The Bedlam Boys: Complete Series

Chaos Crown | Chapter One

Icy claws bit into my legs, stomach, chest, face—dragging me under. The impact smacked conscious thoughts clean out of my head, filling me with a blank calm. I didn’t struggle. Didn’t thrash, fight, or claw to the surface.

I shut my eyes... I think. The water was too dark to tell if they were open or closed, and I stopped feeling my face somewhere around the time my guys’ shouts faded.

It was better this way. How wrong it was of me to live on after death. My soul walked away from that grave, stealing borrowed time and not even using it for vengeance. There was no point to me anymore, so let my death do some good this time.

Let it save my boys.

The claws loosened their grip—accepting that I wasn’t going to escape. Watery arms cradled me, gently sending me on to a place more peaceful than I deserved.

I’m so sorry. My lungs burned... until they didn’t. I’m coming.

A band wrapped around my forearms, snapping my eyes open. I knew they were open this time, because something was looking back at me.

Black crept in around my vision, blurring the figure. As we burst through the surface, it claimed me for good.

“RAINEY? RAINEY, WAKEup. Dammit, wake up!”

Pain pounded my chest, ripping me from sleep. I shot up, spewing river water from my throat. My eyes focused on Cairo— No, not just Cairo. Jacques and Legend hovered behind him.

“Wha— What happened?”

“You tell us.” Cairo scooped me into his arms. The lift jarred my aching head, making me wince. Pictures and scenes were assaulting me. Faces, people, eyes in the dark.

“We ran down and found you on the bank,” Legend said. “What the fuck is going on, Rainey?”

I couldn’t answer. Burying my face in Cairo’s chest, his dry shirt confirmed what he said. He didn’t jump in and get me. None of them did.

Someone else pulled me out of the water.

“—out of nowhere.” Cairo’s voice penetrated. “Killed that crazy bitch and cut Arsenio loose, knowing he couldn’t chase after them.”

“What?” I croaked. “Cut Arsenio loose? Killed who?”

“That’s what we’re telling you,” Jacques said as the guys made the slow climb up the hill. “That woman— Zoey. She’s dead. Headlights appeared on the other side of the bridge, there was a gunshot, and she went down. It was seconds after you jumped.”

“Then a guy—girl—who the fuck knows, steps over her body like trash and cuts Arsenio down,” Legend continued. “He didn’t say a damn word. Just frees him and leaves Arsenio to get the rest of us with one bad leg. It took so long, we knew there was no chance we’d get to you in time.”

“And then there you were,” Cairo finished.

I heard the question in their voice, but I had no answers for them. If anything, their story confused me more than ever. Someone saved them and me. Who? Why?

Topping the hill, the scene laid out in gory defiance. Zoey lay bleeding on the ground, my crossbow lying inches from her hand. Propped against the railing, Arsenio’s chest heaved as he clutched his leg—bandaged with nothing but a ripped shirt.

“Tell us what the hell is going on,” Cairo said. “That girl said you knew her. You two were friends until you refused to kill me. What was she talking about, Rainey?”

I climbed out of his arms, making my way to Arsenio. He glared at me with pained distrust. Gazing at the other guys, I saw the same look in their eyes.

“Don’t call me Rainey,” I rasped, taking Arsenio’s hand anyway. “My name is Ivy.”

CAIRO

I paced the length of the carpet, glaring at my pet— Mine.

Or was she?

The stranger huddled within Legend’s covers, the lone lump on the bed. This should’ve made her look small and vulnerable, and instead I pictured a snake in its burrow—waiting for its chance to strike.

The innocence was gone from her eyes. The softness from her cheeks. She was hard, blank plastic staring back at us, anticipating our first move.

I didn’t know this girl. Seems like I never did.

“We’re ready for your explanation whenever you are,” Jacques said with a calm I both hated and envied.

She flicked to him. “Sit with me.” Her hand poked out of the blankets. “Hold me.”

“No,” I barked.

Those unnerving eyes turned on me. “Why?”

“You fucking know why.”

“You’re angry with me.” She dropped this matter-of-factly. It was just an observation. “Why? I did not deceive you on purpose. I didn’t keep quiet about Blake and the others on purpose. In every way that counts, I found out about all of this the same time as you.”

“You said—!”

Legend gripped my shoulder, silently staying me. His message was clear even though I shoved him off.

“You said you’re not Rainey,” Legend spoke up. “In fact, you claimed to be her dead sister. What does that mean?”

She showed her first emotion. Jaw clenching, she turned away—gripping the sheet. “It means what I said. Rainey... died. Blake and the others came that night,” she rasped. “They killed her, and when I found her... all I could do was run. I ran so far away, I left Ivy behind.”

“You had a mental breakdown,” Jacques said like all of this made fucking sense. “You convinced yourself that you were in fact your sister, and to explain where Ivy had gone, your mind invented a story.”

“Got it all figured out, don’t you, Stone?”

