Page 13 of Dollhouse

He blinks. “Did they mention Bo?” I shake my head, and his brows furrow. “What are you asking me?”

“I’m just letting you know what’s going on.”

Appraising me, his eyes narrow. “Are you asking me if I want to do it?”

“Fuck no,” I spit. “It’s just an update. They have a way into our system no matter how much protection I add.”

“So you’re not considering this, right?”

The violent part of my brain flexes. “No. I think he would tear her to pieces. I just…I’dunderstandif part of you wanted Eric. Not that we would make the exchange, I just acknowledge that I kind of ruined the hostage angle we were going for.”

He scoffs. “I’m not a monster, Noah, damn. You aren’t the only one who cares about her. How could I look Bo in the face after sentencing his best friend to whatever shit life she would have at Bundy’s warehouse?”

I knew he wouldn’t, but the relief is still there to hear that she’s just as safe with Jesse as she is with me. “I know. I’m not saying you would, I just had to let you know what was going on.Things have changed, I know she was supposed to be our bait for Eric, but I just can't. I fucking can't.”

He shrugs, like it’snothing, the fact that I’ve fucked up the one way we had to drive Eric crazy. It was one thing for me to degrade her, but the thought of anyone else having the chance to do it makes me homicidal.

“Fuck. I’ll have to break the news to Dad that there’s a change of plans. He’s going to have an aneurysm.”

Jesse stands, stretching as he heads for the door. “If you think he hasn’t caught on to you being an obsessed, possessive stalker by now, thenyouare the one that’s lost their shit.”

“A ‘Plan B’is obviously in order.”

No way was he taking this so well. “Why aren’t you mad right now?”

“What would you like me to do?” My dad looks around, arms in the air. “Flip the table? Throw this centerpiece at the wall?”

“Typically you dosomething.I know I fucked this up. I’ll fix it, I swear.”

My dad motions to the rest of the table, and their voices quiet for him to speak. “Listen. I’ve brought all the high ranks here for this meeting for a reason. We need to discuss something sensitive, and I want all of us here to speak on it.”

There’s six men at the table apart from Jesse and our fathers. The risk of having them here is outweighed by needing to plan for what’s coming, to prepare for the enemy Mercy has gained.

Patrick sits at my dads side, a somber expression on his face. The other five are men that have been in and out of the house mywhole life. I’d trust any of them with my family, and they would do likewise. Any of them would hand over the rat if they knew who he was.

“We started this organization as a way to give normal, everyday people anoption. When they’re fucked over by men in power, there’s almost no way to get even. Except through us, right? I think it's important to rememberwhywe do this.Whywe go up against these motherfuckers who deserve death for doing what they do to people.”

Liam looks around the table. “Now as you all know, mine and Aiden’s mother is the reason why Mercy was started. When she was assaulted by thatfuckingdead man councilman,” he spits, “we had to pay that back. We were so blind to how common this type of thing was, and the organization was born. That is the bare bones of why we do what we do.”

Aiden sniffs, his stone eyes set on the table.

“Lily deserves justice, this is obvious. Now, things have changed a little. We are used to dealing with one contract, one man. In and out, justice fuckin’ served, yeah? Lily was in a little deeper, with a crowd that was much darker. I don’t think she knew that, and it's obviously not her fault. Her naivety was exploited and everyone who was involved deserves the most gruesome death. That’s not up for debate. Whatisdebatable is how and when.”

The men hang on his every word. They might not be blood, but everyone at this table watched Lily grow up and loved her like we were kin.

“Being that Jesse was closest to her, I originally allowed him to extract his own revenge, which is something we know he is extremely capable of.However, things have….escalated in a way we didn’t anticipate. And therefore I need to bring it to the group about what comes next.”

Jesse's eyes dart toward me, but I say nothing.

“There’s two people upstairs we originally took as bait, yeah? You’ve met them, you’ve heard about them. Emma and Bo have since come under our protection as we learned more about their circumstances. Both are victims. This is not a question, and as always, any victim is safe in our care.”

The men nod, and relief floods my body.

“So, what’s next? Eric’s ties to Bundy are deeper than we thought, and his place in that circle is stronger than we had originally accounted for. As we’ve learned more from our mole, I believe that we do not currently have the manpower to safely take Eric. We’ve learned that the people he associates with are in various government seats, and it’s not something we can dismantle right now, as much as I wish we could. Not alone. Drawing out Eric will enter us into a war we might not win.”

Silence stretches in the room.

“I vote we call it off.” Jesse’s voice is quiet, and I glance over to see him staring at the table, his thumb rubbing absently against the edge.