“You didn’t know,” she whispered again.

I shook my head, my mind racing with new information and rage. Suddenly, everything made sense. Of course, Collins didn’t want me to know Shannon was alive. Then I would find her and know the truth. He never could have known that I would befriend the very woman I was hunting for him and learn the truth. Now that I knew, it changed everything. If I was hell-bent on finding Shannon and bringing down Collins before, it was set in stone now.

“I had no idea. He told me he’d killed the man who did it and that you’d basically fed Shannon straight to him.”

“I am so sorry. I never would have done that to her. She was my best friend. I tried to get her out when I left but she was a broken woman. She was too terrified to leave, and by the time the police searched his hideout, she was already gone.”

“Rosa, all this time, I thought that you were a monster like her rapist. I am so sorry. She used to tell me about you, talk about what a good friend you were to her.”

“I don’t feel like a good friend. I feel like I left her behind,” she said as she sank to the floor of the kitchen.

“Come on,” I said soothingly. “We need to get you back to the house. We can talk more there.”

“I don’t even know if I can drive,” she whispered.

I pulled her to her feet and wrapped her into my arms. “You don’t have to. We will leave your car here. I’m assuming you know how to ride on the back of a bike.”

Rosa nodded. “One of the few good things running with Collins and his crew taught me.”

“Let’s get out of here then,” I said to her as we slipped out the back.

I gave her my helmet and we hit the road. I made short work of the drive, not wanting to be out in public any longer than needed. Collins was worse of a man than I ever could have expected. As we pulled into the driveway, I felt my heart sink a little. She had her arms wrapped around my waist and I didn’t want to move. Having her near me was like being in my own personal heaven. Unfortunately, we still had hell to face before everything could settle down.

“You go ahead and go inside. I need to make a phone call,” I said to her. She looked worried, though. I pulled her closer to me and kissed her cheek. “I promise I will be right in. I have a friend in the area and I want to talk to him.”

“Okay,” she muttered.

I called Kane. “Do you have anything?”

“Not yet, man. It’s only been an hour! You’ve got to give me a little time. This is a delicate situation.”

“Yeah, more so than I first thought. It was Collins who went after Shannon, not that poor sap he threw under the bus.”

The line was silent. “Kane? Are you there?”

He cleared his throat. “Yeah, man. What do you want me to do? Meet you back at the apartment?”

“No,” I muttered. “I need you to come to Rosa’s place. I’ll send you the address, and make it fast.”

“Sure,” he muttered before hanging up.

Something seemed off about Kane but I didn’t push the issue. I needed to be with Rosa and find out everything that I could from her. Plus, I wanted to spend some time with her alone. It felt like ages since we could talk about things. Now that all the cards were on the table, we could really talk to each other. I walked into the house and smiled. It felt like home to me. Rosa wrapped her arms around me again and I held on tightly to her.

“I have someone coming over here. He’s a very old friend, one we can trust. He’s going to help me put an end to all of this.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, this is my home. I don’t want them to know where I live.”

“Once they find out who you are, they will all know anyway. With his help, I can stop Collins before he ever gets the chance to lock in your location. Do you trust me?”

She held me tighter and nodded. “Yes, I do.”

I took her chin in my hand and tilted her head up to me. Looking down at her, I gently kissed her lips, letting my tongue play in her mouth for just a brief second. I was acutely aware of my throbbing erection restricted against my jeans, but there was nothing I could do about it right now. She moaned into my mouth and I thought I would lose control. Kane could wait, couldn’t he?

“Let’s go upstairs,” she whispered seductively to me.

I chuckled softly. “I would love to take you up on that, but Kane is just a few minutes away by now. I want to take my time with you and really taste that sweetness I’ve grown so fond of.”

She cocked her head. “Your friend is Kane? I remember him. Scrawny little guy who was always at Collins’s beck and call.”

“Not anymore. After Collins went to jail, Kane saw just how much trouble he was and put a good bit of distance between them. Now he mostly works for the elders, keeping books and staying lower on the chain. He doesn’t like the mayhem. I don’t think he was ever really cut out for the chaos of mafia life.”

As we talked about him, I heard his motorcycle as it pulled into the driveway. Looking out at the landscape to make sure he wasn’t followed, I opened the door and nodded for him to come inside. Rosa stood further back, her wary eyes still unsure of the man from her past.

“Brandi, it’s good to see you again. You look well,” stammered Kane. “Do you think I could talk to you outside for a second, Peyton?”

I watched Rosa wince at the use of her old name and nodded to Kane. “Her name is Rosa, Kane.”

“Right,” he muttered as we walked through the house to the secluded back yard.

The last thing I needed was some thug of Collins seeing us on her porch. “What have you got?”

“Nothing yet, but there’s something that I need to tell you,” he said as he avoided eye contact.

“Spit it out then. I don’t want to push Collins any more than we already have.”

“I knew that it was Collins who raped Shannon. I knew the entire time.”

Out of pure instinct, I grabbed ahold of his throat and slammed his against the back door. The force shook the small house. I would have held him there, watching the life slowly drain from his eyes, but Rosa opened the door and we both went tumbling through. Kane rolled away from me, coughing and watching me rise with fear in his eyes. Rosa stood in front of him, a look of shock and anger on her face.

“What the hell is going on?” she screamed at me.

“That son of a bitch knew that Collins raped my sister!” I boomed. “I want him dead!”

“Peyton!” she hissed. “Everyone seemed to know it was him except you! And out of all of them, he’s the one here helping us now. He told you he knew, and the way you reward that honesty is by trying to kill him?”

I glared at her, pissed off because I knew she was right. Looking past her, I steadied my gaze on Kane. “Why in the hell didn’t you tell me?”

He shook his head. “If you’d have known, then Shannon and you both would have died. Sure, you might have gotten to Collins first, but the elders would have fought back. I was a coward. I didn’t want to die beside my best friend and his sister.”

I took a step closer to him but Rosa stood between us. As soon as my eyes locked onto hers, they softened. She had stopped me from killing one of my closest friends in a moment of pure rage. How could I ever stay angry at her for that? I put my hand on her shoulder before letting it slide down and intertwine with her fingers.

“It’s okay,” I promised her before turning back to Kane. “You want to make this right?”

He nodded his head. “Of course I do. I’ve never felt so shitty in my life. I let you down. I let Shannon down. All because I was nothing but a coward.”

“Then find a way for me to destroy Collins and find it fast. You have twenty-four hours.”

“You’ve got it. I’m sorry Br—Rosa. I will fix this, I promise,” he said before trotting out the front door.

“Do you think he’ll be back?” she asked.

I nodded my head. “I do.”