Jacques raised a brow. That deadened reply was nothing like the sarcastic snap we expected from Rainey. “Not quite,” he said. “Why don’t you fill in the rest? Who is the real Zoey Mariner/Blake Jensen? What were the both of you a part of?”

“Zoey is exactly what she told you. Or she was,” the stranger corrected. “She was recruited by Scott Cavendish. We all were. But most of us didn’t know his true goal.”

I slowed my pacing, eyes narrowing.

“Scott was smart,” she whispered. “He went after the broken, the bullied, and the powerless. People who had nowhere else to turn. I knew Gran was murdered for our land, but no one would listen to me. Her killers were going to get away with ruining our lives.

“Then one day, Scott showed up, saying he believed me. He was her accountant. She told him she was getting the farm’s financial affairs in order, so R-Rainey and I wouldn’t be saddled with debt and struggles. He knew she made a will.

“Once he was in my ear, I was lost. All I could see was someone who wanted to help me. To get me justice. Scott explained that we weren’t the first family this was done to. There’d been others who were forced to sell through threats, bribes, and even other murders made to look like accidents. There’d be no justice for me like there wasn’t for the others, so I had to get it myself.”

“He convinced you killing Andrew Clein was your only choice,” Jacques dropped.

She slowly shook her head. “He never used that word. Kill. It was always sacrifice. Sacrificed for justice. Sacrificed for an end to corruption. Sacrificed so that no other family would suffer as we were,” she said. “It was around then he introduced me to Zoey. Her bullying escalated way past her name like she said. She was getting it constantly from a couple guys on the football team.”

My brows snapped up.

“She was walking home one day and they drove up on her, forced her into the trunk, and drove her out into the woods.” She gave me a hard stare. “I don’t have to tell you what they did to her.”

“You don’t have to tell us what she did to them either,” I replied. “Hudson Olsen, Dylan Meyer, and Thomas Lawson. Years above us, but we all heard about the three footballers who never made it to graduation. They were all found dead in an upstairs room after a party. Everyone said they overdosed.”

She nodded. “That’s how it was supposed to look. I think there was still a part of me that knew taking the law into your own hands was wrong, but that part died after Zoey. After hearing how she stumbled bleeding and crying into the police station, and they didn’t bother to bring them in for questioning. The officer said it would always be her word against theirs, and it wasn’t worth the hassle of putting her through a trial that would end in not guilty.

“It wasn’t right that those guys got away with what they did to her. It wasn’t right that Clein wouldn’t be punished for Gran. It just wasn’t right, so... how could I be wrong for making him pay?”

“But it wasn’t just about Clein and your farm, or giving a bunch of rapists what they deserve,” I gritted. “Mariner was a fucking psychopath who took money to kill us. She said you were supposed to kill me.”

“That’s how it all changed, Cairo. They were about righting wrongs, but I didn’t know until it was too late what that meant to Scott and the others. I didn’t know that meant all collateral damage was acceptable because they were being sacrificed for a greater purpose.”

“What purpose?” Legend snapped.

“Stop acting like you don’t know! I remember everything,” she cried. “Including what you and your parents and their parents have been trying to stop since Crystal Canyon became Bedlam. They want it back! Decades ago, this town wrestled away the wealth, power, and lives of the Men of Honor, and they. Want. It. Back.”

I whipped to Legend and Jacques, eyes as wide as theirs. “Are you fucking trying to say Scott and all your old friends were—?”

“Are,” she sliced. “They are the descendants and recruits to the Men of Honor. They know about the diamonds. They know they once owned the lands filled with them, and by their reckoning, they’re reclaiming what was stolen from them. Like my farm,” she stressed. “Taken over by my great-great-great-grandmother after she joined the riot against her uncle, Jonathan de Souza. He was a bastard that beat his wife and daughters black and blue, until one after the other, they died by his hand—while the sheriff looked the other way.

“My three times great-grandmother didn’t lift a finger to stop the crowd when they stormed his home and killed him.” Her gaze pinned us through. “But I don’t have to tell you this. You all know the story. The townspeople took up arms and wiped out every trace of the Men of Honor and their families. My ancestor was spared because she hated them just like the rest. The next morning, they woke up with wealth and land that didn’t belong to them.

“Distant male heirs would inherit the properties and a hell of a grudge to go with it. They were destined to take over and make their lives hell once again. So they said no.” Her eyes found me. “You know the history of how they took up arms and violently defended Bedlam from militias and the government. And you three in particular know that after the battle was won, certain people in town banded together to form the Society of Sisters.

“They forged documents and deeds naming themselves heirs and family, so they could keep the town they stole. There had been so much chaos and so many dead, the government couldn’t sort out the truth from the lies. In the end, they accepted what they were told—thankful the bloodshed was over.

