Tacet a Mortuis

  I took out my burger. “Exactly what it is.”

  “Oh, ok, Mr. Cryptic.”

  “It’s not the fucking Davinci code, Madison,” I scolded her, walking to the side of the house that led to the pool house. “It’s just fucking wait and I’ll tell you.”

  I took my burger out of its wrapper and bit into it, then handed the bag back to Madison.

  “Fine!” She huffed. “But I want to talk about Tillie.”

  My chewing paused briefly. I knew it was coming, I just dreaded when she was going to mention it. Just as we came out the side, I saw my dad talking with Justin near the pool. I stopped in my tracks which had Madison slamming into my back.

  I pointed to the pool house. “I’ll meet you inside.” Even though Dad had a lot to do with why Madison and her father were still alive, I wasn’t too keen on testing the strength of his patience with her.

  Her eyes darted from Dad to me and then back again.

  “Now,” I growled, pointedly looking to my room.

  She rolled her eyes so hard it made me want to smack her, and then stormed off into the pool house. She made me fucking violent. Once the door closed, I made my way to Dad and Justin. “What?” Biting into my burger, I watched them both carefully.

  Dad took out a cigar and lit it, inhaling. “I now understand the Khales’ bullshit.”

  “What?” I paid him no attention because Dad liked to beat around the bush a lot. He was powerful—probably one of the most influential and powerful men in this country, but he liked to fuck around before getting to his point. He wasn’t only known by the underworld either—nicknamed Patronus, which is Latin for Godfather, but he also had his influence over the legal system in everyday life. He was more powerful and lethal than any man walking this fucking planet—more than the goddamn president. Madison underestimates his power, which was why I’d always have to shield her—for the most part—from him.

  He handed me a photo, and I took it with my free hand. My eyes fell on it and then went back to the both of them, sucking the grease off my finger.

  Keeping my poker face in check, I shrugged. “So?”

  “So?” my dad exclaimed. Fuck. “The reason you hid Khales was because she was pregnant with your kid?”

  Pausing, I looked between the two of them, then once I realized they weren’t fucking kidding, I started laughing. Yeah, the image showed Khales pregnant, but— “That was not my fucking kid.” My eyes bored into Dad’s. “And you know it.”

  His eyes slanted at me, and then he shot Justin a look. “Leave.” Justin, who looked confused as fuck, left and went straight into the pool house. He got thrown into the world of Lost Boys when he was born—but he’s a soldier. One of their best. Built for war.

  Dad rubbed his jaw. “When the fuck did this happen?”

  “Well, about six months after you put your dick in her.”

  “Now’s not the time for your smart mouth, son.”

  “Hey, I ain’t judging.” I took another bite. “I mean, it’s a little sick considering her age and all…”

  “She was sixteen, not twelve.”

  I deadpanned, “My point exactly.” I mean, he wasn’t an ugly guy. He had salt and pepper hair, scattered through golden strands. He always kept it short on the sides and long on the top, slicking it back. He had a good dose of ink tattooed on his flesh—including his wings on the back of his neck—identical to mine. Only The King had those wings, and the only ones who could obtain them was of our bloodline, meaning, either me or my cousin Spyder needed to have a kid one day.

  Nope.

  He sighed, rubbing his hand over his hair. “Shit. How long had you known?”

  I chuckled, my head tilting back. “What? All along. You were chasing young pussy and she was looking for a way to get back at me, only I never gave a fuck. Once she figured out that the game she was playing with you had no effect on me, she was pregnant and it was too late.”

  “What happened to the baby?” he asked, ignoring my admitting that she only did it to get back at me. Which was true, but I also knew that she had grown feelings for him—and maybe he had too, I wasn’t sure, and I sure as fuck wasn’t about to get into that pool of bullshit. My mom would kill her, but then again, maybe she knew all along too, which was why she had never really liked Khales. My mom may be a hard ass bitch, but she had a heart under the cold demeanor. Probably something we shared.

  “It’s dead.” I wasn’t lying, she had a miscarriage far along in the pregnancy.

  He stiffened, his eyes flying to me. “You’re sure?”

