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Cain sighed. “I’ll see what I can find out. But if he really is a fed, I’m not sure how much we’ll be able to dig up.”
“Thanks.”
He hung up without another word. I didn’t know if he’d actually send me over the details or if he’d even look into David for me. There was something David was hiding–I was sure of it. But I couldn’t do anything without proof.
Turning around, I found Killian watching me closely. I couldn’t tell if he’d overheard me or not.
“Did you find him?” he asked.
“You owe me a hundred bucks.” I moved to brush past him when he stepped in front of me, eyes flashing dangerously.
“When we find Ivan, I want to help take that bastard out,” he growled.
I hesitated. “You don’t know the first thing about this type of shit.”
“Then teach me.” He stared at me, eye level. When had my younger brother gotten so tall? For a minute, I almost wanted to say no, to keep him out of this life as long as possible. But I saw the look in his eye. He’d join this world with or without me, I was sure of it.
“Fine,” I snapped. “I asked before if you wanted to join this world, and you’d said yes. But that means you won’t be able to back out later. Once you choose this life, you’re in it forever, until your last breath.”
He didn’t even flinch, giving me a short nod. I stepped around him, heading back into the house. Killian followed, his steps heavy against the floorboards.
Instead of stopping in the kitchen, I headed up the stairs to the bedroom I was sharing with Sienna. Slamming the door shut, I tossed my phone onto the mattress, pacing. It clearly hadn’t been enough to take out his best friend. Ivan had to just try and use my identity to further whatever sick game he was playing as well.
That fucking bastard.
He was a dead man walking. All we needed was to figure out where that shipment would dock and take them all out. I didn’t give a shit who he hired, and I didn’t care that they probably didn’t know it wasn’t actually me who had sent Ivan to recruit—they were all traitors. Every last one of them.
My hands shook as I wore a hole through the carpet, walking from the window to the bed and back again. Ivan was going to regret everything he’s done. I didn’t believe that his betrayal started and ended with the death of my father. He’d been involved long before that. David had said as much. Which meant that he’d also probably been involved with my mother’s death as well.
That last thought had me seeing red. I didn’t want to believe it, but how could I not? Maybe—maybe—I wouldn’t have believed it. But that was before calling Cain. If Ivan was searching for men for a job I never put out, then that meant he was working for someone else.
The Snake.
Pain radiated up my arm as my knuckles connected with the drywall. Shaking out my hand, I let the sharp feeling reverberating through my bones calm me. Or at least try to. I can’t believe how stupid we’d all been. Neither Killian nor I could have ever seen this coming, and for some reason, I felt it was my fault. I was the older brother. I was the heir. I should have taken shit more seriously. I should have been prepared. But nothing could have prepared me for this.
Not even my own father had been prepared.
We’d all been taken by surprise. Shot down in cold blood with little to no explanation. David had been right—clearly the Snake had it out for us, and we could only guess at the reason. It’s not as if the asshole had left us some manifesto to untangle. All they’d left behind were cryptic words and fulfilled threats. We were no closer to discovering who the Snake was than when they first attacked us.
And it was all my fault. If I had done something sooner—if I had been a bit more cautious—my mother might still be alive. We probably wouldn’t have been forced to go off the grid just to hunt the fucker down. David had said the Snake had been around for a long time. If I had just known sooner…maybe I could have prevented all of this. I could have protected my family. Sienna.
But I did none of that. I hadn’t even known about the Snake until they’d first revealed themselves to us. It was fucking infuriating. How had someone who clearly had been forging international ties and slipping between the cracks gone unnoticed for so long?
“Dante?” The door to the room opened slowly. Sienna slipped through, closing it behind her with a click. “Did you find Ivan?”
“Yeah, I found him alright.” I couldn’t keep the sarcasm from my voice, and I regretted it as soon as the words were out of my mouth. Her walls went up instantly.
“I was just seeing if you were alright,” she said slowly, crossing her arms.
“And if I’m not?” I spun towards her, backing her into the wall. “If I’m not anywhere close to being alright?”
We were so close that her breasts brushed against my chest with each breath. “Then talk to me about it.”
I laughed, a bitter sound that filled the room with its ugliness. “Talk? Talking doesn’t change anything. It won’t bring back my parents. It won’t stop the Snake from completely annihilating our families. Talking doesn’t do shit.”
I was seething now, shaking so hard that I was forced to flatten my palms against the wall on either side of her head just to stop it. She tensed, caged in between my arms, but she didn’t run. She didn’t fight back.
“You need to calm down.” Sienna met my furious gaze with a searing one of her own. “You can’t do anything when you’re like this.”