“Ever since then, they kept the secret of Crystal Canyon. Preventing anyone from digging and building here, and leaving the vast fortune beneath our feet alone.” She shook her head. “What’s the point of digging it up when it’ll just be seized? No one cares about our little speck on the map, but they will if they ever find out we’ve got millions under our shoes.

“Bedlam would be leveled. The phony papers that gave us our land will be ripped to shreds in court. Either it’ll be in the hands of the government, or men like Steven Ellis.”

“Ellis?” Jacques repeated. “What’s he got to do with this?”

She shot out of the sheets. “He started this. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Steven Ellis isn’t moving in on this town for no reason. You know that, but you don’t know that he always had his sights on Bedlam. His great-great-grandfather was one of the Men of Honor. Their family name was Eliason then.

“Joshua Eliason, his wife, and their son were spared the bloodshed because they happened to be out of town when it all happened. They came back to a barricade around the town. After the fighting ended, Joshua tried to reclaim what was his, and was killed for it. His wife got the hint and never returned to Bedlam.”

My head bobbed on its own power. “She raised her son in another town, feeding him the story of the home that was once theirs, and the barbarians who stole it from them. They passed it down until Steven Ellis decided to do something about that bedtime story.”

“Yes,” she said softly. “The family had money from when they used to sit on a land of diamonds. That money funded the company Ellis now owns, but it’s not enough for him. His legacy was stolen. His town was stolen. In his eyes, all of this should be his.” She swept out her hands. “It should be his sons’. You can’t steal what was taken from you in the first place. Whatever he has to do to get it back, is just the price of righting a wrong. It’s a sacrifice.”

Legend stepped forward. “Are you saying Steven Ellis re-formed the Men of Honor? That’s how he started this?”

“I can’t be sure it was him who re-formed it. It could’ve been his father who did the legwork, and tracked down the remaining descendants of the Men of Honor, but Steven is the one who tried to use Scott Cavendish to do his dirty work here,” she said. “He used the trust he had as people’s accountants to push them into selling their properties to Steven’s shell companies.”

I knew even before she said it.

“One of them was AgriProspects.”

“Hold on. Stop.” Legend put up a hand. “Ellis was behind AgriProspects? He sent them after your grandmother? Then, why in the fuck did Cavendish approach you after she died? Why whip you up for revenge?”

“Haven’t you realized by now? Scott Cavendish is no one’s lackey. Steven was setting everything up so that everything—the land, the town, the diamonds—would be owned by him, and the other Men of Honor would have to trust he’d keep his word about splitting the profits.

“What kind of sociopathic monster trusts another sociopathic monster? He saw through Ellis from the beginning, but he used the society he was re-forming to build his own loyal group of psychopaths. Scott broke from him,” she explained. “That’s why Ellis sent his sons here in the end. Scott took over the Men of Honor, and what was an out-of-towner who was fighting to keep a low profile to do about it?”

“Approaching you was a fuck-you to Ellis,” Legend confirmed. “But then why did it go so wrong?”

“They were on opposite sides, but they want the same thing. Bedlam.” She folded back onto the sheets. “Thanks to Ellis, Scott’s people know the true history, what your mothers do, and what Cairo’s father does for them. They believed the drunk, depressed sheriff was the weakest link—”

I stiffened.

“—but he wouldn’t give in. Whatever Scott said or did, the sheriff told him to fuck off. So... he and Zoey ordered me to kill the last person he cares about.” She met my eyes. “A man who has nothing has no reason to fight.”

Her eyes glazed. For a moment, I thought the impostor vanished and Rainey came back. “They taught me that lesson too.”

“But why?” I gritted. “What could they possibly have wanted from my father? They already knew about the Society. Otherwise, his job is to make sure outsiders don’t have a reason to look twice at Bedlam. How the fuck does that help them take over?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know.” My voice was nothing more than a growl. “You’ve had a whole bunch to fucking say about Cavendish and Ellis—too fucking late after the fact. But now you don’t know? How convenient.”

Rain— Ivy’s gaze darkened. “Oh yes. My sister getting murdered and me losing my fucking mind was convenient. Convenient that the beasts who took her, ran around unchecked and laughing at me all this time. So convenient for me, Cairo. The real tragedy is what it did to you. The guy I lost her to save!”

“Don’t turn this around. How is it you know everything else except that? More than we fucking know.”

“Simple,” she rasped. “Scott told me when he thought he had me under his thumb. Naturally, the manipulative shit spun everything to make himself the victim. Ellis tricked him into believing they were restoring the town to its former glory, when he really just wanted to level the place and dig it up.

“Ellis said they were giving back what was stolen, but actually he was stealing from innocents like Gran. Ellis recruited him to save Bedlam, when the truth is he purposely chose descendants from the Men of Honor so that he’d have a handy scapegoat if the truth ever came out. And the person who’d make sure all of his cheating, lying, stealing, and killing would lead back to Cavendish is—”

“My father,” I dropped tonelessly.

