‘He’s much more dangerous than the Bull ever was,’ I agreed. ‘Aifric is intelligent enough to manipulate people into believing that he’s a decent guy.’ I took a deep breath and stood up. ‘But he’s not going to be sure whether I know his true nature or not. He’ll expect me to suspect him but he doesn’t know I have proof. I can use that. I need time to find out more about what happened all those years ago. If I’m going to expose him, I’ll need evidence of what happened to my parents and the rest of Clan Adair. Not to mention why it happened.’

‘What’s the plan?’ Lexie asked. ‘Because whatever it is, I want in.’

‘Me too,’ Speck piped up. ‘There’s no way I’m letting that blue-haired pixie get all the glory.’

‘I’m in too,’ Brochan agreed. ‘Aifric Moncrieffe isn’t going to get away with this.’

Taylor stood up as well. ‘So Integrity? What is the plan?’

I looked at him. ‘You’re normally the man with the plan.’

He smiled, although his smile was tinged with a sad pride. ‘I think the student has become the master. You held it together through all this. I’m the one who fell apart.’

I squeezed his arm.

‘All you need to do,’ Bob drawled from where he lounged on a cushion, ‘is wish for…’

‘No,’ we chorused. ‘No wishing.’

I looked at them all. ‘You have to do bad shit to get ahead. I’m not going to fight Aifric. But I am going to be smarter than him. We’ll sort out things with the money and lull him into a false sense of security. Then we’ll go back to normal and act as if nothing’s happened.’

Lexie’s brow furrowed. ‘How’s that going to help?’

My eyes gleamed. ‘Because it’ll force him to come to me. He won’t be able to help himself. Bit by bit, I’m going to make Aifric Moncrieffe my bitch. And then I’m going to destroy him.’

Bob lazily got to his feet. ‘And his son?’

I looked away. ‘Sometimes there’s collateral damage.’

Chapter Twenty Six

I strolled in through the gates of the Cruaich three days later. I didn’t have the welcoming committee I’d endured last time but I still received a lot of startled looks. I caught a few hushed whispers and was unsurprised at their content. The others were being hailed as heroes for first saving the Foinse and releasing it. I was being cast as the person who allowed William Kincaid to die and possibly murdered Lily Macquarrie in the process. I didn’t care what they said; I held my head high.