  I didn’t flinch. “Positive.” Then I bit into my burger again. “Are we done? I got shit to do.”

  “With Madison?” Her name coming out of his mouth had all sorts of feral venom rising to the surface. I was completely aware with how protective I was of her, so much so that even my dad saying her name had me wanting to sink a blade into his neck, but that was the exact reason why I needed to be careful with how I proceeded with her.

  She was the only person walking this earth who had the power to fuck my head up. I didn’t like that—at all. I was Bishop fucking Hayes, always in control of my shit. Except her.

  “Yeah,” I grunted, then my eyes came to his. “She’s not a threat.”

  His lip curled into a smug grin. “I wasn’t saying anything, son.”

  Yeah, sure.

  I turned and headed back toward the pool house, pushing open the front door. I paused when I saw Madison and Justin on the sofa, laughing and watching some bullshit on the TV.

  Justin caught my glare. “Chill, neph, we’re just talking.”

  Slamming the door, I strolled into the kitchen and yanked open the fridge door, grabbing a drink. “I didn’t say anything.” I wasn’t surprised that Justin had warmed to Madison. It wasn’t hard to do, and at first, I thought it was because she was hot, and not in an obvious way. It was in the way that she didn’t need to push her beauty onto you. She was just that, beautiful. But she was edgy, sexy, weird and quirky, and she shot guns, and had a smart mouth, and it was confusing as fuck. She sent my mind into a spiral the first time I saw her because I wasn’t expecting her to look like she did….

  I was heading out of the house when my dad’s voice stopped me in my tracks. “He won’t know, and we will keep it that way.” His tone, which was usually smooth and controlled, was now a little shaky toward the end of every syllable. I backtracked a little, hoping to hear more of the conversation when his voice snapped through again. “Bishop?”

  Fuck.

  I grinned, even though he couldn’t see me. “Yeah?”

  “Stop snooping and get your ass in here now.” Like I usually did, I followed his instructions, pushing through his office doors. He and Rob Rodrigues were near the large window that overlooked the entrance to our house and the long driveway. Dad’s office was always a little outdated compared to the rest of our house. It was all mahogany wood, high ceilings and a bookshelf that was rooted to the tarnished flooring, reaching right to the beams in the ceiling.

  “Yeah?” I shut the door behind myself and entered, taking the chair beside Rob. Dad leaned back in his red leather chair, a cigar in his mouth. “I need to talk to you about something important. A new girl. Call a meet.” Even though I didn’t understand why the fuck he was telling me about some new girl, I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my phone, opening a group message to the Kings.

  Dad is calling a meeting. My place - now.

  I let it rest on my lap, ignoring the vibrating notifications and took my attention back to Dad. “Why does this matter?” I was raised with secrets, and it somehow managed to morph me into who I was today. But all this time, without even knowing it, I was being engineered to take the gavel when my dad passed. There was a knock on the door and Eli, Nate, Brantley, Hunter, Cash, and Chase slowly walked through the doors, searching between Dad and me.

  “Come on in, boys.” I still wasn’t sure what the fuck Dad was playing at, but whatever it was, I’m s
ure someone was about to die. None of us, though, because it was against the law to do so. Yeah, we had our own laws.

  “There’s something I hadn’t told any of you before, not even Bishop. Well, I had hinted at it once before… but, there’s a chance that a Silver Swan has slipped through the system. We know what lineage she has come through, and we know everything there is to know, except what she looks like. Seems there are no photos of this girl. But I wanted to make you boys aware because she is in your generation.”

  “How do you know?” I asked, leaning back in my chair and running my index finger over the edge of my upper lip. He was most likely being paranoid—like usual, but I guessed in his life, paranoia came with the job description. Only when he got paranoid, blood was always spilled.

  My dad’s eyes shot to Rob and then came back to mine. “A valuable source. In the meantime, we are hunting down this error so we can take care of it once and for all, but just so you boys know, this will be in your jurisdiction to take care of.”

  “What? That’s not what we do…” I began to state, obviously a little annoyed that I’d need to add to my kill count. “I’m not a Lost Boy.”

