Page 39

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Vivian

I’ve slept most of the drive to Dawson’s family cabin. Archer sat in the back with me and told me to lay my head on his lap and sleep, so I did. I barely got a wink of shut eye last night. Just when I thought they were finally done with me, one of them would want to fuck again which just forced the other two to match his stamina. The sweetest moments were when the three of them would fuck me hard and rough but whisper words of admiration and love in my ear. I can still feel the ghost of each of them inside me. It’s been a long time since I have felt this content and I’ll be damned if I ever let anything get in the way of me being with them ever again.

They made me promise to never push them away again last night and I wept. I swore that there is nothing on this earth that would ever take me away from them again. I could tell that my words eased some of their worries, but I know it will take time for them to believe me fully, which is fine. I plan to spend every day of the rest of my life showing them how fucking much I love them and that I’m not going anywhere. I told them about the urn and how it contains David’s ashes. I expected them to tease me or something but all they did was say how sorry they are for my loss and placed the urn on the mantle in the living room.

“Holy shit, Dawson is loaded,” Hayze mutters. I sit up and try to shift toward the other side of the car but Archer wraps an arm around my waist and tucks me into his side. I sigh, trying to act bothered but the deadpan look he gives me tells me he knows I’m full of shit. I chuckle and snuggle into his side as I stare out his window.

My jaw unhinges!

When Dawson said cabin, I pictured a small, weathered log cabin in the mountains with barely any space, but what I see before us is a fucking lodge. The place is huge! Like I mean it has huge A-frame windows, allowing you to see the beautiful mountains that surround you. Downstairs all you see are windows allowing the natural sunlight to beam in daily, with shrubs planted around the house, a swing hangs on the front porch. There are other smaller cabins that surround the masterpiece in the center, this palace is stunning. Even with the windows up I can smell the pine trees. I smile unable to stop the feeling of happiness radiating through me.

This feeling is everything I have always craved and dreamed of. Being here with my guys so madly in love and happy is everything. I couldn’t ask for a better Christmas gift than this, everything I will ever need or want is in this car.

“You ready to face your mother?” Archer asks quietly.

“Forget Jane, Vox is going to lose his shit when he sees her,” Hayze adds, making me cringe.

“If he has an issue with her coming to us first, he can fucking take that shit up with me,” Ez bites out as he puts the car in park. I look out the window just in time to see the front door open to reveal Nova standing there in a hideous Christmas sweater. The sight of my best friend has tears of gratefulness surging inside me but the second the looming presence behind her steps onto the porch, my eyes widen and laughter catches in my throat at the sight of my twin standing there, looking like he hates life as he wears a bright green Grinch sweater.

“Oh shit, maybe we should hide her until later,” Hayze mutters.

“Why?” I ask.

“He hasn’t seen her yet, the tints on the windows are too dark,” Archer mumbles.

“Huh?” I hedge.

“Fucking Nova is going to get us all killed,” Ezekiel mutters bitterly.

“What’s going on?” I snap.

“Your brother is clearly being forced to wear that fucking ugly thing by Nova, which means he is already in a bad mood.” I roll my eyes at Hayze, and before they can stop me, I scoot away from Archer and push my door open, ignoring their protests as I run around the car and stand at the edge of the walkway facing my brother. Instantly his face blanks of emotion. Nova stumbles forward and grabs his arm for support as she peers down at me from the porch. I feel my guys slide up behind me and flank me on either side.

“What are you two doing out here—” My mom appears at Nova’s side and clamps her mouth closed, unable to finish when she spots me. It takes her a split second before a sob claws its way out of her. Then she is racing down the stairs to me. I run to her and we both clash together, crying as we hold each other tight. “Oh my God, my baby,” she cries.

“I’m here, Mom,” I choke out through my tears as I hold her close, never wanting to let go.

“Vivian, I have missed you so much. I thought I lost you.” Her sobs grow and I begin to worry about her, then her legs give out. Before she drops to the ground, a hulking form appears and wraps his arms around both of us holding us close and tight.

“I got you both, always.” I pull one of my arms free from my mom and wrap it around my brother who buries his face in the top of my head. “I love you, Vi.”

“I… love you… too,” I cry as I grip him tight. Vox’s breaths are coming in fast rapid pants as he tries to reign in his emotions. Mom pulls back, breaking our three way hug to grab my face. She stands there with tears trailing down her cheeks, looking at me. As if my twin can sense I need him he stands beside me and wraps an arm around my shoulders, anchoring me.

