. Watching the perimeter. And I’ll be right outside the door. Close enough to hear if you need me.”
“Brock—”
“Non-negotiable, baby.” I cupped her face in both hands. “You want to face her alone? Fine. But I’m not leaving you unprotected.”
She was quiet for a long moment. Then she nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay.”
I pulled back and looked at Zeus. “Get Claire to Lettie’s house. Have Rykard and Apollo bring her. Release her from her restraints before they arrive. I want brothers on the perimeter. Kraken, Iapetus, Hermes. No one goes inside unless Lettie calls for help.”
Zeus nodded slowly. “You sure about this?”
“No.” I looked at Lettie, at the woman who’d just killed a man with poison and was now asking to sit across from her kidnapper. “But it’s her call.”
Atlas’ hand landed briefly on my shoulder. A silent acknowledgment.
Lettie’s hand found mine and squeezed.
And I knew, with absolute certainty, that this conversation was going to shatter something inside her.
I just hoped we’d all be strong enough to hold the pieces together.