Page 141

“We’re all concerned about Kiera, and we don’t know Yolanda well. She never hung with us.”

I tugged at my hair. This was ridiculous. “That’s because she has her own group of friends. My grandma was friends with her parents. So when they died, my grandma took her in.”

“So she’s not your real cousin.”

“No.”

“Audri said she showed a picture of you kissing Yolanda when you were younger.”

What the fuck? I knew my friends were trying to see the truth, but fucking shit. I felt like I was being interrogated.

“Because she asked for one when her science project won first place in the science fair in sixth grade. It was a kiss on the cheek.”

Had Kiera believed her? Her heart was probably shredded. We hardly spoke about Yolanda. There had never been a reason to.

“She was like a sister to me. And now she’s trying to kill the woman I love.”

I remembered how Yolanda had brought up the science project incident many times during our family dinners until I told her to stop. I never understood why she kept bringing up that kiss that meant nothing and was irrelevant to my current life. When had she started having feelings for me?

“I’ve got news on Red Venom. You want to hear it?” Arrow asked.

“What?”

“He’s in Providence attending a political fundraiser with Senator Mitch Kramer.”

I briefed them that the senator was Kiera’s father and also Yolanda’s boyfriend.

“Wow. Just when I thought we had a handle on this fiasco, it got more complicated.” Arrow blew out a breath.

“No shit,” I said.

“Mitch Kramer was a councilman for Providence a long time ago,” Remi said, looking at his computer. “He became a lawyer and climbed that political ladder fast. Texas loved him more than Rhode Island did.”

A memory surfaced, connecting the dots for me. I’d seen two men discussing an illegal transaction the day after I’d witnessed the crime at the abandoned church with my friends. Two men had been speaking about drug money. One of them had worn red shoes—an image that had never escaped my mind—and the other wore shiny black shoes. The man wearing the red shoes had been Red Venom.

My gut told me it was him.

I’d beensoclose to my father’s killer and not known it. If I had known, could I have done anything? Probably not. At that time, fear had overwhelmed me, and hearing two men speak about another crime only intensified the terror. The quest to find my father’s killer had been pushed aside during that moment when I was afraid someone was after me and my loved ones.

Though I hadn’t seen their faces on that day, I saw and heard enough. Kiera’s father had colluded with my father’s killer. It didn’t matter when they’d joined the crime organization; they were members who had committed crimes, and they would pay.

The web around The Trogyn grew more intricate with every new piece of information I discovered. Somehow the people I knew were linked to them. To destroy a mammoth crime organization seemed impossible for a small group of men like me and my friends. But nothing was impossible if there was a calculated strategy incited with passion—the passion to eradicate these fuckers. Our lives had been turned upside down because of them.

We had damaged this monstrous organization in our own way. Remington had dismantled the sex trafficking ring run by Audri’s uncle, Royce had tackled the corruption within the Providence Police Department, and Grayson had eliminated an elite gambling club and took over the underground tunnels used by the organization. With every attack, The Trogyn weakened.

A plan percolated in my head. Time was of the essence, and I needed all hands on deck. “I’ve got a plan.”

“Let’s hear it,” said Remi and Arrow simultaneously.

* * *

The next day, I picked up Grandma from the airport and brought her to Vitality Health Clinic. She’d heard about Kiera’s condition and wanted to come a day early. During the drive, I’d briefed her about Yolanda.

“I can’t believe this, Forrest. Where have I gone wrong?” Grandma looked out the window. The sadness in her voice flooded the car.

“You did your best. Her choices aren’t your fault,” I said, wanting to remove the disappointment from her face. “We don’t know what truly goes on in someone’s mind. Maybe she hung out with the wrong crowd and made some bad decisions. She claims she loves me.” I still couldn’t believe it.

Grandma looked at me. “You didn’t know?”