Dom is happy for a distraction when Sean pulls up at the garage where he’s working. He thinks he shouldn’t still be surprised by the actions of “disgusting, power-drunk men in a position of so much authority” once they get bored and try to “see what they can get away with” (5). He wishes he could be numb to it. There is rare friction between Sean and Dom: Sean wants Dom to open up about what’s going on with him, but Dom knows that what he’s hiding from Sean would tear him apart. Sean says that Dom is not managing his emotions as well as he thinks he is, and Dom thinks that Sean doesn’t have the control he needs to keep his own emotions in check. Dom’s also angry at his brother, Tobias, for “dismiss[ing]” Dom and failing “all of us” (7). So, Dom quietly gathers evidence and waits for Tobias’s support to go ahead. The last leg of their plan starts today, with Sean’s return to Horner Tech.

Dom is in his bedroom at the club’s new townhouse, which currently hosts about 20 of “our most trusted” (10). He gets a text from Tobias, who tells him to have patience. Their plans make it easier for the brotherhood to live together for now, but the constant noise and intrusions frustrate Dom. Tyler barges in to tell Dom that Sean brought Cecelia Horner back to the house from work. Dom hacks into her email, and he scans the last email she got from her father, Roman. Tyler knows Dom’s been distracted: He was supposed to be watching Cecelia, yet he didn’t know she’d moved into her father’s house. Dom reads in the email that Roman is going to pay for Cecelia’s college and give her an inheritance if she works at his plant for one year. Tyler tells Dom he must call Tobias, but Dom doesn’t want his brother to learn how he messed up. He tells Tyler they will stick to the plan and not involve Tobias, who is occupied with something serious in France right now. Dom asks Tyler what Cecelia is like. Tyler says she’s curious, innocent, and beautiful. Dom decides it doesn’t matter how beautiful she is because he refuses to be distracted by anything that threatens the success of the “birds.”

Dom makes his way toward Cecelia, who’s standing close to Sean. When she looks at Dom, he gets an “odd premonition” that he shakes off. He wants her to know her place, and he tries to embarrass her, but she is defiant and completely unaware of the threat she poses to the group. Sean carries her away as she calls Dom a “pretty arsehole.” Dom and Tyler discuss Sean’s choice to get involved with her, assuming he just wants to sleep with her and convince them that he’s helping their cause. Dom flashes back to “the night we truly began” (21).

Dom, Sean, and Tyler were just teens then, sitting around a campfire with Tobias. Tobias wanted to keep their strategy basic, insisting they would ruin Roman by playing a game he called “sleeping giant.” Dom said that’s a lot of trouble when they could just kill Roman, insisting that the murder would be justified because Roman masterminded their parents’ deaths (22). Tobias claimed that’s not who they are or what their parents would want. All four of them had tough childhoods and difficult relationships with their parents, and Tobias was the first to break out of their small-town bubble.

Now, 10 years later, Roman’s daughter, Cecelia, is with them in Triple Falls. In discussing their strategy to take down Roman, they refer to her as “Helen of Troy.” Helen of Troy’s story didn’t end well for anyone, and Dom is sure Sean’s relationship with Cecelia will follow suit.

Dom watches the feed from multiple cameras: two trained on Roman’s backyard and one on the truck driven by Layla, a “lady bird in waiting” (29) (club members refer to themselves as “birds”). Right now, the club is targeting one of Anthony Spencer’s warehouses. He’s another of Roman’s enemies, and they want to make sure they—not Spencer—will be the one to take Roman down. Jeremy’s Fleet Heating and Air van arrives, parking next to Tyler and Russell, and they make their way inside the warehouse. They aren’t planning to take anything but have been tasked with finding out why Spencer kept the seemingly worthless property and hired a security guard to check on it. Dom see Cecelia and Sean on the feed at Roman’s house and recognizes his growing resentment of Sean. Peter and Denny pull up at the warehouse, and Dom says they have 13 minutes before the security guard arrives; Layla’s in place to buy them time. Inside, the birds find six crates of military-grade guns, ammunition, and supplies. Dom tells them to take the guns while he tries to find information about where they came from. Just then, the security guard comes into view on Layla’s camera. She moves her truck to cut him off, buying the men enough time to escape with their haul.

Dom confronts Sean about how much attention he’s paying to Cecelia, and Sean says that she doesn’t like her father any more than they do. When Dom lashes out, Sean claims that he’s becoming unrecognizable. Dom asks Sean if he’s willing to betray them for Cecelia, and Sean insists that he’s not. Dom tells him to make up an excuse to drive her home, and when he watches Sean wake her up, he realizes how much Sean likes her.

Dom and Tyler take Cecelia home, and when they arrive, Dom sees that the gate is impossible to wire because of its location. The club needs in, and Cecelia is the answer. Again, he ignores the whisper of premonition he feels when she exits the car. Tyler tries to calm Dom down, insisting that Sean didn’t know Cecelia’s identity as the daughter of the man responsible for his parents’ deaths. Dom is furious with Sean because he’s now begun to sympathize with his enemy’s daughter; he pulls over for safety. Sean arrives, and Dom can tell that he did know. Resignedly, Sean says Dom can take body shots, and Dom lays into him.