“Don’t ever do that to me again, okay?” I nod.

“I won’t,” I promise.

“I thought I had lost my baby,” she chokes out—guilt churns inside me.

“She’s too annoying to die, Mom. I told you that.” I scoff and elbow my brother in his ribs, which just earns me getting my hair ruffled by him.

“Let me go tell the other’s, they are going to be so happy you're okay.” I nod and watch as she rushes back inside. Vox shifts to stand in front of me. The mood instantly shifts from happy to ominous. My guys push forward to stand at my back, showing Vox that they will shut him down if he plans to go off on me.

“Thank you, Little Sister.” I reel back and smack into Hayze.

“W-what?” I stutter.

Vox smiles. “You saved all of us. I guess it turns out I didn’t need to protect you, you did that all on your own.” My bottom lip trembles as warmth spreads through me.

“From the womb to the tomb, Brother,” I whisper.

“Okay, I waited long enough, my turn.” Nova shoves Vox aside and then she is wrapping me up in a bone crushing hug that robs me of air. “I missed you.”

I melt into her. “I missed you too.”

“We never gave up, Vivi. We searched for you.”

“I know, thank you for trusting me,” I say low enough for only her to hear.

“Always.” We pull apart and smile at each other.

“We don’t have to wear one of those as well, do we?” Hayze asks as he wraps an arm around my waist. My brother narrows his eyes but says nothing.

“Actually, yes. You all have one each. Don’t fucking deny Jane, it made her so happy to see Vox wearing his.” All the guys start laughing at my brother’s expense. Vox shoots them all glares before storming back into the house. “He is such a Grinch.”

My eyes widen. “You helped my mom choose his sweater, didn’t you?” I ask.

Nova pushes her tongue into her cheek and shrugs. “I may have made a suggestion.” The five of us all laugh at my poor twin's expense.

I can’t keep the smile off my face. Mom, Lilly, Olivia and Mary made all the boys wear their Christmas sweaters and they even made them take a group photo that Nova and I forced them to send us, and you best believe that photo of them grinning like they were in pain is our phones’ wallpapers. Dawson’s family has been nothing but welcoming and so nice. I was nervous to meet Leah, Alex, Katie and Val considering I hacked into their husband’s computers but none of them held it against me. I was so shocked to see Katie with Crue and Saint, their marriage may not be legal but to them it is. Both guys are so in love with her and dote on the children. Henry and Shane have been grilling Corvin, Crue, Saint, Beckett and Darius about the teams they used to play for.

Everyone has been so happy and kind that it makes my heart swell inside my chest. “I wish my mom was here to see this,” Nova says sadly from beside me. Pain blooms inside me.

I turn to face her. “I’m so sorry, Nova. I know Ez promised you Thomas’s head on a silver platter but I wish I could take it all back?—”

“It’s not your fault, Vivian,” she says as she slowly turns to me. I see nothing but understanding in her eyes. “My mom was fucking incredible and she loved you. She wouldn’t have wanted you to blame yourself for what happened. I just miss her and Waylen so fucking much, ya know?”

I nod. “Actually, I do. I have an urn of my own now.” I explain to her about what happened to David and being the freaking amazing person that she is she offers me her support and tells me she is here for me always.

“You answering questions?” Vox asks as he suddenly appears behind us on the porch, scaring the fucking shit out of us.

“Seriously? That isn’t funny,” Nova scolds, earning a dry stare from my brother.

“What questions do you have?” I ask.

“A lot,” Archer says as he, Ez and Hayze join us on the porch. I nod and motion for them to follow me. We make our way around the wrap around porch. I claim the swing and Nova joins me, leaving the four guys to stand. I can hardly take any of them seriously wearing those fucking sweaters. They may be hard and ruthless but none of them are willing to insight their mother’s wrath by taking them off. My mom was even considerate enough to buy one for Dawson, who unlike these four actually seems happy to wear his.

“Ask me whatever you want to know,” I say.

“Why did you make a company in our name when we…” Ez lets his sentence trail off so I finish it for him.

“When we weren’t even a thing?” He purses his lips and nods. “Honestly, I don’t know. I think a part of me always wished what we are now would be a possibility, but I never wanted to hope. Plus, the name seemed to fit.”

“How so?” Hayze pushes.

