Chapter 63 #2
It sent a chill rolling through me. I was still trying to process that the one who had hurt me, destroyed me, intended on killing me because of my brother’s debt, was the same man.
Tears kept streaking down my face.
Pain for Silas.
For Elena and the rest of the family.
For me.
“Trent told me Kent was trying to expand his operation, and he’d moved it to San Jose.”
A bolt of lightning sheared through my middle.
San Jose was where we lived growing up. While my mother was sick. While I’d struggled and tried to provide for Dereck and myself in the time he had slid.
“I finally was going to catch up to that bastard,” Silas spat, clinging to my face as if it was the only thing that kept him grounded.
“Phoenix traveled up there with me. He was the only one I knew and trusted enough to get his hands dirty with me fully for the sake of retribution. I feared Trevan would have tried to stop me. We followed Kent from his mansion and across town to this run-down neighborhood.”
My insides shook.
“Only thing I had on my mind that night when we tracked him to this abandoned house was blood. His drained on the floor in front of me. I wanted to fucking bathe in it. What I didn’t expect to find was this girl mangled on the ground.
I couldn’t even see her face. Had no idea how old she was or what she looked like or what her dreams might be… ”
Air started to cleave from my lungs.
“But this unseen girl struck me. Pierced me like a fucking arrow. She reminded me that maybe there was a purpose in the world beyond wrath and retaliation, and the only thing that mattered then was stopping them from hurting her more than they already had.”
“Silas…” His name knotted in my throat as the significance of what he was saying stole like vapor into my consciousness.
“I couldn’t wait for Phoenix to get into position.
I knew what these bastards intended, and I had to stop them.
And yeah, I fumbled and they got away, but it didn’t matter, because that girl was still breathing.
It was the only thing that had mattered in that moment.
And as her ambulance shouted through the night, a new call settled over me. A new direction.”
“Oh God, Silas,” I whimpered, trying to form words. To catch up to it. “You were there? I…”
He stroked his thumb over my cheek. “I was meant to be there, Brinley. I know it now. Just like I know you were meant to show up on my property all these years later.”
He inhaled a steadying breath. “After that night, I left that MC and started my own. Crimson Crows. Named after the town where my mother was slain. We fronted it like any other MC. Drug and gun runners. Raiding. Stealing. And yeah, there are times we have to see those runs through, but it’s a facade for what we really do. ”
His thick throat tremored, and the brightening heavens shivered around him. “We infiltrate those criminal organizations and decimate them. Track their activity. Hunt them. We chase them down until every single one of them are dead.”
His words sharpened to blades.
“We pillage them of all the dirtied riches they possess and anonymously pour those funds into privately run social programs and nonprofits. Women’s shelters and rehabs and food banks. Whatever we can pinpoint needs it.”
I didn’t even know if it was shock that punched through me.
I guess it was just catching up to the reality that had been billowing around me all along. A hazy dream that I hadn’t quite been able to see through.
Because I’d long since realized Silas wasn’t all cold blood and killer.
The killer part? Obviously. But there wasn’t anything cold about him.
“And that whole time, I never forgot about that girl battered on the floor. I used her memory to spur me into action, giving the one thing that I thought I had to offer.”
Stunned, I gazed at him. Drank in every foreboding, beautiful facet of his face. Of his soul.
“I can’t believe it was you. But how—” My brow pinched as I tried to piece the details together.
His jaw clenched. “I never forgot about Kent Ellison, either. I was sure he still didn’t know my identity.
He had no idea who was coming for him that night.
So we moved to Northern California so I could try to get closer to him.
Penetrate his organization and fully end him.
But I was a fool, not realizing that I was putting my family at risk.
The bastard used Elena’s vulnerability to get to me. ”
He paused, teeth raking his bottom lip, before he rushed, “This guy showed up at the shop in Moonlit Ridge. I recognized him as one of Kent’s men, and I had my gun crammed down his throat in a second flat.
But he came with information on how to get her out.
Swore that he was telling the truth. He told me he wanted to help me ruin Kent.
Only thing he asked was that I keep his sister safe. ”
My spirit moaned.
Dereck.
“He went back to get revenge for me,” I murmured.
I hated that he’d been so reckless, but that didn’t mean my heart didn’t swell. Mended in the truth that he did care. He hadn’t been taking advantage of me the way I thought.
Silas offered a slight nod. “Yeah. He never told me that, but it’s clear that was his own mission. Looking for his own way to take Kent and his empire down.”
Silas’s hands tightened on my face, and his thumbs stroked along the hollows beneath my eyes.
“I didn’t recognize you when you stepped out of your brother’s car, but I know now that my soul felt you. I should have known there was a reason I couldn’t stay away from you. You burned up every belief I had, just like you did that night five years ago.”
“I felt you too. You were this magnet. A beacon I couldn’t resist.”
His smile turned soft, though his nod was sad.
“But Phoenix did. I guess he got a look at you that night. And in his cynical mind, he couldn’t fathom how it was a coincidence.
He thought I was blinded, and you’d purposefully been sent to hypnotize me.
That Dereck was after me for some reason or really was loyal to Kent.
I doubt he’ll ever forgive himself for going behind my back, but I need to know if you can forgive him? ”
I gulped around the emotion that overflowed my throat, but my chest was already too full.
In it, I was unable to find any anger remaining.
Phoenix was only protecting Silas.
The way Dereck and Silas had been trying to protect me.
“I think the real question is if you can forgive me?”
Air puffed from Silas’s nose. “I was never even mad, baby. Just terrified that I lost you. But I should have known better, shouldn’t I? Because you’re a fighter. The strongest person I know. But now you know you don’t have to fight me. We fight this shit together. That’s if you’ll still take me?”
“Still take you?” I blinked at him through bleary eyes. “The second I jumped over that wall, the only thing I wanted to do was crawl back to you. Because the most inner part of me knew.”
My fingers scratched over the middle of his chest. “It’s your heart.”
He pressed my hand flat over it. “And this heart belongs to you.”