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My mouth tasted as if it was full of ash. Images flashed through my mind of the desperate junkies smashing storefronts along the edge of the city, of the addicts wandering in a daze around the waterfront property when the Storm’s men had been handing out samples there.
Dad wanted to keep those people in that fucked-up state? To make a whole county full of druggies who’d do anything for their next hit?
Come to think of it, that outcome might suit his power fantasies just fine. Junkies were easy to control, which was exactly why Xavier must have taken that route. But my father used to care about more than just holding all the cards. Staring at him with a pit opening in the bottom of my stomach, I thought I might have an inkling how Beckett felt about his dad.
The kid believed it might not be too late to get the Storm back on the right track. I wasn’t so sure with Ezra Noble, considering how far gone he already appeared to be.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” I said. “Didn’t you want to branch out into more legitimate business opportunities, not ones that are totally illegal? You’ve always said it’s better not to get too involved in the drug trade specifically because of how messy it is. And yeah, I’ve seen the effect Glory has—it’s fucking messy, all right.”
An unsettling glint came into Dad’s eyes. “I avoided this type of business because I hadn’t found a drug that made it worthwhile. Amphetamines, meth, and the rest, they don’t hold a candle to where Glory could take us.”
He got up from behind his desk and walked over to the window, gazing out it over the lawn. “The world is a boundless well of possibilities, Wylder. I let my faith in that fact get shaken for a little while, but now I’m taking hold of the future of the Nobles with both hands. The Storm has barely gotten started with Glory, from what I understand. The distribution here was only a test run. I can take it to the heights it deserves and show everyone what the Nobles are capable of.”
“This is crazy,” I burst out, unable to hold in my frustration. “We’ve still got a war on our hands. We won’t be around to sell even a gram of Glory to anyone if we don’t focus on tackling the Storm. If you’d actually backed me up today, maybe we’d have turned the tables on them and ended this. Now we’re down dozens of men and running out of time and options.”
Dad swiveled on his heel, his tone going icy. “I think you’re forgetting that I’m still in charge, son.” He stressed the last word, but it sounded hollow to me. “You follow my orders, not the other way around. I’ll handle my business as I see fit, and you can work on seeing through the agreement you made with this Long Night person. If you can’t manage that—if you can’t accept that I know what’s best for our organization—then perhaps I’ll have to do some clearing of the slate myself.”
Those last words came out razor-sharp. The threat was so clear I had to restrain a wince.
This was what our simmering feud had come to. He was outright stating that he’d kill me if I kept disagreeing with him—definitely if I got in his way. While he got our men massacred and ignored the most pressing problem looming over us as if it’d go away if he pretended it out of existence hard enough with his dreams of future triumphs.
He was going to get all of us killed, even himself, and there was nothing I could say that would accomplish anything other than earning me a bullet in my heart. So I’d better get back to the real work rather than wasting my remaining hours here.
“Thank you for your time, Dad,” I said. Without another word, I simply walked out of the office.
Mercy straightened up from where she’d been leaning against the wall. Gideon and Kaige raised their heads too, all waiting for me like they’d promised. Their gazes asked a question I didn’t know how to answer.
If I was ever going to become the leader the Nobles needed, I was going to have to go through Dad. He couldn’t have made it clearer that he was never going to step aside of his own accord.
I hadn’t wanted to come to blows with him, but if that was the only way to set things right… I’d do what I had to do to maintain the Nobles’ legacy and the security of Paradise Bend.
But for now, before I could even think about that problem any deeper, we had a deal to fulfill and a psychotic maniac to crush.
“Let’s go to my office,” I said. “We’ve got a war to win.”
