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Fuck.
“The inner circle, or just the Circle, was composed of avid supporters of the Moreau’s. Most of them were from when Sacha was alive, but they stuck around to help guide his sons and then eventually his daughter. From what we know, the sons were great leaders. But Charlotte just didn’t care. They said that she hated her father so much that she wanted to destroy his legacy. She was fucked in the head, honestly. She and Miles never had kids which is probably a good thing because she was a selfish bitch. But the Circle, for the most part, they were good people. Our father has always been fucked up, but that night destroyed him, like a lot of others. Nyxon’s last remaining relative, his father, Elijah King, was killed. He was an amazing person and a wonderful father. Both of Stone’s parents were killed as well. Lucas and Mia Hendrix were terrible people and even worse parents but they were all the family Stone had and Charlotte and Miles killed them ruthlessly.”
At this point, Maddox is vibrating with anger and Gage is barely keeping his shit together. I can tell this is extremely painful for both of them. I want to go back to Maddox but don’t want to leave his brother. I settle for offering a sympathetic smile in Madd’s direction while I run my fingers through Gage’s hair.
“I am so unbelievably sorry for all of your losses. I know it doesn’t mean anything right now but that’s seriously awful. My heart breaks for you and your families,” I murmur. We sit in silence for a few moments while everyone collects themselves. Gage recovers first.
“After that night, the Moreau line in the United States was done with. The small number of blood relatives they had back in Corsica decided to end their rule in California and pick up the pieces of their remaining family in their home country. They were probably devastated from all the loss and embarrassed, or hiding out, more likely, due to Charlotte’s betrayal. Gus was the highest-ranking member of the Circle left and he was unanimously voted to take over the city after that. Since our family is not an international bloodline, he created Los Diablos. Like I’ve said before, it’s basically a gang, but Gus is smart. He may be insane and fucked up, but he’s fucking brilliant. He quickly created ties with The Diaz Cartel. Our mother’s brother is the leader of a notorious big-time dirty gang in LA called the Broadway Boys who Gus is still connected with. He also made allies with Mateo Grossi of the Cosa Nostra in Vegas as well as some other big-name players.”
“But, brilliant or not, he’s sick and we fucking hate him. He took Nyx and Stone in after that night and began systematically torturing all of us. Physically, mentally," Maddox grits his teeth and squeezes his glass, clearly feeling the pain of how he and his friends were abused as kids. "He plays games with his prey before he takes them out and we’ve been nothing but pawns to him. We think that’s why he was so quick to take them in because they were just additional pieces on his board. And as we’ve gotten older, it’s only gotten worse. We knew we couldn’t continue this way. None of us want this life. We don’t want to be involved let alone take over. We were already making plans to get out but then two years ago, things changed. Our tentative plans became necessary action. Shit went from bad to fucked overnight,” Maddox growls.
“What happened?” I whisper as I continue to thread my fingers through Gage’s soft hair. He didn’t gel it today in its usual slicked-back style and it’s fluffy and thick under my hand.
“Over the years, Gus has mainly stuck to drugs and weapons. He buys and sells, making a massive profit. But two years ago, he decided it wasn’t enough. He decided to get into human trafficking. Buying and selling woman and children,” Gage murmurs and I feel his body tense up under me as he squeezes me tightly, like he’s afraid I’ll bolt.
“Holy shit,” I gasp. What the fuck?
“Yeah, holy shit is right,” Maddox huffs as he finishes off his second or maybe third glass of scotch. “Gus forced us into it. Got it all set up with Diaz to have shipments sent here for sale and distribution. Fucking shipments, like they aren’t human beings for fucks sake.”
“And worst of all is that he put Nyxon in charge of it. Like we said, he likes to torture. He gets off on it. He finds the thing that will hurt a person most and uses it to torment them. And for Nyx, there is nothing worse,” Gage sighs and pulls me as close as can be, our entire bodies touching. “I’m not going to tell you the whole story because it’s not mine to tell, but Nyx’s mom and sister were kidnapped when he was little. After years of digging, his father discovered they had been trafficked. His mom didn’t make it and his sister is still missing, though we all know she’s gone for good also.”
Oh my God. What the fuck have I gotten myself into? Trafficking? Drug and weapons? Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Wait.
“Did you say all this happened two years ago?” I rasp. “Nyx was given this job two years ago?” My body has gone still, the revelation almost knocking the wind out of me.
“Yeah, baby,” Gage whispers as he squeezes me.
“Is that why?” I choke out.
“You gotta talk to him, Ella,” Madd says sympathetically, though the answer is obvious.
I rest my head on Gage’s shoulder and close my eyes, attempting to process everything. When I finally feel more settled, a question comes to mind.
“You never answered the original question. You said you don’t kill the woman and children even though he tells you to.”
“Right, we got off-topic. So, with all the backstory, you may understand why we’ve done what we’ve done now a bit better. We decided a long time ago that we had to make moves to get out from under Gus and away from Los Diablos. We started making connections of our own. We’ve become masters in the art of deception,” Maddox chuckles.
He leans back and rests his hands behind his head, causing his tight black t-shirt to rise up, exposing his Adonis belt to my thirsty eyes. He catches me looking and winks at me, his chuckle getting louder. I flip him off and it turns into a full belly laugh. Ignoring him, I go back to the conversation, but I can’t help smiling at him.
“Anyways,” I drawl, “what do you mean?”
“It means, Gus thinks we are his faithful minions but we’re not. We’re pulling the strings and we have been for quite some time. We’ve been systematically shutting down and destroying his operation slowly and silently for the last year. We have lost him some of his largest allies who are now on our side. We have taken away his weapon trade and now his drugs are going to shit. Trafficking has been a more delicate situation. We have tried to save as many of them as we can without getting caught. As far as those that are wholly undeserving of death, we have relocated them. We have safe houses throughout the country and even one in Italy through our friends in the Cosa Nostra. It’s not been easy, but it will be worth it.”
“Oh my fuck! You guys are like secret spies or some shit!” I whisper-shout making them both laugh.
“Don’t get it twisted baby girl. We may be trying to do the right thing but we are still bad men,” Maddox murmurs.
I shoot him a glare because we’ve already been over this. But I assume it will take quite a long time before I can change his opinion of himself.
“So, is this how you think you can help with the Drew thing? Because of all your ties to big people?” I ask as it dawns on me. Gage nods, absentmindedly, like he’s thinking about something distantly.
“Stone and Nyx will be back in a few hours and Madd and I will sit down with them and figure some shit out. We know that piece of shit has gone into hiding as we assumed he would. But there are no boundaries on what Stone can do when he has time to apply himself. Now that he will be home for a while, he can help with that. We won’t let anything happen to you again, Cariño. You trust us on that?” Gage grunts as he tilts my chin, bringing me face to face with him.
“Yeah, I got it,” I whisper. Gage smirks and takes my lips in a quick, hard kiss.
“Any more questions for us, baby girl? Or can we go eat something? I need to soak up this liquor. It’s barely fucking 1 pm and we’ve got shit to do today,” Maddox grumbles as he stands and stretches.