“Cavendish convinced me your dad helped AgriProspects and Clein get away with killing Gran. The investigation was botched. I had no reason not to believe him about that or anything else. But the problem was it wasn’t Sheriff Jack he wanted me to go after. It was you.

“I refused, of course. I wasn’t going to kill some random guy. Gran didn’t raise someone who hurt innocent people. I was gone but I hadn’t lost myself that completely. I wouldn’t give in to him. When Zoey and the others came and...” She cleared her throat. “She had a lot of fun telling me how stupid and gullible I was. She was almost impressed with me for finally waking the hell up and pushing back against Cavendish, but I had to suffer for getting in their way all the same. She told me everything. Like she already knew I wouldn’t get the chance to tell anyone else.”

“But during her gloating she never said what they wanted from my father?”

She shook her head.

“Doesn’t make sense,” Jacques said mostly to himself. “They went to extreme measures to punish you for not killing Cairo, and after all that, they back off and leave him to walk around free all this time? Why haven’t they made a move against Cairo, against his father, or against us since?”

“Why did Zoey Mariner get killed when she finally did?” Legend added.

Silence followed his question.

They were both right. Rain— Ivy’s memories coming back hadn’t changed a thing. We were no closer to stopping this threat since before we wound up on that bridge. Steven Ellis wanted to get his filthy hands on Bedlam. We knew that. Someone made the girl we believed was Rainey their personal vendetta. We knew that too. The Men of Honor were back again. That we did not know.

But did it really matter what they called themselves? We’ve been protecting Bedlam from threats since the Men of Honor were founded. These guys were just another in a long line of pricks who found out too much, and tried exploiting our town from the shadows. They could call themselves whatever they wanted. They’d be put down with the rest.

“Who are they?”

“I don’t know.”

“What the fuck do you know?”

“Everything I just told you,” she replied. “Scott and Zoey weren’t idiots. They spoke about others, but they never mentioned names or introduced me. They didn’t fully trust me, and when I refused to hurt Cairo and went to the police instead...” Ivy trailed off.

“What about the night they came after you and your sister?” Jacques pushed. “Zoey said she didn’t show up alone.”

“They were like demons,” she breathed. “Appearing out of the shadows from everywhere and nowhere. There was nothing to see but black masks, then I saw nothing at all.”

The three of us shared a look. As irritated as I was, even I knew it didn’t make sense for the Men of Honor to reveal themselves to her. Wanting revenge against someone who murdered your family was a step removed from being willing to kill someone you didn’t know.

They couldn’t trust that Ivy would carry out their plans against me, and then when she said fuck you and tried turning them in, they’d be stupid to show their faces the night they killed her sister and left her alive. If Ivy did prove anything, it was that she’d hunt down anyone who hurt her family. No, the Men of Honor had no incentive at any point to tell Ivy anything real.

So why did they go after her in the first place? Did they want from her what they wanted from nearly every landowner in Bedlam?

How would they get that when there wasn’t a will?another voice asked. When someone dies without a will, their things don’t automatically go to the homicidal accountant.

“This is illogical,” Jacques said, echoing my thoughts. “I can think of no valid explanation for how any of us got here. Why kill Rainey de Souza as punishment for not killing Cairo, and then leave him untouched? Why draw Ivy’s attention all this time later with letters and demands of sacrifice? Why Scott Cavendish’s sudden death wish? Why did Zoey Mariner offer her services to get rid of us, and then who got rid of her? Who else knew we’d be dangling on that bridge?”

“All we’ve done is stand around here asking questions.” I snatched up my jacket. “There’s one man who can give us some answers.”

“Your father.” Ivy shed the blankets. “I’m coming with you.”

“You’re not.”

“I am.” She weaved her fingers through mine. I didn’t mistake it for an intimate gesture. “He’ll open up to me.”

“Why the fuck would he do that?”

She gave me a hard look. “What kind of monster wouldn’t... when he finds out what I lost to protect his son?”

I cracked my jaw to argue with her, and found I couldn’t. Find my father in a sloppy enough drunken mood, he’d bend to Ivy’s pain.

But this was between me and Jack.

“You’re not coming.”

“Why—”

“Because Rainey I knew!” I burst out, ripping free. “You, I don’t. Everything out of your mouth has been bullshit from day one. If my father’s involved in this, I’m hearing it from him.”

Ivy didn’t so much as blink at my outburst. It set my teeth further on edge. I didn’t know or understand this hard, blank-faced beauty standing in the space of my pet. Ivy changed more than her name when she deluded herself into believing she was Rainey. She changed her personality too.

The only thing I knew about this stranger was that she was willing to go as far as it took. That should make her a girl after my own heart. But if there was anyone I trusted least on this planet, it was someone like me.

“He is involved,” she said. “It’s time I knew how. I won’t have you two coming up with some story to tell me. If the truth is coming out, I’ll be there to hear it.”

