Page 55 of Captured

I tapped my fingers on the desk once again, debating not bothering to take the call. However, when I didn’t, the man usually tried to make my life miserable. I should really take back my place as the Don of the empire. Perhaps that would come after I was finished with the shit I was dealing with.

My rightful place.

Whatever the hell that meant. “What do you want, Creed?”

“Is that any way to talk to your brother and to your Don?”

“Need I remind you that you wouldn’t be in any place of authority, instead rotting in a Polish jail if I hadn’t saved your sorry ass.”

“I see bloodshed and violence aren’t what they used to be to you any longer,” Creed laughed. While I was the most brutal of the three brothers, he was conniving, something I couldn’t trust under any circumstances.

“What do you want? I am a busy man.” I jerked up from my chair, ready to end the call.

“We need to have a meeting, the three of us.”

“Why?”

“Because threats have been made to our corporation.”

“By whom?” I bothered to ask, my hackles raised even more. I was certain it had to do with Gideon and Liam. One, the other, or both.

“That’s the issue. I have no clue. I have my soldiers trying to gather information, but it would seem hackers have either gotten into our accounts or have influence on various offshore banks. Some of the funds are frozen. My computer experts are working on it and that should be solved within a couple hours, but I have a feeling that’s just the beginning of some game being played. I understand you’re working on a… controversial contract.”

While I’d done my best to shove aside the Saint regime, turning to medicine instead, I couldn’t avoid the fact my family had been in the crosshairs of long-term enemies and various law enforcement agencies alike. I rubbed my jaw, turning to stare out the window into the bright sun. If there was one thing my younger brother was good at, it was keeping track of everything Easton and I were doing with business. I couldn’t blame him even if we didn’t get along and hadn’t for years.

“Controversial?”

“Because our father was good friends with Gideon Martin.”

That was something I didn’t know. Yes, they knew of each other, but good friends? Granted, our father certainly didn’t provide a list of his alliances and didn’t bring anyone to the estate when we were young. I’d told Creed early on that determining who our father had done business with was in our best interest.

He refused to follow my advice, acting as if he knew better than all of us.

“Be careful, brother of mine. Your lack of understanding and refusal to accept our father was a worthless son of bitch could eventually get you killed.”

He laughed, although the sound was bitter. “So you’ve told me many times. I must admit, this time I agree with you. However, that changes nothing. You have a responsibility to this family and our combined businesses. We need to meet.”

The man was getting under my skin. I wanted to draw blood, exacting my revenge for nothing more than the fact he still held a level of respect for the fucking monster who’d turned us into beasts. I held my anger, doing my best to keep from lashing out. We’d sparred for so long, it was as if both of us were keeping score.

I refused to allow the bastard to win.

“Fine, but it will be on my terms. You’re coming to Boston. I have business dealings to handle in the next day or so. I’ll call you when I arrive in town.”

“Ah, you are on the island. I do wonder when I’ll get an invitation to visit your tropical paradise.”

“I think you know the answer to that, Creed. As I said, I’ll call you when I arrive. Find the fucker freezing our accounts.”

“Why, yes, sir.” He laughed before ending the call and it was all I could not to order my men to hunt down my brother and kill him. No, I’d prefer to do that myself when the time was right.

It was a promise I’d made to myself years before I intended on keeping.

CHAPTER 16

Styx

I found it interesting that I’d been taught to curtail my rage, using the pent-up emotions in more cunning manners. That was one aspect of how my father ran his business that he was good at, which had made him a formidable enemy.

But over the last few years, bits and pieces of the bottled-up anger I’d contained had leaked, which had led to more bloody assassinations that I’d originally preferred. Yes, I had a damn good cleanup crew, men trained to remove every scrap of evidence and blood that could possibly lead to my identification, but that didn’t negate the fact my fury was starting to get out of hand.

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