I paused, letting it sink in. All the moments I’d witnessed Melody training him alone—slowly explaining things to him, separating him from the rest of the children just to talk—flashed through my mind. “He feels personally offended. They aren’t just Ethan and Dona. They’re HIS siblings. People he loves. This is about him. It may seem like he’s avenging his family. But it’s just his selfishness. They hurt his people. So, he’s going to do anything and everything to make sure those people hurt…hurt worse. Like a kid that has his toy broken, he’s going to get revenge for his own sake.”
“And by default, become Ethan’s soldier, protector, enforcer...the hammer upon everyone’s head… he’s just going to keep hammering until he feels better.”
“And he won’t feel better until his toy is fixed…until Ethan is back to where he wants.”
“Until then, expect chaos.” She sounded proud. “Expect it to last until Ethan is back… When Ethan comes back…no one will ever question him out fear of having to deal with Mahdoc again. Melody’s plan. Wound one son, and unleash the worst in the other.”
She wasn’t just proud…she was gleeful.
In the same sense that Neal had been on the phone.
They both felt it. They felt it in the way animals feel an earthquake or a tsunami coming. The only difference was they didn’t fear it; they weren’t running from it because it felt like home…it felt like the old days. It felt like Liam and Melody…and Sedric were here.
Looking out the window, I could only imagine the terror that would be unleashed soon… Liam, Melody, Sedric…my own father. They were here…the ruthlessness it didn’t end…it was just passed down from one generation to the next, growing stronger and darker.
Wyatt was just now coming into his own.
Which was good for this family and hell on earth for everyone else.
I glanced down at the beauty in my arms for a moment and then back to Evelyn as she lifted her eyes. “You have any more pills left? I have a feeling I might not be sleeping for a while either.”
She laughed, shaking her head at me.
Welcome back to Chicago, Declan…the forecast is as it has always been…windy with a chance of murder.
No sooner had I thought it, my phone rang, and the name on the screen was none other than the new Mahdoc himself.
“Hello, Wyatt.”
FOUR
“Who are you?”
“Angel to some. Devil to others.”
~ Unknown
HELEN
Be ruthless.
That was his answer when I asked him what he was going to do now. For some reason, even though I knew who he was, knew what this family did and would do…I still couldn’t merge the Wyatt I’d always known—goof-ball Wyatt, smart-ass Wyatt, charming Wyatt—with the one who’d spoken on screen. The man who without hesitation set a trap with children and let them burn. I didn’t know that Wyatt. That part of him…I’d never seen it. Was he the Wyatt I’d always known or this new Wyatt? In my mind, I kept asking myself the same three questions.
Who was he?
When did he get to this point?
Where was the old Wyatt?
“Helen?”
Turning off the tablet, tossing it to the side before rising from my desk, I couldn’t help but feel like a little kid. Breathe, Helen.
“Hi, Mom.” I grinned, meeting her in the middle of my room and hugging her tightly. Feeling her arms around me, the curls of her hair brush against the side of my face, I felt my whole body relax.
“What’s wrong?”
That was short-lived. I tensed back up, pulling back from her. “Nothing!”
Damn it. I didn’t even need to look at her to know that didn’t sound even the least bit truthful.
“Helen?” She called again, lifting my chin so she could look me in the eye. My mother Cora had three ultimate superpowers. “You’re lying to me.”
Yep. The first my dad liked to call her bullshit detector. Which made it even harder for a bad liar, such as myself, to get away with anything. Sighing, I tried to smile again, staring into her dark brown eyes. “Can we let it slide?”
She frowned, causing small wrinkles to form on her brown skin. And she looked back and forth in my eyes, as if she were reading, before putting both her hands on my cheeks. “Normally, since you asked, I would let it slide, but sweetheart, you look terrified. Did something happen to you? Are you alright? You know you can tell me anything. I won’t be upset—”
“No. I’m fine. I swear,” I said quickly before her imagination got the better of her. Reaching up, I pulled her hands down.
“Okay. I won’t push.” She sounded hurt…which was her second superpower, the guilt trip. It didn’t matter if she was the one in the wrong. Somehow, she’d twist it around and make you feel like you were the one in the wrong. “Oh, I missed you!”
“Mom!” I couldn’t brace for it. Her third superpower, super hugs, had me trapped in her arms for dear life.
“Now that am I back, you and I should go to the spa. Have a girls day. You can speak computer geek to me until the sun comes up.”
I laughed, nodding. “I speak computer nerd, not geek.”
“What’s the difference?” she questioned, finally releasing me from her bear grip, but before I could reply, she just waved me off, going off on her own tangent. “You know, forget it. I’m going to book an appointment now.”
“Book…you aren’t going to just rent out the whole spa?” I mocked.
“Nope.” She grinned from ear to ear, pulling her phone out of her skirt pocket. “How can I show off what an awesome daughter I have if no one else is there?”
“Mom, you’re such a dork—”
“Excuse me, I prefer nerd.” She rolled her neck at me as she mocked me. However, it