“Neither one of you is going anywhere,” Jacques sliced in. “The sheriff is on shift right now, which means he’s holed up in the station with Davidson. Jeremy Ellis put out a hit on us. Arsenio and Roan are in the hospital, and we just walked away from a dead body on the bridge. We need to stop, think, reason. Then, we act.”

“Someone must’ve called that dead body in by now,” Legend said. “Davidson’s wrapping Chaney Bridge in police tape. The sheriff’s on his own.”

I found myself shaking my head. “Nah. With all the shit that’s been going on, the murder of a pretty little college girl would have everybody out there. Davidson’s there, and the old man’s right next to him.”

“We wait,” Jacques said. “Until he’s off shift and alone. Wait for him at home.”

“Okay,” Ivy replied, answering in my place. “What will you two do?”

“We’re not sitting around playing dead,” Legend said, making for the keys and wallet on his nightstand. “Roan has to know what’s going on. Once Jeremy and his boys find out Mariner is dead and we’re not, he’ll try something.”

“I need peace and quiet, but before that, more information. That private detective you hired,” Jacques said to Ivy. “I need to know how close he is to tracking down Dante.”

“Can’t say, but I think the last thing he tried to tell me was that there wasn’t an Ivy to find in Chicago.”

“Then he figured that out quicker than any of us. He’s good at what he does, and now he works for me. Call and tell him so.”

I stood apart as they launched into their tasks. Legend arranging for the kind of security only money could buy to stand outside Roan’s and Arsenio’s hospital rooms. Ivy calling her investigator to tell him confidentiality was waived, and then Jacques taking advantage of that as he barraged him with questions on the way out the door. After far too long, only Ivy and I remained.

We stared at each other across the divide.

“You’re angry with me,” she stated.

“I’ve got reason to be.”

“I didn’t lie to you on purpose, Cairo. I don’t have to tell you that I didn’t want any of this.” She moved in on me, peeling my lips back with each step. “May I remind you that your father covered up my grandmother’s death long before Scott Cavendish came into my life and I lost myself?”

Growls leaked through my teeth as her fingers brushed my temples.

“He’s been hiding something from the very beginning, and if he’d gotten her justice as he was supposed to do, I never would have been so vulnerable to Cavendish and Zoey.” The anger bleeding into her tone didn’t match the gentle pressure on my forehead. “Despite my very valid reasons for hating that man, I still refused to hurt him through you. And I paid for it.

“I didn’t bring us here, Cairo. Clein did. AgriProspects did. Steven Ellis did. Cavendish did. And yes, your father did. But not either of us,” she said slowly. “So why be mad at each other when we have the same enemy? Steven Ellis is close to getting everything he wants, and his son almost served your heads on a platter to go with it. You don’t have time to be pissed at me, Cairo. We’ve got too much shit to do.”

“Trust me, de Souza.” I pulled her hands off. “I can make time.”

She scanned my face. “Why?”

“I’ll tell you now. I’ll never forgive you... for not being her.”

Something flashed behind her eyes. For a second I saw it—saw it all—and I flung myself away from her. Chest heaving, I glared from behind the armchair, fingers gripping the leather.

“I’ll tell you something too,” she whispered, drawing the mask back over her expression. “I’ll never forgive myself for that either.”

Turning her back, Ivy made for the door.

“Where are you going?” I barked.

“To get answers.” She replied without slowing her stride. “Come or don’t. But I won’t spend another day in the dark.”

IVY

Cairo and I didn’t speak on the ride to his father’s house. What more was there left to say? He was in love with Rainey whether he’d say it or not, and he was forced to watch Rainey jump off a bridge and Ivy emerge in her place.

All of this started so long before either of us were even born, and I still don’t know why.

There was a long list of things I didn’t know, even as my missing time and true history came back to me. Cavendish left out so much when he came into my life. All I saw was someone who believed me. Who wanted justice for Gran. After the fucking sheriff looked me right in the eyes and pretended he never saw the autopsy proving my grandmother was murdered, another person stepping in to promise justice, was too hard a siren’s call to resist.

But why? Why, why, why, why, why! Why did nothing make sense?!

“If your father’s working with the Society, why would he cover up a murder caused by the Men of Honor? Cavendish told me it was so the sheriff could frame him for all of Ellis’s crimes, but the man was manipulating me. Everything out of his mouth was a lie. But if that wasn’t the reason, what was his motive for helping AgriProspects? Even if he didn’t know the Men of Honor were behind the company, he knew they wanted the diamonds. He had to.”

Cairo slid into the next lane, attention fixed on the road. “Why are you asking me? You’ll get your chance to ask him soon enough.”

“Like I haven’t gone down that road with him before? I badgered and pelted him for an explanation. He gave as much a shit about my tears as he did my anger. I’m coming because he’ll open up to you if anyone,” I admitted, “and I’ll be there when he does. But before all of that, I want to know what you think, Cairo. I can’t be the only one who made you feel betrayed in the last twelve hours.”

