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No words are spoken between father and son, but even through the screen, I can feel the tension. It presses down on my shoulders and wraps around my chest, making it hard to breathe.
Taking a step back from Reid, Victor’s lips curl into a smirk, one that shoots poison through my veins.
“Oh God,” I whimper.
My eyes are still glued to the screen when Victor finally spins around and continues walking toward the door. Finally, he pulls it open and disappears from our sight. The second it slams closed, Mav takes off like the devil is snapping at his ass. To be fair, it could be.
“Mav, wait,” I call, hating being in the dark about all of this.
I race after him, but he’s faster, his footsteps thundering down the stairs before me. By the time I get downstairs, he and Reid are talking in hushed voices in the living room.Both of their bodies are taut, their words short and sharp.
If I didn’t know they’d come to some kind of truce over the past couple of days then I’d think they were arguing.
I want to interrupt, but the tension coming off both of them in waves stops me from even stepping over the threshold to the room.
It’s easy to forget how formidable and dangerous these men I’m living around really are. But standing in the doorway, watching Reid and Mav together—a sight I never thought I’d see—reality hits me hard.
There’s a crash in the kitchen and after a quick look over my shoulder, I head in that direction.
I find JD loading the dishwasher and my stomach knots.
“What’s going on?” I ask, startling him.
He doesn’t turn around immediately; instead, he hangs his head for a beat, sucking in a deep breath. Once he’s composed himself, he finally turns.
The smile on his face should be comforting, but it falls flat.
“Victor saw all of this, didn’t he?” I ask, my voice cold and hard.
“It’s fine, Dove. Reid's smarter than his old man,” he reasons, but the shadows in his eyes and the doubt in his voice give him away.
I stare at him, my chin dropped.
“You can’t be serious? All of this it’s—” I shake my head, lifting my hands to my hair and pulling until it hurts. Something tells me that it’s got nothing on what’s heading our way.
I want to believe him. I do. I truly believe that Reid will overthrow Victor and take control of his town. But I also refuse to underestimate Victor.
He has trained Reid to be the future leader he wants, which means, he knows his moves and will recognize his tells. And that is very dangerous for us. One wrong move and he’ll take us down before we’ve even realized something is wrong.
I’m about to respond when heavy footsteps move our way.
“What’s—”
“I’m going out,” Reid states. “Stay here, don’t do anything stupid.”
“Bro, you know we—”
“What’s going on?” I ask, my eyes bouncing between Reid and Mav’s.“What did Victor find? What happened before he left?”
“Nothing, Doll,” Mav says, walking over and wrapping his arm around my waist, tugging me into his body and letting me drown in his scent. “Trust us, yeah?” he whispers before pressing a kiss on my temple.
Anger ripples through me. The need to shout and scream until they answer my questions and tell me what I need to know is almost too much to deny.
But in the end, all I do is whisper, “Yeah,” because what else can I do?
47
ALANA
