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It failed. I’m not sure who he was more disappointed in, himself or the lot of us. Hell, even Marcel was strained and on edge.

Of course, some of that was because Declan had become withdrawn when Tori told him that Pasha wasn’t coming home and that Isabella wasn’t either. I’m sure it also had to do with Isabella shutting down on him.

I should be happy she was allowing the girls in. Although according to Tori, she still said little. We were all a fucking mess. The Death Squad was slowly dying, and we’d all but fallen apart at the seams.

The decision crystallized in my mind as I looked at each of my brothers. I cleared my throat.

“When my father returns, I’ll leave,” I said.

Ivan’s head whipped up, and he narrowed his eyes. Nik dropped his head into his hands. Alek turned from the railing, his eyes flashing with rage and disbelief.

“That’s your solution? Run away?”

I shrugged, refusing to take the bait. The last thing I wanted was to get into a fistfight with him.

“Because it’s work so well for Isabella and Pasha, right?”

“It was a mistake for me to come this year. Clearly I’m the problem.”

“The first thing you’ve said in weeks that speaks to the truth. You and your fucking stubbornness. You refuse to see things clearly. I thought with time you’d come around, but I guess it’s going to be like Vanya, and you’ll never move on.”

“Fuck you,” I seethed.

“She was my sister,” he challenged.

“And Isabella is mine. So mind your business, Reaper.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. Isabella is our sister. Hannah was unhinged, but Pasha was not responsible for her actions. It could have just as easily been Kinsley that was attacked that day.”

A surge of anger bubbled up inside me. “And if it had been? You would welcome the Dancer with open arms? Fuck off with that nonsense. I know you better.”

Alek’s face hardened. “What I would or wouldn’t do is not the subject of this conversation. I can tell you this though, if Isabella had stepped in and saved Kinsley, I would be forever in debt to her.”

“So that’s it? This has nothing to do with Isabella. This is about Kinsley. Got it.”

“You’ll want to be extremely careful with the next set of words that come out of your mouth about my girl.”

I clenched my fists. Maybe a fight wouldn’t be the worst thing for us. It seemed to work wonders for him and Ivan over the years. The problem was, I loved him too much. And while his words pissed me off, he wasn’t wrong.

“I’ve tried with Kinsley. A thousand times over, she won’t give me the time of day. So sorry that I can’t worship her for saving my sister. It’s hard when a part of you knows she’d rather sink her blade into one of your arteries.”

I raked a hand through my hair. A dull aching throb grew behind my eyes. Alek shook his head, and the disappointment in his eyes was telling.

“What do you want from me, Reaper?” I asked, exasperated with everything.

“What I want from you is to grow up for once in your life. To put aside your selfishness and to think of the family.”

“Don’t you dare lecture me on the family. You think I can’t see the bigger picture? You think I don’t know how much we’ve all lost?”

“If I’m judging on your behavior alone? Yeah. I think you’ve lost the motherfucking plot here.”

“No, I haven’t. We’re just reading different books. Your version sees losing Pasha as a bad thing. In my version, I see it as the trash taking itself out.”

Alek stared at me, his jaw working as though he was physically biting back whatever instinct had just surged through him. He turned toward the ocean, dragged in a deep breath through his nose, then slowly looked back at me.

“He fucking lied to me. It’s the one thing I hate above all other things in this world. And you know that.”

Alek clapped, the sharp crack echoing across the porch. He looked from Nik to Ivan before finally landing on Marcel.