“Not that betrayal, de Souza.”

I bit back a sigh, knowing exactly why he was resorting to my last name.

“He’s not working for the Men of Honor,” Cairo said. “I’ve told you before. They’ve got nothing he wants.”

“They could’ve threatened you.”

“Making threats to a sheriff? That’s a ticket to prison, not untold riches.”

“We’re dealing with shadows who leave black let—” I shot up straight. “Black letters come to those wise enough to untangle the prose. Black letters come to men who remember who served them when. Black letters come with a price. Remember what you owe. Bow to the sacrifice.”

I gripped his wrist. “Your father used to mumble that when he was drunk.”

“Yeah. So?”

Warmth leached from my skin. “So, you weren’t the first person to recite that rhyme to me, Cairo. It was Cavendish. I overheard him saying it to himself once and I asked what it meant. He said...”

“What?” Cairo prompted when I stopped. “What did he say?”

“He said it was a reminder to repay your favors. That a man who doesn’t uphold his side of a deal is lower than dirt. A letter is a chance to make things right,” I said, echoing his words. “As long as they’re smart enough to heed the opportunity.

“Why would your father be repeating the same rhyme as a psychopath?”

Nothing showed on his face. “Once again, you’re asking the wrong person. I told you everything my father told me about that rhyme.”

“Cairo, the most obvious conclusion is that they were sending him letters threatening you. He didn’t know who it was. If he did, Davidson would be in a dark hole where he belongs. The Men of Honor turned him. Against his will, but all the same, they did.”

If I expected a loud and harsh denial, I didn’t get it.

“Your instinct here is to jump to the simplest conclusion,” Cairo said. “I don’t blame you, but there’s something obvious you’re missing.”

“Like what?”

A red light finally made him stop and look at me. “Who is in the Society of Sisters, de Souza?”

I frowned. “Your mothers. Nora, the mayor, the judge, the dean, and Legend’s mother.”

“Who told you this?”

“Zoey did. The night th-they—” I choked on the rest.

“There it is,” he said, inclining his head. “If they know who they are, they know all of our mothers have a weakness. Nora couldn’t give two shits about me, but she’d do anything for Paris. And Judge Stone, the mayor, and the dean aren’t about to shrug it off and sit on their asses if letters fell on their doorstep, threatening their sons’ lives.

“So if they’re going to haul out the threats and violence toward anyone, why would they start so low on the totem pole? Why not get the mayor and judge to repeal all the laws standing in their way? Why not blackmail Mrs. St. James for all the money in her bank account, so they can buy the town outright?”

My lips parted but nothing came out. Cairo had a scarily good point. There was a benefit to having a sheriff in your pocket, but why would you start there if you could also control a mayor, judge, a dean, and two of the wealthiest women in town?

“Because they don’t know who is in the Society.”

“You just said—”

I flapped a hand. “No, no. I’m not talking about those who attacked us that night. The people working with Zoey and Cavendish. I mean Steven Ellis and the Crows. They don’t know who they’re up against. You’re right, why waste time in this war with the five of you, when they could’ve gone straight for your mothers?

“They must have...” The pieces struggled to come together. “Ellis must’ve made him cover up for Clein and AgriProspects. Cavendish and Ellis broke off their partnership. Cavendish wanted you dead as punishment for your dad working for the wrong side, because he didn’t remember who served him when.”

Cairo shifted back to the wheel, taking off. “It’s a theory.”

“That makes sense,” I pressed. “Steven Ellis would be doing things a lot differently if he knew all the positions of power in town were held by women who were born to stand against him.”

“But why didn’t Cavendish tell him that when they were on good terms? How the fuck did he find out the truth about the Society in the first place? And why did he have you kill him before he achieved the Men of Honor’s goal? Why are his people targeting you now instead of coming for us or the Society? I’m telling you, de Souza, you’re looking for a simple explanation.” He shook his head. “There’s nothing simple about any of this.”

We fell silent. My mind twisted and turned going down the myriad of possibilities for everything that’d happen to me. I couldn’t begin to guess what Cairo was thinking.

“Do you think Arsenio will be okay?” The sheriff’s house came into view.

“Do you care?”

“What?” My brows snapped together. “Of course I care. Why would you ask me that?”

Parking the car, he shoved his door open. “Rainey loved Arsenio. Not you.”

“I—!”

Cairo slammed it shut and strode off inside without a backward glance. I fumed, shaking as I stared at the spot he disappeared. It wasn’t because of what he said. It was the true meaning under it. What he wanted to say was I loved Rainey. Not you.

I had become a different person in his eyes, and he noticed it immediately. There were a lot of things I’d done and said over the years that weren’t me but were so Rainey.

I became her in ways that shocked me now. I ate all her favorite foods, watched her favorite shows, redid my associate’s degree under another name, and fell for guys I wouldn’t have crossed paths with because of our age difference.

