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I rubbed my eyes, trying to keep my mind on business. Sadly, events surrounding my family were weighing heavily on my mind, more so today than normal. Plus, there was a level of uncertainty in the air through the employees and soldiers my father had hired, which were in the hundreds. I’d yet to provide enough peace of mind for them to feel secure in either their jobs or their lives.
Although not a single other incident had occurred after my father’s assassination. No loss of business. No threats on our territory. Nothing. In fact, it had been business as usual, a confounding situation. Still, I had a feeling a bomb was ready to drop and it had the Warrington name written all over it.
Now I stood staring out at a gorgeous city, not seeing anything but the afternoon my father had been murdered.
What had been as unsettling as the act itself was the method in which he’d been hunted down and killed.
I wasn’t much of a golfer, but my younger brother had insisted that we honor my father’s birthday wishes. The day had been similar to this one, only a few clouds in the stunning blue sky.
For some reason, they seemed more vivid today than since immediately after the assassination had taken place. Maybe because I would soon confront who I knew to be the person responsible for his murder.
“Stop worrying,” Marcus said, my brother shaking his head as I scanned the area, ready to draw my weapon at a moment’s notice.
“I don’t like the fact we’re out in the open, bro. You know that. This place isn’t protected.”
“Four of Dad’s soldiers are here. He’ll be fine and this is all he’s wanted to do for his birthday. Unfortunately, our mother didn’t get that memo, insisting on a family celebration.”
Something else I hated, rarely attending.
“Four soldiers. There are miles of green here, Marcus. Assassins don’t check in at the front desk.”
“This is a private club, for God’s sake. There are woods surrounding the property. The soldiers swept it.”
My brother was much younger, growing up entirely different than what I’d been required to face. I’d seen my first murder at twelve. I’d participated in one at sixteen, something that had pissed my mother off. She’d forbidden my father from allowing me to engage in a single activity until I turned eighteen. That was twenty-one years before.
I wasn’t in the mood to argue with him. I simply checked the ammunition in my weapon, sliding it into the waistband of my golf shorts as we headed for the club where my father waited.
The quiet between us was unnerving.
“Pop is acting weird,” he said.
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning he’s made certain his will is in order, all the finances in place, Mother taken care of in the event of his death. He even established a trust fund for Lucy. I swear it’s like he has a feeling he’s going to drop dead of a heart attack.” While Marcus half laughed, I sensed his concern.
“Pops is smart enough to know that any of us could be killed at any time.” Lucy was our baby sister, an unexpected, and my mother would say unwanted, pregnancy. At barely fifteen, she was also the one most protected in the entire family.
“A lovely sentiment on a day of celebration.”
I threw him a look and noticed my father was waiting outside the club. He had a drink in one hand, a cigar in the other, as he usually indulged in when playing golf, poker, or billiards, his three favorite pastimes.
His soldiers were nowhere in sight.
“I’m shocked to see you, Kendrick. You made time from your busy schedule to meet with your dear old dad.” He clapped me on the back, his smile more due to chagrin.
I glanced at Marcus who rolled his eyes and looked away. He knew better than to get in the middle of my awkward discussions with our father.
“It’s your birthday, Pops. It’s not often a man is able to make it to close to being one hundred.”
“Ouch,” Marcus said, hissing for my father.
Pops was in excellent shape for a man in his mid-sixties, unlikely to retire any time soon. That was part of the reason he was the face and name of the company. Or maybe I enjoyed remaining in the shadows, using my assassination skills for the benefit of the entire family. Killing was in my blood after all. Sadly, it wasn’t in Marcus’. He preferred handling the financial aspects. While necessary, I often worried he’d end up becoming an easy mark for anyone attempting to take us out.
We had our share of enemies, too many to count. However, I was becoming worried that a hit had been placed on my father. I’d scoured the street searching for confirmation, but no one was talking. That pissed me off more than anything.
At least today there was some amount of harmony, also a rarity in the family.
“You are a hard man, son. But that means I’ve taught you well. You’re going to make a great leader one day.”
