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“I’ve got it, but I need my stuff.” I nodded and headed back outside. We all piled into the car and drove back to the Tower instead of the apartment. Hayes had mobile equipment, but it had nothing on the entire data center he’d amassed at home.
My father tore through the city, breaking every traffic law that had ever been put in place. We came to a screeching halt in the basement parking garage of the Tower.
We’d barely stepped out of the elevator to the penthouse when my uncle came hobbling toward us, his face purple.
“You dare hang up on me? I could have you all killed for less.” Cyrus met him halfway, facing off with the shorter man as his body vibrated with rage.
“Donotpretend you didn’t disrespect me and my boys. If you think for a fucking second we will stand by someone who has no respect for us, you’ve officially lost your mind, Dorian.” His words were short and icy, giving even our uncle pause.
“You got too close to this trafficking ring,” Dorian told my father as if that answered for everything. “I had no choice but to step in and pull you away before you lost yourself completely and did something stupid. Our family name is still on the line, and you cannot act irrationally any more. I won’t condone it.” The way he spoke down to my father had my hands balling into tight fists.
No one knew what we’d all suffered through, what our mother had lived through, better than Dorian, yet he was throwing it in our face as if it wasn’t even worth our time.
I’d never thought much of my uncle. He was too out of shape to walk through the penthouse without his cane, but he acted like he held all the power here. Every single man that worked under him answered to us as much as him. Father let him take over because he wanted enough freedom to find the men who had hurt our mother. Clearly, Dorian had forgotten that his position had been handed to him and could be taken away just as swiftly.
Weston stepped forward and bent down so he was right in our uncle’s face. “If you think that I’m going to kill a single fucking mark for you after taking us off something we’ve dedicated weeks of our lives to, you’re delusional. Don’t act like your Family blood will keep you alive if you cross us, Dorian.” Weston spit out his name like a curse.
Dorian sputtered under the words, glancing around to see if any of his men were witness to this developing family feud.
I stood back, silently watching Dorian’s face for any sign he was lying. My father’s cold, calculated anger and Weston’s impulsive fury had him unsettled.
“I’m going to my room,” Hayes said. He shoved his way past Dorian and down the hall, dismissing him completely, which only sent Dorian into another angry fit.
“You dare disrespect me and threaten my life? Donotovervalue yourselves. Weston, you may be a skilled assassin, but there are several men that could take your place.” I noticed he wasn’t stupid enough to say that our father was replaceable.
Weston’s answering laughter bounced off the walls around us, making my uncle take a step back. When the last of his chuckles fell away, all that was left was raw rage. “I would love to see you try. Replace me, Uncle, go ahead. We can all take bets on how long it takes for this entire Family to fold. You may be the acting head, butweare the neck, turning you and ensuring that every aspect of this operation runs smoothly. You need to think long and hard about burning bridges.”
“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Father said. “You need a reality check, brother. Now, did you take the omega?”
Whatever he saw in my father’s face had him stepping back again. So far we had all been very careful about saying ‘our’ omega around him. He didn’t know the extent of our relationship with Bailey, or he would be shaking with fear right now.
“No, we did not take the omega,” he said. “Now, I have matters to attend to, and you all need to think about your place here.” With that note, Dorian turned around and hobbled down the hallway, muttering to himself.
We didn’t say a single word out in the open like this. Father led us into the penthouse and toward Hayes’ data center. He closed and locked the door behind us, a physical representation of the line we’d just drawn in the sand.
We were now a Family divided, and if Hayes found a single shred of evidence that proved our uncle’s dishonesty, it would be this Family’s downfall.
“We’re all in agreement that he’s a fucking liar, right?” Weston asked. He pulled out the switchblade from his pocket then began to pace, snapping it open and closed over and over again. Our uncle was lucky my brother hadn’t slit his throat right then and there. I had seen Weston kill men for less offense than we’d been offered tonight.
“He’s definitely involved. There’s no other reason to pull us off this right at the exact moment she disappeared unless he was involved somehow. I don’t know if one of our marks had made a deal he was too greedy to overlook, but if he throws away all I’ve put into this over the years, for money or power, I’ll gut him myself.”
“It’ll be a Family affair,” Weston said, giving our father a toothy grin, his eyes full of cold excitement. I gave in to the fantasy, picturing myself alongside them, spilling his blood for daring to interfere, but deep inside, I was still holding on to a shred of Family loyalty. Before we killed the man we’d dedicated our lives to, I needed to know for sure if he was involved.
“What have you found?” I asked Hayes. He had a grid of traffic cameras on the screen. Hayes rapidly clicked from one to the next, his finger tracking a black SUV, meaning he’d already narrowed down the exact car. He muttered something inaudible before writing on his notepad. I didn’t expect Hayes to answer, so we watched his silent pursuit.
North Harbor wasn’t exactly a small city. The drive from the coffee shop to the Tower was a solid twenty minutes without traffic or up to forty during rush hour, which was swiftly approaching.
“Someone was trying to throw us off,” Hayes said more to himself than us, his finger circling several of the screens to show us. “They circled this route three times.”
“But you’ve got him,” Weston said. When Hayes turned, his face was shadowed and he looked like he might get sick.
“They didn’t come here,” he said. It was almost a relief to hear that, but his face meant that he wasn’t done.
“Then where did they go?” I demanded.
“One of our safe houses down on the harbor.” He turned to his computer and pulled up a singular feed. It was the same warehouse where I’d recently murdered someone for Dorian—definitely a Family building.
“That’s Danny’s warehouse. Why would they take her there? Has anyone else come or gone?” My father rapidly fired his questions, trying to make sense of why they’d take her to the one facility that was used for seclusion.
