Chapter Thirty
Aaliyah
I t’s been a week since I killed Archibald, and it’s driving me crazy as we sit around and argue over how to go after my parents. I’m tired of waiting, and I’m not going to allow them to put this off any longer.
Meeting in the dining room in five minutes.
Don’t be late.
I don’t bother checking the messages my phone alerts me to. It doesn’t matter what they have to say. They’ll be here in five minutes or they’ll be sorry. It’s as simple as that.
River, Reid, and Hayes are the first to arrive from the hallway where their offices are located.
“What’s up, hot stuff?” River asks as she bounces over to me and leans over for a kiss. When she tries to deepen the kiss, I pull back and nod for her to take a seat.
“We’ll get started as soon as everyone arrives.” I ignore the looks the three of them share, going over everything in my head while we wait.
Archer and Naomi step in together, taking one look at my face before slipping silently into their seats. A glance at my phone tells me Tyson has less than a minute to arrive before I hunt down his ass and drag him downstairs.
I’m just pushing to my feet when he steps into the room. His eyes immediately find mine. “Sorry. I was in the damn shower when you messaged. I got soap in my eyes trying to check my phone.”
“A likely excuse,” I say with a soft smile, signaling for him to take a seat. Luckily, he doesn’t fight me on it and drops into his chair. “It’s time to get down to business. I’ve allowed you all to put this off for long enough, but we need to end this.”
“What are you talking about?” Reid asks, and I make a face.
Pulling up the blueprints in my mind of the compound my parents were last seen at, I call on my magic to make a 3D version hovering over the table. “We’re not leaving this table until we have a plan for killing my parents. We can’t drag this out any longer.”
I lift my head to see the six of them sharing glances.
“If you have something to say, just say it so we can get on with this,” I bark, feeling a little bad about my tone but not enough to apologize.
Tyson’s the first one to meet my eyes. “We weren’t purposely delaying it, per se. We just weren’t sure you were ready.”
I scoff. “Did any of you bother to ask me if I was ready? If you had, you’d know I was. I know you’re all worried about me getting hurt, and that’s why we were pushing it off.”
“Of course, we’re worried about you getting hurt,” Hayes says, leaning forward in his chair. “We’re always going to be worried about that—especially when you’re talking about going against your parents when one of them is a god. We just didn’t want to rush you.”
“We’re going to need to work on our communication skills,” I declare before turning back to the blueprint. “Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s figure out a plan. I’ve been ready to do this since I got the card with their names on it. Okay, right after I talked to Archer about it.
“I can’t do this on my own. It’s going to take all of us to get this done. And I don’t just mean in the planning stage, either. We’re all going to have to be on-site for this one. Now, what ideas do you have? What concerns? What do we need to research?”
I glance around the table, but I’m met with silence. I bite back a sigh. “Based on the information I have, their security systems seem pretty basic, but there are tons of guards, both patrolling the grounds and inside the compound building. I should be able to get us past the outside guards with my illusions, but there’s a lot that’s going to need to be happening once we make it inside.”
“Someone will need to find my sister,” Tyson agrees, eying the blueprints.
“And how much do you want to bet they have a security room inside?” River adds. “Who even knows what security measures will be waiting for us inside the building. Reid and I will need to head there. We’ll need to figure out what the most probable locations for that are.”
As they begin discussing various locations of where the security room might be located, I let out a sigh of relief. We’re just at the beginning stages of a plan, but at least we’re on the right path now. I can live with that. Though, I wasn’t joking about us not leaving the table until we have a plan.
I want—no, I need this to be over with. For my own sanity and to be able to feel like I can move on with my life.
It takes us longer than I’d like as we have to break for lunch and dinner, but it’s not quite eight when we finally have a plan we can all live with.
“So that’s it?” Naomi asks, and I nod.
“That’s it. We just have to get through tonight and tomorrow, and we’ll end this tomorrow night.” I stand up, calling for Kira. “I think Kira and I are going to go for a stroll through the woods. Anyone who wants can join, I just need to get out of my head for a bit now that we have everything planned.”
“I’ll join you—if you’re sure you don’t mind the company.” Hayes pushes his chair back but doesn’t stand until I nod. “You know I’ll never pass up a chance to commune with the trees.”
River laughs, jumping to her feet. “Come on, Reid. Let’s commune with the water—naked, of course.”
I snort as she grabs his hand and drags him toward the door, both of them shedding clothes as they do so. “Sometimes I wish I was more like River.”
“Yeah. No.” Tyson shakes his head as he crosses his arms over his chest. “One River is all we need, and Reid is the closest we need to come to another one of her. Brats, the both of them.”
“And you wouldn’t have it any other way,” Archer says with a smile.
Shaking my head, I link my fingers with Hayes as we follow in the wake of the chaos twins.
Huh. That’s a good one. I’ll have to remember it.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Hayes rumbles as we step outside, my eyes falling shut as I allow the air to rush over me. It’s not quite dark yet, but it won’t be much longer. It’s already cooling off, and it won’t be long until we’re welcoming fall.
I don’t answer him right away, watching Reid and River splashing in the water as we walk toward the trees. Turning to look at him, I smile. “I was just thinking the two of them are chaos when they’re together. I called them chaos twins, and I was thinking how fitting that is.”
“If you’re into incest,” Hayes says with a chuckle, and I slap him in his stomach.
“Not cool, dude.” Guess I won’t be calling them that after all. Stupid dryad, ruining all my fun.
Hayes just laughs, tugging me closer before dropping my hand and wrapping his arm over my shoulders instead. “How are you doing with all of this?”
“What? Killing my parents? Besides an orgy with the six of you, I can’t think of anything that would make me happier.”
“I’m being serious, Aaliyah.”
Glancing up at him, I raise my eyebrows. “So am I. I’ve made my piece with this, Hayes. They deserve to die, and I deserve to be the one to kill them. They were never parents to me. They never loved me, and I never loved them. How could I when I didn’t know what love was? It wasn’t until they kicked me out that I realized the way I was raised wasn’t normal.
“They did that to me. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the things they’ve done over their lifespans. If I told you some of the things they made me do or that they dragged me along to watch them do, you might want nothing to do with me anymore. So trust me when I say I’m happy to be getting the chance to kill them.”
He nods slowly. “Okay, foxy girl. I believe you.”
Silence falls around us as we continue our walk, and I lean into him. I love how he takes me at my word once he knows I’m serious about something. Each one of them brings something different to our relationships, and the relationships they have with one another. I love it, and I don’t know how I’d survive without every single one of them.
And I can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives proving that to them.