I tensed when he put his arm around my shoulder.
“I’m not going to hurt you.”
I remained tensed. “I hope you’re lying about everything.”
“Trust me, angel,” he snorted. “I wish I was.”
I screamed when a loud shout sounded out in the hallway, and for some reason, I thought of Barbara, even though I knew that she was safe. I put her in her crate and put her in my bedroom once Morgan said we had to leave my office because the brothers were on their way. I remained as still as a statue as the sitting room door flung open, and Damien barrelled into the room, each of his brothers filing in behind him. I shrunk under their gaze because I had never seen them look so maddening before.
“Look what the cat dragged in.”
“Carter,” Damien all but hissed. “If you’ve hurt her—”
“I haven’t hurt her. I won’t hurt her … I was never going to hurt her,” Morgan said with a grunt. “I was never going to hurt any of you, not physically. I couldn’t ever do that to another human. I couldn’t ever take someone’s life … but you five … you killed my family, so I had to do something to get you back.”
“Your family killed our parents,” Alec snapped. “Your family took our lives from us. Your family has brought nothing but pain to the women we love, and now your fucking family has touched one of the purest women I’ve ever known. Fuck you, and fuck your evil family.”
“Oh, my God,” I whispered, terrified. “Oh, my God.”
Alec … his eyes … I had never seen him look at someone with so much pain and hatred.
“It’s okay,” Morgan said, his hand squeezing my shoulder. “It’s good that you get to see them for who they really are.”
Alec turned his gaze from Morgan to me, and when he saw how scared I was of him at that moment, he paled.
“Lana,” he said softly. “Do not let this guy get in your head. You know me.”
“Does she, though?” Morgan questioned. “She seemed pretty surprised when I told her all about our upbringing, how you all had special jobs because Damien killed Trent, but not really until a few years later that is. She knows Alec killed Marco, and Kane killed Big Phil. She was so surprised; I mean, just look at her. The poor girl is still in shock.”
Nico took a step forward, his eyes locked on Morgan.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Simple,” Morgan replied. “I wanted to hurt all of you, if I could, for what you have done. Something that would be long lasting, and when I watched from the shadows and saw how you all treated Alannah … well, I figured what was the harm in turning her against all of you.”
Damien didn’t blink once as Morgan spoke.
“I know you all love her, in your own different ways, of course,” Morgan continued. “She is the gem of your little group. She isn’t a loud mouth bitch like Bronagh, an asshole like Keela, or annoying dogs like Aideen and Branna. I’ve watched you all together, and none of your women are appealing past their looks. None but Alannah, she is practically an angel, and I knew I could get into her sweet little mind. I barely had to try; she welcomed me with open arms.”
Damien stepped towards Morgan, but when I sucked in a breath, he remained still.
“I expected to see you guys while I worked in her office from time to time, but I was amazed that none of you came by to check me out. Not a single one of you. None of you ever dropped by or called her. I could have killed her a hundred times, and none of you would have known it was me. You’re shitty friends.”
I looked down at my hands as I knotted my fingers together.
“I told you, angel,” Morgan said softly to me. “You’re expendable to them. They don’t care about you, not really.”
“Carter,” Nico all but snarled. “Stop messing with her.”
Morgan snorted but stopped talking.
“What now?” Ryder demanded. “You just wanted to air our dirty laundry, and that’s it?”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“You’ll leave then?”
This question came from Damien.
“Why would I stick around?” Morgan questioned with a raised brow. “I did what I set out to do. I hurt you all by getting inside my little angel’s head. She knows every dirty little secret there is to know about you. She knows that none of you trusted her enough to tell her anything when you had years and every fucking opportunity to do so. She won’t forget about me anytime soon, or what I opened her eyes to. None of you will. Even if she forgives you, she’ll know everything and how you’ve treated her like an outsider. That’s good enough for me.”