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CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

The first person I thought to call the moment the three of us couldn’t reach our wives—and I couldn’t reach Marla—was Badger.

To my surprise, though, when he answered and I quickly explained the situation, he sounded calm. He told me he was already at Morrison’s house and that he wasn’t going to do what I’d asked—which was call the police.

Marla’s fiancé said we’d talk when I arrived, but he did want to confirm whether the rest of the guests would only be arriving in Cape Cod by nightfall. I told him yes.

I pushed for answers, and he finally gave me a quick rundown of what he’d seen when he got to Morrison’s place.

He said all the women were with him, resting safely after being checked out by a doctor friend of his.

As soon as he was sure they’d be okay on their own, he planned to go back to Morrison’s.

I asked him where my cousin was. He replied, “Sleeping.”

I didn’t fully understand what that meant—and honestly, I didn’t care. All that mattered was that Alexis, her mother, and our wives were safe.

Badger told us not to come by helicopter, without giving a reason. Said to drive instead, that it would take the same amount of time. But I’d already made arrangements and had my plane ready. From the private airport in Cape Cod to Morrison’s house, it’d take just half an hour.

Hours later, when we finally arrived, I had no idea what to expect—but I wasn’t shocked when Badger walked out of my cousin’s house with blood on his knuckles.

"He woke up. I was keeping him company ."

"Tell me everything," I said the moment we stepped inside.

We didn’t go straight down to the basement/club. We stayed in the foyer, listening while Badger laid out what he’d witnessed and what the women had told him.

It sounded like something out of a horror movie, and even I—a cold, calculating man—had a hard time wrapping my head around the madness.

Because of an obsession, Morrison destroyed and rerouted the entire course of Marla and Alexis’s lives.

He kept Alexis’s mother from marrying the man she loved. Left her young, pregnant, alone, and mentally shattered to the point that she had to give her baby—my Alexis—up for adoption.

But he didn’t stop there. Years later, when he found her again, he tried to burn her alive. Failed again.

And finally, he committed murder just to try to have her thrown in prison.

"Alexis told me he confessed to being the father of Jodie’s child—your ex. His real target was you. All of you. For saving Marla from that fire."

"Now the hospital hacking and the swapped tests make sense."

"What are you talking about?" Badger asks.

"I’ll explain later," I say. "Please, go on."

"He didn’t expect Jodie to drive her car into a truck," Marla’s fiancé continues. "I’m pretty sure dying wasn’t part of his plan."

"Fuck," William mutters, dragging both hands down his face.

"But I still don’t get why he told me to go after Alexis," I say.

"He told me he changed his mind. Said he wanted to toy with you before destroying you. I interrogated him once I was sure the women were safe, LJ. Morrison was going to kill them last night, but they didn’t drink the drugged champagne.

They went to bed instead. That bought me enough time to save them, otherwise, he would’ve caught them asleep.

He said it would’ve been the perfect punishment for you three—to know your women died alone and defenseless. "

"That son of a bitch." I start heading downstairs, William and Athanasios following close behind.

But before we reach the bottom, Badger says, "I’m not letting him walk out of here alive, LJ. He ruined Marla’s life. He was going to set the house on fire with all four of them inside. I believe in retribution. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. I’m going to give him what he deserves."

None of us say a word. And when I reach the basement and see Morrison tied to a chair, I wish I could say I feel some kind of pain—knowing that my cousin, the man I once valued like a brother, like one of my best friends, is nothing more than the devil in human form.

But it isn't pain I feel. It's hatred. Pure, blinding hatred. A craving for vengeance.

"Athanasios, always so arrogant and self-assured . . . How did it feel to have your reputation questioned when I swapped those students’ test results? I heard that little Italian girl nearly lost her mind."

"You’re going to pay for that, Morrison," my partner growls, but the bastard already has his eyes locked on Taylor’s husband.

"William," he goes on, "you never did thank me for being the one who—indirectly, of course—inspired you to pursue your profession."

"You son of a bitch." William lunges at him, hands ready to wrap around his throat.

"Don’t," I say calmly, stopping him from killing the bastard right then and there.

"Oh, little cousin LJ. The golden boy. Always so calm, so unshakable. What are you going to do? Call the police? And say what, exactly? There’s no evidence tying me to any of the things I did to Marla.

The most they can charge me with is drugging four women and pouring gasoline on the floor.

But guess what? I never actually lit the fire.

My lawyers will have no trouble proving I went through a temporary insanity episode after the accident.

I might not even go to jail." He turns to Badger.

"And then I’ll go back to her. Back to my Marla. "

Badger laughs. A dark, twisted sound. But Morrison is too far gone in his spite and delusion to notice the danger.

"You’re not going to prison," my girl's stepfather says.

"That’s exactly what I just said," Morrison scoffs, then turns his attention back to us. "Now tell me—how ridiculous is your little nickname? Gods in White? Please. I am the true god. I control lives. I toyed with Marla’s existence all this time, and I’m going to keep doing it forever."

I cross my arms over my chest. "No. Your reign of evil ends today," I say, my voice steady, though rage burns hot inside me.

For the first time since we entered the room, Morrison doesn't look so confident. He tries to smile, but I see the flicker of fear in his eyes.

"I’ll take care of it," Badger says. And I have no doubt what he means—because only now do I notice the small table in front of him, and the packet of matchboxes lying on top.

I’d been so wired, so consumed by rage, that even with Badger having told us Morrison planned to burn the house down with our women inside, only now do I smell the gasoline.

The four of us exchange glances. And as if reading each other’s minds, we say at the same time, "No. We’ll do it together."

Badger chuckles again and tosses each of us a box of matches.

"What...what are you doing?" Morrison finally understands that this is the end of his evil existence. "You can’t kill me. You’re doctors!"

Badger begins pouring more gasoline across the floor in a straight line, keeping it far from us but heading toward where Morrison is sitting.

Then, he unties my cousin from the chair—but I know, after the beating he took from Alexis’s stepfather, he won't make it out of here alive. He tries to stand, but his knees give out and he collapses back into the chair.

"You can’t kill me, LJ. None of you can. You took a fucking oath to save lives."

I smile—cold, empty, without a shred of humor—as the four of us open our matchboxes at the same time. "Today, we’re not the Gods in White. We’re just men. Men protecting our women. Enjoy hell, you bastard."