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“No. You know that.” So money, trafficking woman, and other “things,” I thought to myself. I wasn’t going to press the issue anymore, so I continued with the conversation at hand. “Katsia got away.”
“I see that, but why was she running?” he asked, tilting his head. “She’s sacred, son, you can’t go around killing everyone who threatens Madison.”
“It had more to do with Nate.”
Dad sucked in more smoke. “What of Nathaniel?”
“He has a kid.”
He faltered, only slightly. “And?”
“And it’s a girl.”
His eyes closed, his nostrils flaring. “Jesus. Who’s the mother?”
“Tillie.”
Dad sighed and leaned forward. “I can’t be hiding any more Swans, son. It’s going to make me look weak. Something has to give. Right now? We have a war brewing because Katsia wants retaliation on you lot, and she wants to expose the Kings and The Circle. Generations of hard work is about to crumble.”
I leaned in my chair and tilted my head. “Then we kill her before she can.”
“She’s sacred, son. We can’t.”
“Sacred to who? She’s the shit on the bottom of my shoe as far as I’m concerned.”
Dad massaged his temples then put out his cigar. “Bishop, not everything is black and white. We can’t touch her because of her lineage. If we end her, we would end her family line, and we can’t be held responsible for that.”
“But she’s fucking testing both the Kings and The Circle.”
“The Circle isn’t our business, son. They will handle her accordingly, as we will.”
“Alright.” I pulled out a smoke and lit up. Dad narrowed his eyes at it and I smirked, edging him to tell me to throw it away, but he didn’t. His features relaxed. I blew out a thick cloud of smoke. “So what are you thinking, then. Because I know you have a plan.”
“I do.” He nodded. “But first, where is Madison and Tillie?”
I chuckled, flicking off the ash. “Guess.”
He shrugged, his attention drifting to the side like he didn’t give a shit. “I don’t know, holed up in a hotel somewhere?”
My grin deepened. “Wrong. Try again.”
“Bishop, riddles are your thing, not mine. Cut the shit.”
“One more guess. Come on, entertain me…”
“How about I’ll buy you some strippers to entertain you and you hurry up with whatever you’re getting to.”
A laugh shot out of me, my head tilting back. “Alright, old man.” Then I pressed my lips around the end of my smoke with a smirk. “With Mom.”
“What!” he snapped, his eyes shooting directly to me. “What do you mean with mom?”
“They’re with her, Tatum too and the kid.”
Dad seemed to mull over what I had just told him, then realization set over his features as they softened. “Well, shit, I would never guess that. It’s no secret how much your mother hates all your girls. She takes every chance she gets to mention it in every magazine interview she does.”
I snickered. “Exactly why they’re with her, and it never scared girls off.”
He snorted. “You’re my kid, that’s why.”
Dad and I hadn’t thrown around banter in a while, and it felt good to pull out the verbal boxing gloves with him. “Khales…” I went on. His face fell. “I’m just saying… she’s young.”
“Don’t get into it with her.”
I shrugged. “As long as you know what you’re doing. Just means I’ll be in the city full time come this war being over.”
“You can be wherever you need to be. For now, back to the plan.” I noticed he didn’t say college. It was because he didn’t want me to go. He had plans to have me under him full-time and learning the depth of the family businesses and how they’re run. My mom, on the other hand, was all for college. She never wanted this life for me. She didn’t realize how much she didn’t want it for me until I was much older. Little do they know, I’d already decided what I wanted to do. This was my life, I’d take over after my old man. I don’t know what the dynamic is between my mom and dad, but I’m almost certain she wouldn’t be cool with Khales banging her husband in her house.
“What’s the plan?”
“Katsia is still in Perdita, which is good. We don’t need this drama spilling out on our turf, which means we can fly there with all of the Kings who are willing, and settle this as it is.”
“Or?” I asked, skipping past the part where he said he’d have all the Kings on the same island.
“We will cross that when we get there.” He stood from his chair. “We can plan to leave for Friday, that way we have a couple of days to organize everyone.” The Kings before our generation were my cousin Spyder, Jase, and Saint’s crew. A few of the others who rolled with them scattered all over the place. All though I know Jase kept in contact with them, they had pretty much moved on to live their life, having fulfilled their duty.
