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He’d remained a prospect for three years, Silas hoping that he’d see reason and change his mind, but during that time, the kid had grown into a man just as brutal and foreboding as the rest of us.

And when he’d become an integral part in taking down Kent Ellison’s empire and rescuing Brinley from his grips, Silas could no longer deny it.

Brody was one of us.

“Not your fault,” Silas rumbled as he roughed a frustrated hand over the exhaustion that blanketed his face.

The only person to blame here was me.

That and the fiend who seemed to be toying with us.

Vague threats and wild goose chases.

Silas’s gaze lifted, and he peered deep into the labyrinth that spread around us. “This fucker is stealthy. Working right under our noses.”

Disquiet churned through my consciousness. “Feel like he’s right here, laughing in our faces. Fucking with us.”

“Something isn’t right, that’s for sure,” Phoenix rumbled, his hands curling into fists.

The Mad on his right knuckles and Man on the left flexed with the warning of the violence that screamed from within.

I could almost taste his thirst for blood radiating from his soul.

But maybe for the first time it wasn’t as severe as mine.

“No,” I agreed. “He was right there, ten feet away, nothing but a glass door separating us.”

Silas examined me.

In discomfort, I shifted on my feet. Disgust thundered through my body as I stood in front of Elena’s brother like I wasn’t in contempt.

“And you were watching a movie and didn’t hear anything?” he clarified.

No, I was ten seconds from fucking up all over again. Ten seconds from touching his sister in a way that made me just as guilty as the rest.

But I couldn’t admit that.

My tongue darted out to wet my dry lips. “A show, yeah. We’d eaten dinner and were relaxing on the couch. Facing away. I didn’t hear a fucking thing until the alarm started going off. He could have…”

My molars ground to fucking dust, mortified and unable to voice the implication.

Phoenix’s pitch-black eyes latched onto my torment. “Yeah, he could have busted through that door, but he knew what would have happened then. He would’ve been met with a bullet right between the fuckin’ eyes. You think he doesn’t know what you’re capable of? You would have gotten that shot off before he even made it through.”

“Then why take the chance to climb onto the balcony?” Brody debated, as confused as the rest of us.

“That’s the question. It’s like it’s…personal.” Silas shook his head as he tried to process what the fuck was going on here.

“Kill a man’s brother, and it becomes very personal,” I grated.

“You aren’t wrong. Just…can’t put my finger on this,” Silas mused.

Yeah, because this bastard kept slipping between them.

Silas turned back to me, eyes narrowing as he took in what had to be torment carved in my expression.

“You good, man?”

“Just want this piece of shit in the ground where he belongs.”