A few days later, Sean assures Dom that they’re good, though Dom knows it’s not quite true. Tyler tells them that a fellow bird, Fatty, was arrested for soliciting a prostitute, and Tyler’s still concerned about Cecelia. He says that this will all blow up their faces. Dom knows this should make him mad, but he wonders if he’s become immune to normal human feelings.

Sean pulls up, joining Dom and Fatty, who got his nickname for the big joints he rolls. Dom thinks that because Fatty family is affluent, he never had as much at stake as the others. Dom tells Fatty he’s out now that he’s been fingerprinted by the cops. Fatty argues, insisting on his loyalty, but to no avail.

Dom has unexpectedly caught a local evil-doer, and he hacks into the man’s computer using the software the man thinks protects him. Dom decides to keep an eye on him, and he has another premonition about Cecelia. He needs to help Tyler figure out why Roman lured Cecelia to town. When he gets a call from his aunt—Tatie—he has to drop everything. Later, he finds Cecelia reading and realizes she’s aroused by whatever is happening in her book. He realizes how attracted to her he is, and he decides that he should sleep with her to punish both Sean and her. He doesn’t like the effect she has on him.

Dom hears the news report about the $1.8 million in merchandise that someone stole from Anthony Spencer. Jeremy tells him that Sean is teaching Cecelia how to drive, and Russell and Peter arrive. Like Dom, Russell is the son of immigrants who came to chase the American Dream. Peter, who recently got his club tattoo, had turned to stealing to feed his infant sister after their abusive dad abandoned them. Peter says he noticed some coloring books in the recent haul, and Dom tells him to take them for his sister: “Take whatever you want or need. Just make sure you log it” (70). Dom is proud that the group takes care of each other. It makes it all seem worth it.

Tyler has learned that Clint is the “dirty bird” responsible for Fatty’s arrest, and Sean and Dom confront him. Sean brought Clint into the club, so he takes responsibility for ousting him. Clint was trying to get in on a deal that Fatty was running, so he paid a sex worker to distract Fatty; he didn’t mean for Fatty to get caught, and he didn’t anticipate that the sex worker would be arrested that night, but it doesn’t matter. Sean forces Clint to swallow pill after pill of the oxycontin he likes, irritated by the betrayal from the bird he “took […] under [his] wing” (75). Tyler arrives, sees Sean, and offers to take over. He drags Clint off and they drive away. Dom says Sean is an empath who cannot be objective and unemotional, like Dom can.

The next day, Dom catches Sean performing a sex act with Cecelia in the hallway. Dom quickly becomes aroused. He thinks Sean wanted him to see so he’d have to admit his attraction to her. Dom goes to his room to sleep, but when he wakes up, he feels that he’s being watched. It’s Cecelia, and she is looking at his nakedness with obvious lust. When she sees him looking at her, she scurries back to Sean’s room, like a mouse.

Dom still believes that Cecelia doesn’t have the strength to endure their world. Dom catches the news, as a reporter talks about a massive donation recently made to a local women’s shelter, and he’s pleased at what the club has done with the money they made off Spencer. Suddenly, he gets a call from the hospital: His Aunt Delphine has arrived days early for her scheduled chemotherapy. On his way out, Dom tells Sean that Cecelia is “merely another in a long line of Rosalines” (89), referencing Romeo’s pre-Juliet lover in Shakespeare’s play.

Ginger, an old flame, comes to the garage to ask Dom for help. After their conversation, he adds another task to his mental to-do list. Tyler has news for him, but Dom says it’ll have to wait because he must go retrieve the “French menace”—his aunt—from the hospital.

Tobias tells Dom that must do nothing for the time being, but every day Tobias makes him wait means more innocent lives lost. Tobias asks Dom not to resent him, his paternal concern increasing. Ginger texts Dom, saying, “He’s here,” and Dom ends the call with Tobias on a sour note. He goes straight to Ginger’s and finds her sister, Marie, and Marie’s boyfriend, Jeffrey, about to light a crack pipe right next to their infant child. Dom orders Marie to pack the man’s things as he drags the man outside. Sean pulls up, ready to help. Marie pleads with Dom, but Ginger reports that she found a crack pipe in the baby’s car seat this morning. Dom makes the man give Ginger all the money he has. The baby is screaming, but when Marie tells Ginger she hates her, Dom cautions her that she’s next to get tossed out. After the man leaves, Dom tells Sean that he’s made his decision, and they are “moving forward” with Cecelia.

Cecelia is not happy when she finds Dom in her pool. Sean tries to smooth things over, as they need to get inside the house while Roman is away. Dom asks to use the bathroom, and he and Tyler enter the house. Tyler says he could feel the chemistry between Dom and Cecelia at the pool, and he points out Dom’s erection. Dom finds Cecelia’s laptop and downloads a bunch of spyware to it. As they head outside, Dom gets an uneasy feeling that they’re being watched.