“I had bigger dreams than this,” he mutters.
“You tried moving into the drug trade,” I say, and he flinches at the reminder. “Ramsays already owned it, and you tried anyway. It got ugly, and we had to back off. I’m not going to run the business like that, Dad. We need to strengthen what we got, not try to expand again.”
“Then you’re gonna run our family business into the fucking ground!” he yells. “Micha understood blood for blood! You were always a fucking pussy about it!”
“I will do what has to be done!” I yell back, standing up and facing him. I slam my glass down on the desk, sloshing bourbon onto the fine wood.
A quick knock at the door is followed by Antony peeking his head inside.
“Everything all right, boss?”
“Everything is fucking glorious,” I say through gritted teeth. “Why?”
“Just want to make sure.” Antony takes a step in, licks his lips and stares at the floor for a second before looking back to me. “I know it’s all…different.”
“Everything is fine.” I’m getting tired of uttering that phrase. “You’re supposed to be hunting down Jack.”
“Already on it. Just a few things to take care of before I go, and wondering if you’ll be at the club tonight. Reynolds is asking about the security detail.”
I glance at Pops, but he just shrugs and stares out the window.
“I’ll be there.”
“Cool.”
I roll my eyes as Antony closes the door. With another sigh, I grab the glass, down the rest of the whiskey, and stalk out of the office, leaving my father behind.
I’m perfectly capable of running this enterprise without my brother or my father. Maybe I wasn’t born to the task, but I am going to do it. I’m going to keep the businesses together—all of them—and I’m going to find the person who killed my brother. I don’t need my father, and he’s going to have to come to terms with that.
As easily as the thoughts flow into my mind, they flow right back out again as the lies I know them to be. I have no idea how to determine who killed Micha, and I’m starting my first day by killing my own brother-in-law.
Antony had a really good point—Nora is going to blow a gasket when she finds out.
Pops might be right. I might fuck all this up.
Chapter 5—Loyalty
“I’m not prepared for this.” A shudder runs through me as I turn the car onto the rural highway and head out of town.
“You can do this, son,” Pops replies from the seat next to me. “You have all the evidence. By the time you get there, Threes will have a confession out of him. You have to do what you have to do.”
“No mercy.” I take a deep breath, trying to center myself.
“No mercy.”
Pops is in a surprisingly good mood, and I wonder—not for the first time—if the anticipation of spilled blood gets him excited. I can’t share his glee at the prospect. This isn’t just anyone’s blood. Jack is family.
“Nora is going to hate me.”
“Probably.” My father laughs. “Your sister will get over it.”
“I want to understand why he did it. If I can explain it to her…” My voice trails off. No words I spout at Nora regarding family loyalty or protection will mean anything with her husband’s blood on my hands.
“Do you think there is justification for what he did?” Pops’ voice reminds me of a junkyard dog’s snarl. “He betrayed us, Nataniele. The whys are irrelevant.”
“I missed something, didn’t I? I mean, you vetted him before they were married, and he was clean. Was only interested in the legit side of the business. Good with numbers, too. We thought he might even replace Kate in the accounting area, but now? Now he betrays us? I need to know why.”
“If you want to waste your time, go ahead.” Pops shakes his finger at me. “When you find out he did it for the one reason anyone ever dares betray us, you’ll only be disappointed.”
“Money.” I clench my teeth together and flex my foot against the accelerator.
“Always. Jack grew up poor and hungry, and all of a sudden, he’s living in a fancy house with maids and cooks. People who come from nothing and are suddenly given everything always want more. Greedy fuckers.”
I turn off the road and head up a long, gravel drive and past the dilapidated farmhouse. When I crest the hill, I see the barn looming in the distance and park near the other vehicles.
“It’s about family integrity,” Pops says. “It has always been about family integrity. If we can’t trust those in our own family to be loyal, we can’t trust anyone.”
“When you find a rat, you kill it.”
“No mercy.”
I step out of the car and head to the run-down barn, painted black and sporting a faded old chewing tobacco advertisement on the side. Long ago, the area was filled with tobacco farms, and all the barns were painted black to help speed the process of drying. The slat-board door is ajar, and I maneuver through it.
The dry, dusty air tickles my nose with the smell of old manure and rotted hay. Sunlight peeks through the cracks in the wooden walls, spreading patches of bright light in some places and dark shadows in others. A few, unused livestock stalls line one side of the barn, and a rusted tractor sits against the back wall. For a long, drawn-out moment, it’s the only sound in the large, open space. The next moment, the building is filled with screams.
“No! No! Please!”
I glance at Pops, but he stays next to the barn door, leaning against the rotting wood wall with his arms crossed in front of him. It’s clear he expects me to do this
