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It’ll come in handy.

“Because it’s a breach of our most sacred rule: The Snake does not deal in drugs much less product that kills,” I cut in levelly. “All the bodies that have been recorded have gone into rapid decomposition. Right now, the police are sniffing around us again, and that puts us in a position we don’t want to be in.”

Tartt meets my eyes, nostrils flaring. He’s not exactly my biggest fan. I don’t know why. He should be licking the ground I walk on.

“What do you propose we do then, Rowan?”

“Pretty simple. Find the person causing all of this chaos and get rid of them,” Xander says next to me.

A loud murmur breaks out around the table.

“We already have a lead,” I say, cutting through the noise. “Someone working in the warehouse was selling it to the workers. His name was Key.”

“Was?” my father asks, lifting a perfectly manicured eyebrow.

“He’s dead,” I clarify.

Another hum of murmurs.

“But he gave us a lead—another dealer. We have surveillance on him now. It’s only a matter of time before he meets whoever is behind this,” I add, cutting through the noise again.

“Looks like you’ve made some good progress,” my father says with an approving nod. “And if you’re right about this drug being dangerous, the sooner you get rid of it, the better for us.”

“You said this person is in The Snake,” another Keeper speaks. Cordelia Qing. “Do you suspect one of us? Is that why we’re here?”

Another uneasy buzz of chatter floods the room. They all look slightly outraged, well as outraged as Senna’s wealthiest aristocrats allow themselves to look, especially with their Botox and fillers.

“Yes,” my mother says honestly. “And if it is one of you, I can assure you that you and your entire family will pay the heaviest price.”

An uneasy silence falls over the room. Now they look terrified. Good.

“Then it’s best you get to the bottom of this quickly then,” Cordelia says, eyebrows drawn, her eyes clearly challenging my mother.

My mother doesn’t flinch at the icy gaze. She glares right back, a smile dancing on her lips. “I have not failed yet, have I, Cordelia?”

A tense moment follows, the two women gazing at each other before Cordelia acquiesces and smiles. “No, not yet.”

Eyes dart between the two women, everyone clearly on edge. Cordelia was the only one brave enough to show her displeasure at being summoned, but I can feel the entire room echoing her thoughts.

They don’t like being ambushed.

When the meeting ends, everyone leaves the room in an uncomfortable silence, the heaviness of my mother’s threat and Haze weighing over them.

“So, what do you think?” Hayden asks.

“None of them looked guilty to me, but whoever is behind this wouldn’t be scared off by a meeting like this,” Xander says.

“I don’t like Cordelia,” Hayden says. “Something off about her.”

Cordelia Qing is an heiress to an extremely wealthy but corrupt oil family. Her face is constantly twisted in disdain, and her little secret is that she enjoys cheating on her husband with men who are decades younger than her and with multiple at the same time. In fact, if Xander got to know her better, he might find they have some things in common.

Not to kink shame.

But as much as she openly challenged my mother, Cordelia is one of the most loyal and high-ranking members of The Snake.

I doubt it’s her.

Across the room, I spot my father making his way towards us. I stand up a little straighter just as he nods at me. “A word?”