Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty-Nine Luca

She must be fucking insane.

I’ve questioned a lot about the woman I love. A fucking lot. I’ve even questioned things about myself. For all the insanity we seem to thrive on, the chaos she sets out to create, the thrill I get from fighting with her over it.

But this is the first time I’m really tempted to duct tape her mouth shut and throw her ass in the closet to wait for us to finish our game plan. Without her. She’d never forgive me. It just might be worth it.

My hand stings as I slam it down on the desk. Everyone jumps except for Letty. She meets my death stare with one of her own. She knows exactly what I’m thinking.

“You have lost your fucking mind if you think we are going to play some sick and twisted version of show-and-tell with those godforsaken photos, Letty.”

She has broken many times over the years, in different ways. She’s even come close to killing herself. She has the visible scars to prove it, and I have the mental ones. Being in love is supposed to be the best feeling in the world. The person makes your world make sense, becomes your home, is a source of comfort and peace. Scar is that for me. Sometimes. She also makes my blood boil, drives me to drink, and has taught me what true fear and grief are.

It’s hard to be in love with someone who doesn’t care if they see tomorrow.

She’s not that fragile girl anymore she is firmly tethered to the here and now. Logically, I know that. But when she broke at seeing the photos Romano had, when she fully lost control to the chaos, I truly thought we may not be able to bring her back. I was terrified that was it. The demons of her past had finally claimed her from me, just when I had been starting to let my guard down. Just when I believed I’d be able to keep her. When I was starting to believe we could all heal and truly move on from our dark pasts. It all began to crumble as she fell apart.

We’ll always be who we are. Born from the shadows others forced upon us. But I thought we’d finally escaped from the chains that had kept us tied there. A few photos were enough to shatter her, and that dream of mine as well.

We’re still in a fragile place of healing, of growth. Setbacks are understandable, but how many can we truly handle before we give up entirely? I can’t handle losing Scar. I’m not strong enough. There’s nothing in the world worth risking her healing. The photos Charles found will do nothing but take her back to that night.

“I’m not saying pass them around the fucking circle, Luca,” she growls through gritted teeth. Her anger is as palpable as my own. Good.

Her anger is better than her sadness. Her pain.

Even hearing their names, learning who they were, recognizing them from her past, it made the memories worse for her. She can put on a brave face now, show all of us how strong she is, but I saw the scared girl from that night still lurking in her eyes.

“There’s nothing left to be found in those photos. Not for you. Not for me. Not for any of us.”

“I want to see them,” she demands.

Everyone else remains silent, their eyes volleying back and forth between us. No one is on her side, she knows it, but if anyone else speaks up, she will double down. We all know it. We won’t be able to outvote her this time. Noah or Declan would try to reason with her. Ryder can’t really say no to her. He’s her yes-man, through and through. Even if he’s on our side here. Kade might have a shot, but she softens for him. She’s playful with him. But me? I bring out her fire, her fight. That’s what we need right now.

She isn’t getting her hands on these damn photos if it’s the last fucking thing I do. But I don’t mind if she goes down swinging. Hell, I encourage it. I’ve taken a black eye from almost everyone in this room at one point or another. One from her would be a badge of honor.

“You’re going to have to pry them from my unconscious hands if you want them.”

Kade moves to his feet, ready to grab her if she really does launch herself at me like she seems to be contemplating. I wave him off as she threatens, “Don’t tempt me.”

I tap my cheek with two fingers, taunting her. “Come on, Letty. You want them? Come take them.”

She growls, but doesn’t attack me like I half expected her to. I wouldn’t have been able to blame her. I was quite literally asking for it. Her body shifts to the desk in front of her and I know what’s going to happen half a second before she screams and flips the desk. I wince. At least it was a desk without a computer on it?

“You’re such a bastard,” she curses, huffing.

Ryder stands beside Kade. “I’ll punch him for you if that’ll make you feel better, boss lady.”

