AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“War is inevitable,” Digger warns.
“Yeah. It is.” I clench my fists on my legs. “So we can sit back and hope the bullets don’t catch us in the crossfire, or we can be the proactive fuckers who launch the first strike—take control.”
“Why didn’t you bring this up with the others just now,” Digger asks. “Why keep plans to take Terry’s business to yourself?”
“Because I knew they’d cut the fuckin’ idea off at the knees before I got the chance to finish talkin’.” I sigh, leaning forward to curl my shoulders, elbows to my knees. It’s a protective gesture, one I’ve done plenty in my life. Enough to know I do it when I want to protect my heart. My pride. “Brother, I’ve thought about this plenty, for a while now. And you know what I keep comin’ back to? Terry goes to prison or dies—that leaves a hole. Who do you think will fill it?”
“Connor,” Rae utters. “The debts of the father pass to the son.”
I nod, clenching my hands tight enough that white marks mar the tanned flesh along the backs of my fingers. “They do, baby girl, yeah.” A fucking universal truth that keeps me up some nights, knowing what I burden my boys with—most-of-all Kane.
The loud rush of air from my daughter’s nose punctuates her thoughts on the matter. “This is bullshit, Daddy. We’veneverdealt in product. Not since Pappy died.”
“Well aware, baby girl.” Especially since bringing about that end was my own doing. “Never said we had to keep the business. Just babysit it long enough to ensure whoever takes over is under our control.”
“And you want that person to be Connor, using Rae to control him.” Digger shakes his head in contempt.
“Connor will never be your puppet,” Rae states. “He hates you all too much for that to ever happen.”
“I know.” I lock on to her warm gaze and sour with shame. “But you know as well as I do that he’d do it for you. You walked through those gates, sweetheart, and you revealed yourself as the missing puzzle piece. The thing I’ve needed for a while now to figure this shit out.”
“No,” Maddie barks. “I brought her here toprotecther from Connor.”
I shake my head. “Maybe so, but we initially agreed to keep Rae here to protect her fromTerry. Connor is the unfortunate complication of the issue, is all.”
“You don’t honestly believe this shit,” she stresses, gunning for her uncle’s support.
To my surprise, Digger nods. “He’s got a point, Mads. Rae’s strong enough to fight a battle against an immature, tantrum-throwing fuck like Connor.” He pauses, swallowing hard while he eyes the object of our infatuation, how she hugs her knees to her chest. “It’s Terry’s interest that makes this dangerous. Terry’s control.”
“You genuinely believe he’d turn against his father?” Rae asks, staring me dead in the eye. “You think it would work? He’d help you? Purely becauseIasked.”
There could be fuck all else people in the room for the connection that burns between us in the moment. I wet my lips, running my teeth over my bottom one before swallowing slowly and taking the time to choose my words right. “Given the right persuasion, I believe he would. Yeah.”
Her nostrils flare, chin that little bit higher. My cock stirs to life at the fire in her eyes, the defiance willing to break free. “My submission is that persuasion, right?”
I don’t need to say a fucking thing. She’s made her assumptions, and there’s no swaying that conviction.
“You do remember he threatened toslit my throatwhen I broke it off with him, right?”
“Proves you mean a lot to him, then, doesn’t it?” I want to slapmyselffor that rebuke. Don’t blame the girl any for looking at me the way she does.
“I can’t believe you.” Maddie stands. “This whole thing is fucked. Come on, Rae. We’re done here.”
For the second time, my daughter’s hissy fit fails to sway her friend. I hold Rae’s gaze, something powerful yet unspoken passing between us. An understanding. A kinship despite the defiance.
“Rae?” Maddie whispers.
“I’ll be out soon, Mads. You don’t have to stay.”
My girl casts her gaze my way, confusion clear as fucking day in the peak of her brow.“What the fuck just happened here?”is what her wide eyes say. Betrayal is what her quick strides from the room spell.
Rae stepped foot from Maddie’s camp and ventured to the fringes of ours. Rebellion is a hell of a thing when it’s tied up in revenge. The most pious among us would be considered fair to answer the call.
“Tell me how this goes, then,” Rae demands as soon as the door slams shut. “You want me to win Connor over again. How? Should I start softening my throat? Make it easier for him to cut. Or should I practice my ‘O’ face? Make sure he believes I’m actually thinking of him when I come.”
Digger’s swallow is audible while that visual runs through our heads.
I lean a little closer, eyes narrowed when I ask, “Whowouldyou be thinkin’ of?”
