Deviant (Boys of Winter #3) - Sheridan Anne Page 0,24

back just in time to watch as Carver walks back across the room to find his discarded seat, and Harding reluctantly drops his ass back into his. They both look like schoolboys who’ve had their asses handed to them in front of their entire class. But on second thought, isn’t that exactly what happened?

“Right,” I say, keeping my gaze on Harding. “Why don’t you start again and tell me why the hell we’re here, and this time, let’s see if you can do it without insulting me or any of the men around you.”

Harding narrows his eyes on me, and with his tail tucked between his legs, he lets out a shallow sigh. “I’m not sure if you are aware, but since your return in Ravenwood Heights, you’ve been drawing a significant amount of attention to yourself from the Ravenwood Heights police department. They’ve had their eye on you since your DNA was found at the crime scene of your foster parent’s murder.”

I roll my eyes. “Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that’s bound to happen when people are constantly trying to kill me. I mean,” I say, flicking my gaze around the left-hand side of the table. “If some people weren’t so adamant about taking me out, we probably wouldn’t have this issue.”

Mr. Danforth stands and meets my stare. “This is certainly not the time to start pointing fingers,” he says, reprimanding me as though I was one of his misbehaved sons. “This is serious.”

“Are you suggesting that the attacks on my life are not serious?” I question, watching him through a narrowed and pissed-off stare. His lips pull into a tight line as he holds my stare, relentless just like his son. When I refuse to back down, he finally drops back into his seat, but he’s right. I can focus on the topic of my attacks later. One issue at a time.

I let out a sigh and look back at Harding. “I was cleared of Kurt’s murder. The papers disappeared and the issue was put to rest.”

“Yes, the physical proof was gone and your name was cleared,” he says. “But what about the officers who ran your case? What about the memories that circle their minds? You may technically be off the hook, but they have been watching you very closely. After the explosion at Sam Delacourt’s home, the disappearance of Jacob Scardoni, and now your face front and center at the ballroom explosion, they’ve been asking questions—and a lot of them. They’ve been snooping around, and soon enough, they’re going to come across something they shouldn’t.”

My brows furrow as I flick my gaze to Carver and then to King before sending it across to the very few people around this table that I can trust. “So, what am I supposed to do? It’s not like I could avoid the cops seeing me when I came out of that tunnel. They saw us all.”

“Exactly,” Harding continues. “They saw us all. Every one of us are now at risk of exposure. Dynasty is at risk. The whole building exploded and countless first responders rushed in to save what they could, and therefore, our underground world is at risk of exposure. How long do you think it is before they realize the ballroom wasn’t the only underground building we’ve created?”

I run my hand over my face and lean onto the table, propping myself up on my elbows as I consider everything Harding has said, and honestly, I should have seen this coming. There were countless firemen, police, and paramedics there that night. They saw every one of us, they saw our world, and who we are.

Harding is right. We’re all at risk.

I glance back up, looking at some of the older men in the room. “Dynasty has been kept secret for many years, surely something like this has happened before, or we’ve been close to exposure. How did you handle it then? What am I supposed to do to make this go away?”

Carver meets my eye across the table as he shakes his head. “You’re not going to approve of how we’ve handled exposure in the past,” he warns me. “It’s not an option.”

I nod, reading him loud and clear. In the past, when a threat from the outside world presented itself, Dynasty eliminated it before it could become a problem, and in other words, that means Dynasty is responsible for murdering innocent men and women. Carver is right; I don’t approve of that