  Dad leaned forward, his eyes hardening. “You will do as I say, son.” Then he leaned back, his cool demeanor coming over his face—yet again. Pretty sure the old man was a psychopath. “Consider it a test.”

  “Fine.” I stood from my chair. “Is that all?” He nodded, and then dismissed us all with a simple flick of his wrist. We were walking out to our respective cars when Nate, being Nate, was the first one to say something.

  “Yo, I can’t be all up in this drama. My mom has this new fucking man, and apparently his daughter is moving in today. I can’t be coming home with blood on my shit. Might freak her out a little.”

  “—She hot?” Eli interfered, getting into the back of Nate’s pick up. Nate flipped him off. “I don’t know—dick.” Rolling my eyes at their bullshit, I beeped my car unlocked and got in. My phone dinged and I opened a message from Adriana.

  Miss me?

  I shot her back a reply. My dick does. Then I floored it forward, shooting past all the boys as we raced our way to school.

  The next day, classes went annoyingly slow, I swore every single year it went slower. We were sitting around in the atrium when Nate started. “Dude, I’m not playing, my new stepsister is fucking hot with a capital H. Think Madison Beer—only she doesn’t know how hot she is. But she plays with guns and shit, so I ain’t with it. I don’t think. But fuck me, that’s a fine piece of ass living under my roof. Her mom...” His words drifted off when I noticed a girl walking into the atrium, alone, holding a lunch tray. She was new here, obviously, because not only did I know every single person who attended Riverside Prep, and their social security numbers, but the way her features withdrew and her fingers clamped around the tray nervously was a dead giveaway, too. She had long dark brown hair, fair skin that held a tint of something exotic, long fuck—fucking long legs that I could latch around my waist easily and then, in slow motion, her wandering eyes looked right at me from across the room as though she could feel my gaze on her, like a lion being caught hunting its prey. I didn’t break eye contact, I relished in how her eyes stared back at me with a storm so chaotic it could put a category 5 cyclone to bed. I watched as her cheeks flushed, right before she quickly sat at a table with Tatum. Fucking Tatum. That annoying bitch needed to be put in line. I shook my head, seemingly irked that a fucking high school girl could steal my attention so effortlessly. Pulling out my phone, I sent another text to Adriana.

  My house at nine.

  “Oh! There she is!” Nate pointed to the table where hot girl had just walked to.

  Nah, no way.

  “That’s her, dawg, that’s the new stepsister. I wanna play with her for a bit.”

  “Play with her, how?” Just the mention of playing and her in the same sentence had my dick swelling in my jeans.

  Nate looked at me knowingly. “You know how.”

  “Yeah, no offense, but the last time we all shared, we almost killed the girl, so unless you want to kill your new stepsister, I’d say no.”

  Nate chuckled. “I don’t know, there’s something different about her.”

  I rolled my eyes because gaining Nate’s attention wasn’t hard to do—keeping it was impossible, but gaining it was easy. I went back to my phone. Recognition slowly frosted over my bones, and my eyes leisurely drew back up as I watched her laugh at something Tatum had said.

  That smile.

  So familiar, so…

  “Fuck.”

  “What?” Brantley barked, his eyes still on the new girl, but his frown etched so deep into his face that you would think this girl for real insulted his existence.

  “She’s the Silver Swan.”

  Brantley didn’t jump in shock, but his eyes hauntingly remained on her. Nate sucked in a breath, Eli jumped from his seated position, Hunter, Chase, and Cash both let out a mixture of noises, and then it hit me.

  I knew this girl.

  My mom knew this girl.

  My dad knew this girl.

  Why the fuck did I know her?

  A French fry hit my face, yanking me out of my memory lapse, which was a fucking good thing, considering what happened next. “Earth to Bishop.”

  “We’re throwing a party. I was going to book the ring at Backyard Bucks, but I have a better idea.”

  Justin’s eyes came to mine, worry etched into them. “Dawg, I just—”

  “—You know how it is.” Was all I had to say.

