Page 10 of King

He takes in a deep breath and then exhales as if he has to prepare himself for what he is about to say.

Then he stops and glances at the sky.

“Come on,” I say, impatient.“Spit it out.I’m a big boy.”

He turns to me and removes his sunglasses.I can see his eyes, which are dark, as if he has really bad news.

“You mentioned the last time we met that you were concerned about your uncle.Tommy, right?”

A sense of dread fills me at the mention of Tommy’s name.“Yeah.What have you got?For a while now, he’s been acting strange.I have the sense he’s really angry with me for returning to the family.It’s like he wanted to take over from my father instead of me.Probably got used to the idea I would never return to the fold, and was upset to see me in charge.I’m worried he’s working with the enemy to take me out.Am I right?”

Fillmore shakes his head and starts walking again.“Not Tommy.”

I grab his arm.“Who?”

Fillmore stops and turns to me.“Ryan.”

“No,” I say, the very idea abhorrent to me.“Impossible.”

“Sorry, but I did some sleuthing.You’re not gonna like what I found…”

I turn and glance over the shore at the water.In the distance, a ship is being towed into the port.The sound of waves is soothing.The warm sun on my face is pleasant.

Neither does anything to relieve the pain I feel at the thought that Uncle Ryan is a traitor.

He’s been so helpful since I returned, always cooperating with me.Defending me when Tommy seemed reluctant to listen to my ideas about how to clean up the business.He defended me when Tommy pushed back.He even confided in me that Tommy was disgruntled and thought I would hurt the business instead of helping…

“Tell me,” I say and wait for the details.

“I have intercepts of his calls with Ivanov.He has gambling debts, Harrison.Lots of them.Ivanov is quietly paying them off, and now, Ryan is under his thumb.”

I rub my eyes, a sudden pain behind them.“How long has this been going on?”

I hope to hear that it’s only been since my brother’s death.Maybe the sadness drove him to gamble to relieve tension.

“Eighteen months.”

“What?”I turn to Fillmore, who has a determined expression on his face.“Eighteen months?”

He nods.“I’ve traced bank drafts going back eighteen months.The gambling started before that, and I guess Ivanov knew about Ryan’s debts and thought it would be a great way to get into Ryan’s good books.Into your family.He could use the debt as leverage.”

“How much?”

“Several hundred thousand.”

I feel sick.Ryan could have come tome.I have money.But when his debt started, I was on the outside.I made it clear to my father that I didn’t want anything to do with the business.

Then, Liam died…

That brought me back in.

If I had been inside sooner… If I hadn’t been so adamant about keeping my distance, maybe I would have been there.Then I kick myself mentally.

No.Coming back into the fold was something I did out of necessity because of Liam.Liam made his own choice, as a fully-grown adult.Just as Ryan had made his choice to become indebted to Ivanov.My father’s world is a dangerous one, and if you let yourself get too close, you pay the price.

For Liam, it was the ultimate price.For Ryan?Well, I’ll have to think about it.I could have wiped out his debt immediately, and who knows what would have happened?

My only question is this: how did Ryan pay off Ivanov?