Page 80 of Smoke and Mirrors

Anger bubbles inside of me making me see flashes of red. I want to kill him so badly, but I can’t, I need to know why Lily is involved. “Why Lily?”

He chuckles. “It’s silly really. Her dad, her real dad, was involved heavily in a drug cartel ring. He died, of course, and he being in the cartel was the only thing we could pin on her to make her sound like a traitor to The Agency, to the government.”

Lily steps forward shaking her head and furrowing her brows. “But I’ve had nothing to do with my father. So why bother taking me out, I don’t understand?”

He laughs a belly laugh and shakes his head. “Wow! You two really are dense. It was Camilla. She saw you two were getting close, and she didn’t want Lily to become a distraction for you, Kace. So she did some digging, found something that could work. We falsified records to show she took the place of her father as head of the Sinclair Syndicate. I approved it, and then she put out a waste order to void the distraction. It’s all bullshit, of course.”

Lily scoffs.

He’s so fucking arrogant, you can clearly see he has no issue with any of this.

My anger burns so red hot, I’m not sure I can contain it. My mother, the woman I trusted with everything—my job, my life, fucking everything—has put a hit on my neighbor just because she showed interest in me? Not only that, but she’s organizing terrorists, mafia, cartels, and God knows what else to destroy the very economic foundations of the country I’m so proud to be a part of.

Who the hell is she?

What the hell has Mark turned her into?

My breathing becomes harsh and ragged, my heart pounds so frantically, I can’t think straight. I know what happens next, and I have a little bit of sanity remaining to do what needs to be done.

“Lily, go outside. Now,” I demand.

She doesn’t stop to ask questions as she turns and runs outside. The slamming of the door is all I need to spur me on.

“You ruined my family. You killed my father. You turned my mother into a monster. You have committed untold atrocities and crimes against America. For that… you must pay.”

His eyes open wide as he shakes his head from side to side slowly while I stalk toward him fork still in hand. “Kace, you’re like a son to me. You don’t have to do th—”

The fork stabs straight into the side of his neck. Blood spurts out to the rhythm of his heartbeat as muffled gurgles echo through the room. As I twist the fork a little more, my heart pounds furiously while I seek my vengeance. His body shudders as blood swirls down his neck in a red torrent. I pull the fork from his flesh and move in behind him, wrapping my arm around his throat.

“God bless America,” I say, then swiftly spin my arms snapping his neck. His head falls to the side limply as his body sags lifelessly.

A calm washes over me as I take a deep breath.

Living in this new world, it’s a world I want no part of.

Chapter Twenty-Four

KACE

My feet feel heavy as I stomp outside to find Lily. Pushing the door open, I step out into the crisp night air, running my hands through my hair violently pulling at it. My breath is so rushed and harsh spittle is flying from my mouth as Lily glides up to me.

“Don’t!” I yell at her.

She flinches and looks at me as I pace the back porch. “Kace… I…” she pauses, holding herself as my heart races, and my head is a foggy mess of chaos.

Everything I’ve done, all the lives I’ve taken, they’ve all been innocent players in this fucking game that my mother, of all people, has been playing.

“Fuck! Lily, don’t you get it? My life… everything… it’s all a fucking joke.”

She steps forward, and I take a giant step backward. Her eyes gloss over with tears as I continue to pace around the back porch. My fists come down to my sides clenching so tightly my knuckles crack with the force of the squeeze as they turn a ghostly white.

“It’s okay. We can make this right,” she whispers.

“Ha! Can we? Wow! Can you fix government corruption? How can you fix a country that’s irrevocably broken? How can you fix… me?”

She reaches out for me again, but I pull back not wanting her to touch me. If she does, I might taint her, or worse, I might hurt her because I’m so wound up. “Kace, let me help you through this.”

“No.” I put my hand up and shake my head, my face stern, my body shaking with anger and resentment. Not toward Lily but toward the fuckers who have been in charge of my life for so long and have now effectively destroyed it. “You have to go. You have to leave, you can’t stay with me. I’m too dangerous, the darkness has consumed me, Lily, and I can’t dig my way out this time.”

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