  “How what is?” Madison asked absently, kicking off her shoes and tucking her legs under her ass. I knew, if I didn’t already know, I knew right then and there, that it didn’t matter what this girl had done. It didn’t matter what she was about to do, and even though my thoughts and feelings were always conflicted where she was concerned, make no mistake, I’d end any motherfucker who dared come near her. With her, it always felt right, and that’s cliché as fuck, but she had a habit of doing that. Bringing shit out of me that I didn’t know was ever there. I just needed her to remain oblivious for now, and I needed to put a wall where my feelings were until I knew I could trust her. I’d never given my heart to anyone, not only because I struggled to give enough of a fuck to pull it from my chest and hand it out, but because I knew no one wanted a washed up, lifeless, damaged mess of what whatever the fuck was left of it.

  “The consequences to fucking with what’s mine, that’s what.”

  Madison’s body stilled beside me. She looked between Justin and me, and then she opened her mouth. “What? What do you mean?”

  Justin chose that time to interfere. “Are you having the party here?”

  I shook my head, propping my foot on the coffee table. “Nah, at the condo.”

  “Mommy dearest doing you a solid, huh?” Justin grinned.

  “You have a condo?” Madison yelped. “Oh wait, yes, Nate said something about that.”

  “Yeah, Mom got one in the city, close to campus.”

  Her eyes dropped to her hands as she fiddled with her fingers. “You’re going to NYU?”

  I shrugged. “Possibly. My mom went there, and her dad and so on.”

  Madison’s phone dinged in her pocket. She read something on the screen and then shot off the sofa. “I need to go home.” My eyes darted to Justin, who knew exactly why I was holding Madison here. To keep Nate from telling her what was about to happen at this party.

  “I’ll take you.” If Nate bitched out and spilled everything to her, it’ll only make his punishment worse.

  I jogged up the steps to my house and slammed the door open. “Dad!” I called out, heading straight for his office. He had his phone pressed to his ear, but his eyes flew to the entrance when he saw me appear. “I’ll call you back.”

  My chest rose and fell. “That girl.”

  “Yes?” He seemed interested.

  “She’s the girl you showed me all those years ago, isn’t she?” r />
  My dad’s grin deepened. “You met her? She’s at your school?”

  I nodded. “Yes.”

  “Then you know what you have to do.”

  “You’ve never seen what she looks like?”

  Dad shook his head. “Only when she was around ten. Why? Is she ugly? Not your type?”

  “Something like that,” I lied. “I’ll do what I need to do.”

  I stopped over at a store on my way home to pick up Bishop’s present. It’s honestly nothing great, and he probably won’t even like it, but it was all I could think of. “Nate!” I hated being back here. Over the past couple of days, I had loved being away. Or I loved being with Bishop, not sure which was more true. Maybe a bit of both.

  “Hey, Kitty,” Nate called out, coming down the stairs.

  I turned to face him. “Hey!” Then I pulled out my phone. “Dad texted me and said he was calling a meeting?”

  Nate gave me a strained smile—actually, his whole face was strained. “Yeah. It has to do with your mom coming back and shit.”

  “Where is she?” I walked into the kitchen, needing a drink. Milk, not alcohol. Finding chocolate flavored, I took it out and then a glass before pouring.

  Nate pulled out a bar stool. “She’s coming too.”

  “What!” I snapped. “Nate, I don’t want to see her—ever again. As far as I’m concerned, the bitch can stay dead.”

  “Lovely, thanks for that, Madison. Great to see your father has done such a stellar job at controlling that mouth.” I didn’t flinch, my eyes remained on Nate as I swallowed the cool, creamy milk.

  I put my glass down. “Did someone speak?” I asked Nate, ignoring her. He stifled a laugh, cranking his head over his shoulder, tensing.

  “Madison, come on sweetheart.” My dad gestured to the sitting room. The layout of our home was more traditional than Bishop’s. The sitting room hung off the kitchen which was joined by three big white pillars. Our house sort of reminded me of a modern Greek establishment.

  “Are you okay, sweetie?” Elena asked me, her arm snaking around my shoulders. Since I first met her almost a year ago, I instantly warmed to her. She was much like Nate in that aspect. Warm and inviting. Something about their aura just had you craving to be around them.