Page 94 of Seizing Control: Part Two

18

LAZARUS

The private jet touches down in the old country. Our fourth landing in the past two days, something that was a novelty the first time, but is now almost commonplace as the new experience quickly became monotonous to me. While I was originally low-key excited at the journey ahead of me, this impromptu meeting with the heads of the Catalonian Trinity is now making me nervous.

I want this over and done with as quickly as possible.

As we’re taxiing toward the glass dome in the middle of the sheltered airfield on the outskirts of Barcelona, I exchange a look with Layla. My second-in-charge inclines her head, then she returns her attention to the laptop perched on her lap. Next to her, Gabriel’s executive assistant sits ramrod straight. The older woman isn’t happy with my order to accompany me and the curia to Catalonia.

She has a bunch of cats at home.

I had Layla organise a cat-sitter, but it didn’t soothe her upset.

When she worked in the same office, Lily used to joke about Veronica Cerulli’s relationship with her pack of cats. In the wake of my argument over the cat-sitter, I am very aware that her stories about the older woman’s devotion to her animals wasn’t just a bunch of funny anecdotes.

Veronica is dead serious about her clowder of felines.

Cluster, clutter, glaring, or pounce... my over-taxed brain decides to regurgitate the different plurals for a group of cats. Gabriel’s re-education program rears its head in the strangest ways when I’m stressed. The irony of me—the Dyslexic idiot with a personality disorder—finding emotional clarity in grammar is strong.

Reading and writing have always been a problem.

Nowadays its coming a lot easier.

The voice in my head speaks with intent.

When my right leg starts to bounce, I cycle through my breathing. My control is slipping. The training that I’m clinging to by my fingernails is slipping out of my grasp. I’m adrift. Drowning. Rudderless. Thrashing as I try to kick for the surface. The past few days have been among the best and the worst of my life. It’s tested me in ways I never thought possible. Strengthened me to a point of invincibility.

My father was slaughtered when Gabriel allowed his security to lapse.

I ousted the Adjudicator from the head of the curia in retaliation.

Now, I’m bringing a case to the head conclave of La Trinitat Nova in the old country to request permission to break hundreds of years of tradition.

The pressure is immense, and I’m see-sawing underneath it.

My head is in the game. Ready to dominate these discussions so I can secure my new role. My heart is not so sure. It’s back in Australia, with metukà shelì and our children. I’m worried about the fallout from my spur of the moment decision to have Slash recuperate from his suicide attempt in the same house as Lily. Drowning in regret over my choice to leave her to battle through this alone. It feels like I’m repeating past mistakes, even when I know on a rational level that I’m not.

I’ve kept Lily as far in the loop as I can.

She has Hunter by her side.

My most trusted protégé.

Pretending that I’m impervious to Veronica’s annoyance, I offer, “Would you like time to freshen up?”

“No, thank you.” Her dark-brown eyes flash with ire. “I’d prefer to get this over and done with.”

“You and me both.”

The glimpse of empathy in her expression is a small buoy to my hope for her compliance.

Unbuckling my belt now that we’ve come to a halt, I head for the small room at the rear of the plane. Under heavy guard from Atlas and his team, Gabriel remains sedated. Since I apprehended him, we’ve kept him compliant with a series of meds, a necessity to keep him from using his silver tongue to wreak havoc amongst my men.

“We’re disembarkin’?” The president of the Wheatbelt chapter of the Black Shamrocks MC asks. He’s a rumpled mess. Hair standing on end, his pale face makes the tattoos that cover him stark in the harsh light in the plane. I nod, and some of the tiredness leaves his eyes. “Thank fuck. I’m over this trip already.”

Nadia’s adopted brother gestures for his men to take hold of Gabriel’s arms and legs.

I hold the door open for them.

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