“The letter A was used as a scarlet letter to mark women who were viewed as promiscuous. I felt it fitting since I had planned to take over a male dominated society and rule them,” I answer.

“Fuck yes, get it girl,” Nova praises. The guys all snicker at her remark which has me scowling at them.

“Look, I know you guys are still salty about what I did and how I did it, but this was the only way I knew I could end them once and for all and give our families freedom. Your fathers will never have to answer another call from the Saints, our mother’s will never have to bury another loved one. You guys can go to the school you want to and not the one they chose for you. I won’t be forced to marry someone I don’t love?—”

“Damn fucking right,” Ez adds, cutting me off. I shoot him a wink.

“Ezy A was my way of making sure they would never be able to rebuild and hurt anyone else.”

“How did you do it?” Archer asks. I can hear the curiosity in his voice.

“Dawson’s family dealt with a similar situation. I had a meeting with them and they helped me. Because of them I was able to funnel the money from the Saints into an offshore account that can’t be traced, then I funneled it back into Ezy A to fund the builds for the hotels like Lividica. Ezy A is also funding the build for the expansion of the high school and the build of the college in Hollow Hills. Because of Ezy A, we are able to offer kids an education. We didn’t have a local college but we will. These hotels will give thousands of people jobs. A shitty start because of the Saints, but it will end with a happy ending because of Ezy A.” I implore them to understand my reasoning.

“But you aren’t even listed as an owner, why?” I look at my brother and smile.

“I knew the feds would come knocking on my door as the lordess and I couldn’t have anything traced back to me and risk them shutting down everything I built. So I knew the only way to do what I did was to banish all of you.”

“Because you banished them, the feds would never look to them for anything because they were never involved. I’ll say it again, you are an evil genius.” I preen and smile at Nova’s compliment.

“Vivian, we can’t accept this, you worked so hard for this, not us,” Ezekiel argues.

I shrug my shoulders. “Too bad. I’ll help you all from behind the scenes but I can never be the face of Ezy A.”

“Why?” Archer pushes.

“Because the CIA is watching me. They can’t prove I’m the one who stole the money and they won’t stop hunting. I didn’t just take a few hundred thousand,” I admit.

“How much did you take?” Hayze asks skeptically.

“Three hundred million,” I mumble. All of them begin sputtering and choking on their own spit.

“Are you fucking crazy!” Vox shouts.

“Don’t fucking yell at her, asshole,” Hayze warns, earning a glare from my brother.

“Wait, how much is Ezy A worth with all the hotel builds and everything now?” Nova asks.

“It’s now a billion dollar company.” All five of them stand there with their mouths open in stupor. I nibble on my bottom lip nervously, but the second my guys drop their eyes to my mouth, I see desire lurking in their gazes so I release it quickly. Getting horny in front of my brother is a sure fire way to get all three of them digging their own graves and I personally don’t need another death on my hands.

“Who else knows what you did?”

I look to Ez as I answer his question. “David knew but he’s obviously not here anymore which just leaves… Tate.” I suddenly feel like a real piece of shit, I haven’t thought about her until now.

“What happened to her?” Nova rasps out.

“Believe it or not, just before the guys arrived Nexus did.” Every single one of them wear varying looks of shock, surprise and disbelief.

“Nexus? As in Nexus care for no one but himself Nexus?” Hayze blurts out.

I nod. “Yeah. He got Tate out before the lights came back on.”

“Where is Thomas, Vi?” Ezekiel just asked the million dollar question that I have been waiting for.

“He and six others will spend the rest of their lives in a prison in Panama. Their existence will be wiped from records and the CIA will make it look like they never existed.” Hatred laces my tone.

“He’ll never get out, right?”

I turn to Nova and clasp her hand in mine, meeting her gaze. “I promise you, where he is going is worse than hell. He will suffer every day for the rest of his miserable fucking life.”

“Tate deserved a better father and brother,” she mutters.

“Tate deserved more than what she got, that’s for sure,” I agree.

“Do you trust her?” Vox asks in an unyielding tone.

I debate his question for a minute before I nod. “Yeah, I do.”

“You know if she is with Nexus, she’ll be hunted by Alexander. He won’t stop until Nexus pays for what he did to his sister.” Nova’s admission has my stomach cramping with worry for my friend.

“Alex won’t hurt her,” I say, hoping that I’m not grasping at straws and that Tate will be safe.