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Everything he says is true. Paisley deserves all that and more.
But she belongs to me. She is mine. I won’t give her up.
And if that makes me a selfish asshole, then I’m prepared to live with that title.
“Then we kill Frederick.” I lay it out between us. The plan I’ve had from the beginning. The one Victor argued was the wrong way.
His jaw sets as he stares me down. After several seconds he jerks his head in a nod. “Fine.”
“Fine.” Some of the tension I’ve been carrying in my shoulders eases. “After the party we will remove him from the situation.”
“You’ll have to make sure no one knows it was you.”
“I don’t plan on anyone being able to prove he’s dead.” I go back to the papers, signing off on the DJ before shoving the stack into the folder so they can be scanned and emailed to their respective businesses.
“So you plan to handle this the same way you handled your father.”
I go still.
Victor leans back in his chair, like he didn’t just lay out the secret I swore to carry to my grave. “Did you not consider that someone might figure out what happened to him?”
“There’s nothing to figure out. Ivan Valinov disappeared twenty years ago after his boat capsized, dumping him into the ocean.” It’s the same story I’ve told since the day my brothers and I went our separate ways, splitting across the country to take the one thing my father never could.
Control of The Association.
And we succeeded, proving to anyone still watching that while we might have been bred from the devil himself, his sins would not be ours.
“Some men deserve to die, Andre.” Victor holds my gaze. “Your father was one of those men.”
I take a slow breath, stealing some time to straighten out my thoughts.
When I chose Victor as my second I was hoping his connections would help me.
Not expose me.
“My father was many things.” I choose my words carefully, so I don’t give more away than I already have.
“There’s a reason he was never allowed in The Association.” Victor tips his head, gaze narrowed on me. “Why did you think it took you and your brothers so long to gain a foothold?”
We knew. Knew when we decided to separate that our goal wouldn’t be an easy one to attain.
But we also knew that it was what we had to do to clear our name.
The one only I was burdened with.
“Does everyone know about my brothers?”
“The legend of Valinov’s six sons is considered a myth by most people.” Victor’s lips twitch. “Especially once they meet you.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You should. It was one.” Victor studies me for a minute. “What I want to know is why you don’t all work together?”
“Who says we don’t?”
“I do.” He answers immediately. “There’s no calls. No letters. No contact of any kind between the six of you.”
I work my jaw from side to side, considering how much I should share. “We were raised to be enemies by a sadistic father who punished us at the first sign that we might be banding together.” It happened more times than I could count and led to a certain kind of connection that can’t be explained. “We don’t need to speak to communicate.”
