Page 75 of Diary from an Inked Throne

Nyah grimaced. “She knew everything. She knew Dax is James’s biological father. But that Dax would never get to be that if I was forced to marry Carlos…”

I groaned. “So she went to him and begged him to call off the wedding. But she had no real argument with him because she couldn’t just come out and say Dax was the baby’s biological father. That would have painted a huge target on Dax’s back and could have endangered Nyah too. So he would have just told her to go away.”

Nyah’s fingers trembled. “But my parents knew the truth. So she went to them, to try to plead with them instead.” She laughed bitterly. “Which might have worked with any reasonable set of parents. They would have heard what happened in Scotland and said, ‘You know what, Nyah? This was all a big mistake and you really should come home, all arranged marriages are cancelled.’” She slumped lower in her seat. “But my father isn’t normal. He would have told her to go away too.”

I stared at her. “Or he didn’t give her the opportunity. Because if she confronted him with the truth, and he realized that someone other than you, him, and your mom knew about the baby’s true paternity…”

She stared at me in horror.

And then at Dax. She shook her head hard and fast, tiny shakes of disbelief. “No. No. He couldn’t have.”

King, Roarke, and Stewart had all gone deathly silent.

Dax was pale.

Nyah grabbed his hand, her tears spilling over her cheeks and turning into sobs. “Is he right? Did my father kill your mother?”

Dax said nothing. He just sat there, looking stunned.

I didn’t want to be the bad guy. Fucking hell, I’d had a lifetime of being the one who said the hard thing, the hurtful thing, but I knew in my gut I had to keep going. Had to keep laying it all on the table so the pieces started would fit together.

Virginia deserved that.

Even if it made them hate me.

“Jeremiah killed Virginia that night when she went to his house because he realized she knew about who the baby’s real father was.”

“Why frame Lynx though?” Dax asked, finally taking a breath and turning in my direction. “Why carve up her back and dump her in front of the Slayers’ gates? I’m sure she wasn’t the first person he’d ever killed. He’s Mafia. He’d have ways of disposing of bodies.”

It was a good question. One I wasn’t sure I had an answer for.

But Lynx did. “Because I knew too. I knew the baby wasn’t Luca’s. If Virginia told him that…then maybe I was a target too. I was knocked out that night, but maybe it was an attempt to kill me? I was in a public place, so maybe they were interrupted and never got to finish the job? But why bother when they can just frame me for murder? I’d be out of the picture if I was dead or locked up. Either way, it wouldn’t matter.”

Nyah was almost green as she forced words out. “That didn’t work, so then he started coming for you all one by one. First Dax. Then Luca. And then eventually, it all came full circle and Lynx was arrested.” She stared at me. “Bruno said your father wanted you dead. What if my father agreed to do it for him?” She shoved her chair back, the feet scraping along the tiled floor with a screech. “Oh my God, is there no ends to which that man will go to suck up your father’s ass? He did, didn’t he? He promised to kill Luca. And he tried to have Dax and Lynx removed because you were all the people who knew about the baby’s true paternity. Fuck! I even told him who knew about the baby that day he came to the Slayers’ clubhouse. He wanted a family link to the Guerras so bad he tried to have all three of you taken out. Hell, he’s probably behind the bomb from the other night, isn’t he? He doesn’t even need me alive anymore, does he? Just the baby.” She stared at us in horror. “Does he have my child?”

I had no idea.

There were some parts that weren’t quite fitting together. Like how Jeremiah knew Lynx was the Lynx Killer. I was pretty sure Dax hadn’t told his mom when he’d called and warned her about what had happened in Scotland and begged her to stay away from my father.

But I couldn’t say any of that in front of Dax’s dad and brothers.

And it didn’t matter anyway.

Because Jeremiah knew something.

And I was sure as hell going to find out what.

24

LUCA

Dear Diary,

I finally kept a promise I’d been carrying for months

It wasn’t hard to get Nyah’s father to come to me. All it took was a single phone call, a mention of cigars and whiskey, and Jeremiah Matish practically fell over his own feet.

Within twenty-four hours, I opened the door on his hopeful face and fought the urge to ram my fist into it.