But fall for them I did. I remembered who I was in those final moments before I jumped off the bridge. I remembered Zoey taking away the last of my family and the sister I loved more than anything. As she stood there, smirking about ripping my guys away, I jumped to protect them without hesitation.

How did I make him see nothing’s changed?

Why would he see that?an insidious voice asked. Why would any of them? When a person you love changes in every way, they’re no longer the person you love. Everything Rainey did to earn their trust and love, Ivy washed away in the river.

I got out of the car, taking what felt like a mile-long journey to the welcome mat. No, I was no longer the version of my sweet sister that I was playing. The real me was calmer, harder, sharper. She was an endless well of pain and misery that she learned to wield into a weapon. There was nothing pleasant or submissive about the real me... which is why I won’t sit back and take Cairo’s shit.

He doesn’t get to stop loving me. I would have him, Legend, Jacques, Arsenio, and Roan in every way they had me. Their hang-ups—they’d get over it. Their trust issues—they’d let them go.

The Bedlam Boys were mine.

Always will be.

I entered Jack Sharpe’s beer-reeking, stained hovel, finding Cairo on the couch. I molded to his side, then tipped over, falling against the cushions when he shoved away from me. Swinging out, I grabbed his wrist and pulled, tugging him on top of me.

“Argh!” Cairo flipped and pinned me flat, securing my arms over my head. “Keep your fucking hands to yourself, de Souza.”

My legs snaked around his waist. Looking him in the eyes, I said, “No.”

Rage stoked into an inferno. “Let me make this very clear. I don’t want you.” His lips pressed to my ear. “I never will.”

I pushed down the sting. Cairo was never going to make this easy for me. “You don’t have to do this, Cairo. I’m not her.” The barest peck brushed his lips. “I’m not Nora.”

“Careful.”

I didn’t heed the warning in his hiss. “I’ll always choose you.”

He snarled, face twisting unrecognizable. “Then you’re pathetic. I’m keeping you around until I figure out exactly what’s going on in my town. After Jeremy, his boys, and all your old friends are in the ground, I’m done with you.”

“We’ll see.”

“Pathetic,” he whispered against my lips. “Waste your time on someone who can stand the sight of you. All I see is an impostor.”

I didn’t stop him getting up and storming upstairs. Dragging out the conversation was just inviting him to think of more horrible things to say to me. He lost Rainey the night before. When I lost her, I handled it much worse.

Sitting up, I settled in to wait. And wait. And wait.

Minutes stretched into hours. The sun stretched across the sky, giving rise to hunger pains that reminded me of how long it’d been since I’d eaten. Where the hell was Sheriff Sharpe?

“Cai—” I called out as his footsteps hit the stairs. I twisted around, meeting his gaze—still pissed. “Should he be taking this long?”

“This isn’t a regular day on the job. Finding a body on the bridge calls for clocking out late.”

I nodded. “I’ll get started on making us something to eat, then.”

“He won’t have anything in the house,” he said, going into the kitchen. Cairo returned with a phone and takeout menu. He tossed both in my direction.

“What do you want?” I called.

He didn’t reply, heading back up the stairs.

Sighing, I studied the Chinese restaurant menu. I recognized the logo as the same one on the bags Paris carried into her room, beaming as we got down to a fun night of movies, board games, food, and geeking out.

Paris.

How was I supposed to tell her all of this? I could hardly say a psychotic death club got their hooks into me while my mental health was teetering on the edge, and then the murder of my sister was the final push that tipped me over.

I’m not the girl you knew. The one you had so much in common with. The one who could still make goofy jokes. Laugh. Smile. That girl died long before she lost her sister.

No, there just wasn’t a good way to start that conversation.

“Hello, this is China Garden. How can I help you?”

“Hi. Can I have the honey garlic chicken, cashew chicken, and a small order of wonton soup, please? Thank you.”

I gave him the address and wrapped up the call. My stomach was already growling for that cashew chicken.

“So you faked everything.”

Jerking, I whirled around. Cairo watched me from his seat on the steps—elbows slung across his knees and gaze boring into me.

“Rainey hated nuts.”

Slowly, I lowered the phone. “But I don’t. This is strange for me too, Cairo. Imagine how it feels to come out of this fog and realize I was keeping her alive in this way—while her killers ran around free.”

“This is just some switch you pulled. Twenty-four hours ago, you were Rainey de Souza. Now you’re eating cashew chicken on my couch with that dead-eyed look like nothing touches you.”

“If you’ve got something you want to ask, ask it,” I snapped. “You want to know who I am. Who Ivy is. I’ll tell you, Cairo. I’ll tell you anything, but you need to stop acting like this was all one big plot to trick you guys into falling in love with me.” Cairo stood in the middle of my sentence and walked off. “You don’t get to make the worst thing that’s ever happened to me about you!”

A door slam was my only reply.

Cursing, I clutched my head—pressure building behind my eyes. Goodness, he was such an ass. How had everything about me changed, but I was still in love with that prick?