I roll my eyes and snort but some of my tension eases as Scar’s lips twitch.

“I’m not punching anyone,” she huffs, crossing her arms over her chest. “Yet,” she finishes under her breath, making me grin. She’s calming down. She’s pissed, but she hasn’t lost control, not for a moment of our fight.

“I know you want the confirmation,” I concede. This is why I had Charles bring a few of the photos. She needs some type of concession in order to walk away from seeing them. I nod to Noah and he pulls up the images he edited, taking the photos we had and only focusing on their faces. Pulling them closer, lightening them up, and cropping everything else out.

It was hard to watch him work. The color drained from his face as he clicked through each one, rushing to get the worst of the images out of the frame. Ryder and I both knew we wouldn’t be able to handle seeing her like that. The murderous rage would far outweigh any logic we have. Kade wanted to be strong enough to do it, but even he knew he would fly off the handle. The emotional upheaval from the trauma depicted in those photos has no place in this room. Not right now. Not when we need to create a plan more flawless than any plan we’ve ever worked on before.

Declan and Noah are the only ones who were able to click through the photos methodically, quickly. Though neither of them were unaffected. What they saw will haunt them as surely as it will haunt Charles and Scar. Kade stood right by both of them, showing more self-restraint than I could ever manage as he held onto both their shoulders. Offering comfort the only way he could, all while keeping his gaze firmly planted above the computer screen.

Silence hangs in the room as she studies the faces on the screen. Charles moves to her side and grabs her hand. The sight doesn’t bother me as much as it did just a few short days ago. In fact, I’m filled with relief as she rests her head against his shoulder. She’s not shutting down, locking us out. I’ll never be his biggest fan, don’t think we can ever become best friends, but I can accept his role in her life. In this family. The way she needs him in a different way than she needs us.

“It really is them,” she sighs.

Charles’ sigh is just as heavy as hers. “It makes sense in a twisted way.”

She nods against him. “Easy to see the signs now looking back.”

“It’s easy to see a lot of questionable behavior from the adults we were surrounded by back then. It was our normal.” His words make my hands tighten into fists at my sides. The reality of the world they grew up in is far darker and more perverse than should be humanly possible.

I wave to Noah and he takes the photos down off the screen, instead pulling up the information he’s been able to collect on all three of the men who have become our prey over the last twenty-four hours.

“We need to start planning how we’re going to take them out,” I say, trying to steer us back on track. I watch the back of Scar’s head as I talk. “Are we hunting them down individually? Broadcasting their sins? Making it look like an accident?” We’ve done all of the above. What type of justice does she need for this final step of vengeance?

Scar lifts her head from Charles’ shoulder and begins to run her fingers over the desk Noah is sitting at. She chews on her lip and I wait for her answer. It needs to come from her. We will figure out how to give her exactly what she needs from this.

“I want them all together,” she decides.

Of course, she does. I shake my head and smirk.

“In his office. Just like the night this all started,” she continues, a faraway look in her eyes. “I want to recreate that night. Make them feel every bit of pain and humiliation I did. Feel what it’s like to be bleeding out on the floor, helpless, incapable of moving, as smoke fills their lungs and flames inch closer and closer to their bodies. I want them to know the fear of slowly suffocating and being stuck, resigned to their fate as the heat becomes overwhelmingly oppressive. I want them to sit there and be forced to wonder if all the harm they caused was worth their fate all while knowing it’s too late to go back and make different choices. I want pain, fear, shame, and regret to be the last things they ever feel.”

“Oh, is that all?” Ryder asks dryly, but there’s a delighted gleam in his eyes. He loves her plan. Of course he does.

Okay. We’re going with the hardest option to pull off. Getting three grown, suspicious, wealthy men into a designated place without making them wary. Nothing like a challenge.

“I assume you mean Donahue’s office?” He’s the one who took it further than any other, the ringleader of the ones left. She can’t mean her father’s office as it’s gone.

