"Ace of Clubs?" I repeated his confession shocked. He didn't confirm it. Instead he stared at me in silence, challenging me with his wordless stare. Wiping my hand across my face, I turned away from him and looked at the almost empty doorway. Nil stood there staring at the five of us in astonishment.
"You're the Ace of Clubs?" he said in a whisper and with slow deliberate movements walked over to Aiden. "Why did you kill him?" Surprise ran across the older man's face and he shook his head.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he answered and Nil's fists clenched, ready to hit something.
"My father was found with an Ace of Clubs on his dashboard! Why!" Nil lost control and pushed him against the wall. I couldn't blame him. If my father was murdered I'd go after the murderer too.
"I didn't kill him. Did you ever see the body?" The defending Ace asked and the boy scowled at him.
"No but it was a closed casket ceremony," he retorted letting the man go and backing away.
"Did your mother ever go and identify the body?" asked Aiden.
"No but they said they identified him by his dental records," Nil rebutted and I shook my head.
"They're demanded by protocol to have someone identify the body," I frowned now interested in the confusion.
"You're saying my father's not..." Nil choked up unable to say the remaining word.
"Dead? I never was," a calm, gentle voice said from behind him and we all whirled around to face Sakura, Montgomery, and the King of Spades.
"Dad?" The question was barely audible but the emotions were clear on his face. He couldn't believe that his father was really alive.
"Sorry, we're late. You hid him really well," Sakura told Aiden and I glanced over at him.
"Zekan was trying to kill him. He knew about the Royal Creation process. He was the one that Major ran to for advice on what to do with Zekan," the male Club said to the higher Spade and Nil continued staring at his father unbelieving.
"You're alive," was all he was able to say and the older Spade smiled at him.
"I am," he agreed. "But you need to focus on the problem at hand."
"What problem?" I demanded impatiently.
"When Jackson came to me, he and Shelia had been talking about making a new generation of Royals, ones that would do their bidding. Shelia had promised him co-power with her. Jack was going to help them with it by bringing them a sacrifice..." Nil's father drifted off and I rubbed my nose.
"We need to stop them," I stated the obvious and they nodded.
"Yeah but what are we going to do?" Erin questioned and I looked to her.
"Leave," I said looking at everyone excepting Nil, his dad, Aiden, and me. They did leave but not happily. I didn't need unknowing hands in this.
"How do you know that Major ran to Nil's dad?" I questioned patiently.
"Philip," the man interjected and I nodded to him. Suddenly Nil hugged his dad and his father clutched him to him tightly. After a few seconds Nil pulled back and took a deep breath.
"I'm okay now," he reported and I nodded. I was mildly surprised that he hadn't done that before.
"How do you know all of this?" Nil asked impatiently.
"I was in the team that made Zekan. We wanted to make a legend in the Royals and we did...just not in the way we hoped. Well, I hoped. Shelia wanted power and Major wanted money," he shrugged.