The question passed through my mind and the answer rose to meet it. I still loved him because one thing hadn’t changed. The darkness in him called to me. It had always been there no matter what name I called myself. These were the only guys for me. Anyone else would look in these dead eyes... and run.

Eventually, the food came. I called for Cairo but he didn’t come down. There was no use pushing him. I left his food outside the door and continued my silent vigil downstairs. I had plenty of thoughts to occupy my mind.

Who killed Zoey? If the Bedlam’s Men of Honor and Steven Ellis’s Men of Honor didn’t want the same thing, what were they after? Why come for Gran and my family? Were there diamonds on my farm? Had they been there all along?

Back and forth my mind went long into the night. The more answers we got, the less I understood.

“De Souza?” A firm hand shook me. “De Souza, get up.”

I shot up, heavy eyes cracking open. Empty containers and fallen couch cushions greeted me. I fell asleep.

“Cairo? Is your father here?” I spun, noting a sunless sky seeping moonlight through the window. “You didn’t talk to him without me, did you?”

“I would’ve, but no.” A look I’d never seen before crept across his handsome face. “Old man didn’t come home. I ended up calling the station. The receptionist picked up and said he left hours ago. Something’s wrong.”

“Wrong? You said a new body meant late nights.” I got to my feet, vision clearing on the clock. It was two in the morning. “Could he be out tracking down leads on Zoey’s killer?”

“He would be, if there was any report of a body found on Chaney Bridge.” Cold understanding dawned. “Connie didn’t know what the hell I was talking about. She’s never heard of Zoey Mariner or that she’s dead.”

“He took her.” The truth ripped from my throat. “Arsenio was bleeding out. Zoey was dead. We had no choice but to get out of there and get him help. After we left, he took the body. Whoever killed her was watching the whole time.”

He nodded—a sharp jerk of the head.

“But if the sheriff isn’t out chasing her killer, where is he?”

“We’ve established that I don’t know everything that guy gets up to. He prefers to do his drinking alone here where gossip won’t spread, but he could’ve hit up a bar. I’m going out to look, and taking you to Paris.”

“No, I’m going with you,” I said before he finished the sentence. “Why should we split up?”

In a blink, he was in my face. “Because I want rid of you, but I also want you right where I can find you. You’re going to Paris. Stop wasting my time arguing.”

Cairo marched to the door, expecting me to follow. I did. I was going everywhere he went whether he liked it or not. Let him drive to Paris’s place, unless he planned to carry me inside, I wasn’t getting out of the car. I would be there when he spoke to his father. I was getting the truth—all of it. Tonight.

Cairo yanked on the knob, stepping aside to let me through first. I froze, eyes widening.

“Cairo.” My lips went numb. “Cairo... look.”

Frowning, he followed my gaze to the welcome mat, and the single black letter lying upon it.

He stilled.

A minute passed.

Two.

Three.

I took a step. Then another.

Cairo didn’t move or stop me. Bending down, I picked up the letter and cracked the seal.

Cairo Sharpe,

Apologies for our associate. She went rogue and forgot our true purpose. For that, she had to go.

We are now under new management. Mine.

We do not wish the Bedlam Boys dead. You serve too important a function, fighting Steven Ellis and his plans out in the open while we’re confined to the shadows. As long as you continue serving that purpose and give up any attempts to find us, you, your friends, your girlfriend, and your father get to live.

Of course, the Bedlam Boys are used to doing what they want, whenever they want. Taking orders is hard for you, so as an incentive to stay in line, we’re hanging on to your father until our joint goal is complete, and Steven Ellis is gone for good.

It’s for the best. For us to do what we do and assist in the fight, we need a sheriff whose loyalty is without question.

Bedlam will not be had by the descendant of a coward who abandoned the fight. We’ve stayed right here, bleeding and sacrificing for the legacy that is our birthright. Bedlam will be ours.

So get to work.

Signed,

Dante

Cairo didn’t say a word as I read. He still wasn’t moving.

“Dante,” I repeated, lips twisting. “He is one of them, and he took your father.” I reached for him. “Cairo, say something.”

Nothing.

I read the letter again, then again. “We need a sheriff whose loyalty is without question. He didn’t bother to sugarcoat. Davidson—the evil, corrupt piece of shit—will be put in charge.” I paused for Cairo’s reaction. He gazed at the mat like the letter was still there. “I... I don’t even want to think about what this means. Even if we report your father’s disappearance, he’ll make sure the investigation goes nowhere. And as for everything else these guys plan to do...”

I stared at him. “Cairo? Cairo, say something.”

“Okay.”

It took me a moment to realize the word came from him. His lips barely moved.

“Okay? Okay, what?”

“Okay,” he repeated, finally turning to me. Finally letting me see his eyes.

I lurched back.

“They want a war.” Cairo snatched the letter. “They’ve got one.”