She nods and Charles hums. “Schroder shouldn’t be too hard to get him there, but my father has nothing to do with the Dean any longer.”

Scar moves to sit in Noah’s lap and starts reading through the intel he’s gathered, looking for a connection to get them all together.

“Why don’t we just kidnap all of them?” Jade asks, reminding us she’s even here. She’s been quiet since she and Ian showed up with coffee for all of us.

“‘Cause that’s a lot of work, J,” Declan explains calmly. “We could, but that’s three different teams, three different disappearances to cover up, less time for Scar to work.”

“Yeah, J,” Kade taunts her. “Why are you even here?”

She flips him off and he sticks his tongue out at her. “Moral support,” she answers. “Scar needs someone to hold her hand if she’s being forced to see your ugly mug all day.” Their bantering breaks up some of the growing tension in the room as they intended. Everyone settles in as ideas begin to get tossed out one after another for a way to get the three men together.

Each plan someone offers up is quickly thrown out by another. We go in circles until I begin to tune them all out. Maybe the answer is right in front of us. Something so obvious we’re just overlooking it.

A thread that connects all three men.

“Charlotte,” I whisper.

Heads snap in my direction. My stomach churns at the thought of using this route, but we don’t truly have to use her as bait. I stare at Charles and study him for a moment. He’s really come through for us multiple times. He’s the one who brought the photos, who found the house, who led us to Romano. He’s earned our trust and even my respect.

I fortify my resolve, even if it goes against everything I’ve believed in for the last several years. Everything we’ve fought to protect.

“She’s the string that connects them all,” I explain. Charles’ eyes widen, the first one to understand where my plan is heading. It’s risky, dangerous, not something I ever advocate for, especially when it involves Scar, but we can’t find any other connections. Maybe it’s time to go back to the beginning.

“You want to tell them where she is,” Charles deduces. Hmm, he is smarter than I ever gave him credit for.

Tension ratchets up in the room as everyone’s expressions range from shock to anger to intrigue. It would be Scar that looks intrigued. I raise my hands to placate everyone. “I’m not saying we actually expose her, okay? I think we’re smarter than that.” I’m a little offended they didn’t immediately see that. “We’ve created enough fake identities, we just have to create another one,” I explain. “Photoshop a couple photos of Scar, make her blonde, get rid of her tattoos. Make it look like she’s been living a quiet life in some random town. Thanks to Charles we know where his father has searched for her and what leads he’s followed. We can use that to create a believable past for her.”

Noah’s fingers are already flying over the keyboard. “I can do that.”

“How are we passing this info off?” Declan asks, some of his disbelief being replaced with curiosity. “We can’t just send an anonymous email to Donahue and expect him to fall for it. We might be able to use one of his spies but he’s going to be on guard since several have already been burned. It’ll feel too convenient.”

I tilt my head as I watch Charles watching me. “Where does Daddy dearest think you are?”

He rolls his eyes and flips me off. Oh, he’s getting bolder by the day. He might fit in better than I had thought. Don’t know if I like that, I don’t hate it either though. “Business on the West Coast is all he knows. He hasn’t asked for any more information than that.”

“He has come to believe she’s on the West Coast,” Ry points out. It’s something we realized when we looked into his company. He’s been creeping closer and closer to her all this time. Who knows if he ever would have uncovered the truth? I find it hard to believe he would have figured it out, but he was searching close to us.

“Is my stumbling upon her less convenient?” Charles asks, doubt and hope warring in his voice.

It’s Noah who answers, “Not if we play on his ego, make him think he was headed in the right direction and close to finding her himself.”

“He does have a big ego,” Charles concedes. “I don’t think he will be wholly rational about her either.” A tinge of green crosses his face. He’s thinking about the house he found. We haven’t told Scar about it. I don’t want to. It might be better to destroy it without ever having her know just how deep his obsession ran.

“Do you think it will work?” Scar asks, sounding more like herself.

Charles contemplates his answer. “I think it could,” he agrees. “We just have to set it up perfectly.”

