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"They worked for my father. Their lives were forfeited to me because of that." Draven pointed his gun to sit between the eyes of the traitor. "Now, where is that motherfucker?"
"Gone," Sergio stated.
"Where?" Draven demanded.
Shrugging the man knew he sat as good as dead already. Draven let his rage manifest, swinging the butt of the gun against Sergio's face. "I do not have time for insolence! The man killed my men!"
Sergio finally clued in how big this situation was. "Your men? We are one army under you."
Draven scoffed, kicking a chair one of the crew fell from in his death. "We are not going to pretend you're not part of my father's new army to take over mine! He killed fifteen of my men last night and kidnapped my woman, laughing in my face over it."
"Draven, I didn't know!" Sergio acted worried for his life. "Your father only told me the crew would be kept light while he'd be away. He said he'd give me a return date when he knew one."
Being too aggressive to see clearly, Draven hurried to shoot Sergio between the eyes. In his defense, we didn’t have time to verify whose side he was on. Leaving him alive could be us setting up for a future failure, like letting his father live had already done.
“Lets head to the office and see what might be in there,” I offered instead. Draven didn’t need me to say it again, marching toward the area we might recover some answers, scoping out the rest of the house for anything hidden. “Hey, Dray, come look at this.” Digging through the desk, I found either our fathers were trying to set us up again or they were simple fools to believe we wouldn’t go through their desks. Finding confidential files in the locked drawer, I hoped my father just simply forgot I had been taught to pick most locks.
Draven came my way, seeing all the different, private files in my hold. Handing him half of them to sort through, we got to work. It didn’t take long to find the things we needed, but my stomach lurched the moment I found them tracking Dr. Carmichael’s movements within the city. They’d been smart enough to research Emilia’s home to find her weaknesses. Feeling my starched mouth turn to cotton, I nearly couldn’t breathe. They had a picture of Emilia’s recent arrival to the city. The guard hadn’t been lying when he mentioned we literally just missed them because they were now on the move to go after their target again.
“They’re heading for the city. They’re going to go after Emilia again.” Even speaking the words caused bile to rise in my tightening throat. It felt like someone sucker punched me in the gut, knowing we’d set them up once again, and they had the advantage.
Draven moved his stack away from his determined stare, giving me his undivided attention. Only needing to hold the picture up of our girl landing, he didn’t need to see more. We had their location because someone slipped them hers.
“What was the name of the man you met with in the city? The one who wanted a seat?” His growl festered within his chest, rumbling every ounce of hate with it.
“Floyd Griffin, why?” Already moving the rest of the stack to my backpack, Draven held up his own paper for me to see their accomplice’s name. Sure enough, we now knew who helped them gain access to the things they didn’t have a right to.
“He’s been the feeder for their intel from the letter this picture arrived in, and he’s not the only face worth investigating.” After Floyd, he revealed Ricardo, Rocco’s younger brother. This meant Rocco’s brother helped deliver the death of his older brother, being on his father’s side.
“We’ll need to let Augustus know, one at our table does not belong.” Hurrying him out the door, we had several phone calls to arrange and an army to place into position. If they wanted to take the fight to the States, we’d make sure to join in our stance against them.
seventy-nine
Costas
"Thank you for dinner, sir," I sincerely said to Millie's dad. He hadn't been comfortable with my presence, but my mother soothed his tormented soul for the most part. Well enough for him to keep putting up with me, but that also could've come from me trying to protect Millie from whatever harm found us. Right before dinner, I'd texted Augustus about our arrival to the city, and he told me to keep him posted on anything we might need.
"It's not every day my daughter brings home the man that kidnapped her," he drawled in return without even looking up from the loaf of bread he sliced into.
"Dad," Millie hissed at him. I held up my hand to know his anger had been rightly placed.
"Possessive, obsessive, pick your choice of word for our archaic behavior, but Millie sent us all into a spiral with her unique ability to love. With Draven not allowed access to America after his escape, we couldn't say goodbye to the one thing that gave us purpose in our darkest hour. I know a life within our world isn't the most ideal for a father to put up with, but I want you to know we're always going to be solely focused on her safety, providing for her happiness."
"Is that why she looks like that?" He pointed the bread knife in her direction, gesturing to her beaten face.
When she went to argue on my behalf, I shook my head at her. Her words would only set him over the edge even more. He needed me to keep being honest, just like Kasey when I took her. "We never knew our biggest enemy was someone so close to us."
"Close to you? Is that your way of excusing what happened to my daughter?"
"No, it's to tell you that the man who raised me put his hands on the woman I love, and I had been blind to his attack because I made the mistake of believing he held me in the regard of son. But let it be known, Steven Carmichael, I killed him the minute I learned. I put a bullet right between his eyes when he told me to choose between Millie and my mother. My sense of loyalty will always belong to my family, but that does not include those who want to force my kinship."
During a pause for him to think, Kasey clicked her nails against the table. "And after he put a bullet in his head, I made sure his body could never be recovered or identified. Mario has been handled."
There were many things he didn't understand still, but Kasey's loyalty helped him see the one who harmed his daughter paid with his life. Finally looking up, he let me see his anger still making him bitter. "So why did you have to come here? If the man who hurt her is dead, why did you want to come hide here?"
"Because Tony and Draven learned their own fathers put the hit on her. They're going to do the same thing I did without her around while keeping her in a place she feels safe." Redirecting her location reflected his ability to protect his daughter, so he tipped his chin.
"And if the fight comes here? What's the plan?" Wise, wondering our plan of action to ensure her safety.