“Leave that to me,” Noah says.

The next several hours are a blur of taking photos of Scar, editing them to look nothing like who she is today and instead a grown up version of who she once was, debating where and how she would have been living her life all these years. The atmosphere is lighter than it’s been since Alec’s funeral. Jokes are tossed out freely as meticulous plans are made. Scar is smiling and laughing at creating this fake life for herself. None of the shadows that have seemed to plague her are present. Instead, a raw energy is filling the room. It vibrates with the intensity, but in a way that makes all of us more excited, more amped up. It’s reminiscent of the night we declared war on Romano.

Confidence runs through all of us that this is going to work. There’s no room for doubts any longer. No chance of anything but blood and vengeance being dealt out at Scar’s hand. The certainty of the end coming seems to smooth some of her jaded edges, her frazzled ends. I bet she won’t have any nightmares tonight.

The day has passed in the blink of an eye as we’ve created this whole life around who Letty could have been. Enough personal touches to make it all the more believable. A dance teacher in a small beach town, not married, no kids, living in a secluded house with views of the ocean. She likes to run along the beach every morning. Those were the hardest photos to photoshop. Removing her tattoos but keeping her scars to help prove it’s really her. No one would know those scars better than Donahue.

Charles just so happens to have a business associate that lives on the same street as our fictitious Letty, laying the groundwork for how he found her. We’ve even created a statement from this associate about how he doesn’t know much about her. She tends to keep to herself and seems rather demure and shy. It should be enough to convince his father it’s real.

It takes a few days to get the rest of our plan in order. As soon as we decided how we were going to lure the three men in Jade, Ian, Rachel, Holden, and Joe flew to the East Coast to keep an eye on our prey. We need to ensure they play into our hands before springing the trap or everything could unravel.

Charles got us photos and the blueprints of the Donahue estate. We’ll hold our positions outside, while he heads straight into the house. We need him to be there first for when Bernard and Schroder show up so their arrivals won’t raise any flags for security. Charles should have the authority to send the majority of the security away, making it easier for us to make our way in without any problems. His excuse for his father will be complete privacy.

We pull up to the tarmac of the private airport we prefer. I check in with each team to confirm their positions. Rachel and Holden have eyes on Schroder at his home in Eastvale. Ian and Jade are at the academy Letty once attended, keeping an eye on Bernard. And Joe is outside Donahue’s office. The guard Charles has on his payroll gives him the go ahead as Donahue heads into a business meeting that is expected to last hours. He shouldn’t have his phone on him for hours, giving us enough time to get there, get in, and set up everything we need to before he even knows what’s sitting in his email.

Now, just to lay the bait.

We all collectively hold our breath as Charles calls his father from the plane. We have a plan if he answers, but his phone should already be off. We sigh in relief when he gives us a small nod.

“Sir,” he starts, “call me back when you get this. I found,” he stutters, letting his voice shake. “I have something you need to see. I think I may have found Charlotte.” He bites his lips, letting emotion bleed into his voice. He’s actually pretty damn believable. “Devereaux,” he adds. “Charlotte Devereaux, I think I found her. I’m sending photos to your private email and am heading to the estate now to show you everything I found.” He just needs to add the final touch to put the nail in this coffin. “I know what happened back then, Father. She’s too much of a liability to leave her where she is. I’ll see you soon.”

He hangs up the phone and hangs his head. “That was fucking awful.” He sits back down in his seat as Noah uses a burner email to send the photos to Donahue’s private email. “That will get him to his home office. I can guarantee that much, but he won’t call the others.”

“No need for him to,” Noah interjects. “I’ve already hacked into his private email to forward the photos you sent to both of them with a message to meet him at your estate. I haven’t sent it quite yet. We’ll wait until we’re already there so we can eliminate the chance of them getting there before we do.”

We settle into our seats and wait for the long but familiar flight to pass. We’re so close to the end I can almost taste the ash on my tongue.