Page 73 of Risking it All

“Talk outside with me.” Eric went out the door and I followed.

Outside, the night felt darker than ever before, more menacing. To keep myself from hauling off and hitting Eric in the jaw, I shoved my hands in my pockets.

“There’s a street war brewing,” Eric said. “Your dad, Marsh, and Lyra have asked me to protect all of you.”

Fifty thousand dollars and I could protect my family on my own.

“I know you’re going to say you don’t need the protection, but your sister and Camila do. I can have someone trail Lyra to and from work. Have the apartment watched when Lyra and Camila are here alone. Let it be known that a hit on your family like the one that happened earlier today would be the same as taking a swipe at me.”

My stomach turned with revulsion as this conversation had to mean I was entering a brand-new level of hell with Eric and, until now, I’d had no idea one existed.

Eric studied me and there was a flash of something unfamiliar from him. Sadness? Regret? “Do you remember when I used to take you fishing at the lake?”

As much as I didn’t want to, I did. When I was a child, Eric made up for what Dad couldn’t or wouldn’t do. Showed up with groceries, took me shopping for clothes, showed interest in my day, and just plain spent time with me.

I had to look away from Eric because those lake trips, staying the weekend at his place, were still some of the best memories of my life. I loathed how the only times I’d felt safe as a child, feltloved—like I had something of worth inside me—had been with Eric.

“I consider you a son, Relic,” Eric said so low I almost didn’t hear him. “Never in a million years did I ever think you and I would be where we’re at now.”

“Where did you think we’d be?”

“With you working quickly up the ranks of my business. Being one of my best lieutenants. Becoming someone I’d pass this business to. Where did it go wrong?”

When I saw him order a man beat to death. When I heard that man’s cries, when I heard him begging, sobbing for mercy, and how when I ran to help him, Eric grabbed me and told me to watch because I needed to see what happened to people who crossed him. Did he die? Eric later told me he didn’t, but I had heard differently on the street. “You know where it went wrong.”

Camila had just been born, and I could never have imagined her being forced to watch that, forced to live knowing she was powerless. I swore to myself then and there that I would never be a part of Eric’s world, and neither would Camila.

Eric cursed under his breath and leaned against the aging metal railing. “I should have known you were too young. I should have been smarter.” He stared out at the night, and I wondered what he saw. A decrepit neighborhood? The kingdom over which he ruled?

“Whether or not you want to admit it,” Eric said, “you’re mad that I allowed your father to go to prison. You’re mad I didn’t pull strings to keep him out, but he had to go. He screwed up too badly. If he hadn’t gone to prison, I would have been forced to take him out.”

Was Eric right? Was I mad at him for that? I studied him for a moment, but then decided he was wrong. I hated Eric, Dad or no Dad heading to prison.

“You have to be tired of this,” Eric continued. “The constant struggle.”

I was. Fucking exhausted.

“I’ll keep you out of drugs,” Eric offered. “If that’s what your hold up is. I’ll find something else for you to do until you’re ready to move up.”

I had said no to Eric countless times, every instance feeling dangerous, but this one felt like teetering on the edge of an active volcano. “I can’t.”

Eric rounded on me, stalked toward me, and got in my personal space. I straightened but didn’t flinch. Toe to toe with me, Eric stared me down. “I can’t protect you and your sisters if you don’t.”

“Why not?” I pushed. “Aren’t you the king of these streets? If you say we don’t get touched, shouldn’t we be spared? Dad lives in this apartment by your decree. He works for you. Shouldn’t my sisters be protected by his allegiance to you?”

“Your dad’s a failure,” Eric spat. “Barely holding on to his life by the thinnest of threads. You’re the only reason I’ve kept him alive, because I can’t have you blaming me for his death. I can’t give you one more reason to turn from me. I have loved you like a son since you were born. I watched out for you when no one else would. Paid bills when you weren’t looking. Spent the time with you that your father refused to give. When are you going to wake up and see I’m the only real family you have?”

“Family doesn’t blackmail you into loving them,” I dared to say.

My words bounced off him as he tilted his head to push closer to me. “I won’t give you the benefits of my love without some respect. If you want your sisters safe, you work for me. You work your daddy shit out real quick and figure out that I’m the one who loves you. Stop being so stubborn. Is it worth sacrificingLyra and Camila’s lives just to stick the knife further into me because you’re trying to punish me for hurting you?”

Eric stalked away from me then turned. “This war has the potential to be bloody. My enemies know how I care for you. That was what today was all about. To warn me what they will take out. I can’t take back bullets, and you’ll never forgive yourself if Lyra and Camila are caught in this war between us in the name of your stubbornness.”

He left then, his booted feet thumping as he went down the stairs. Sick to my stomach, dazed in the head, I entered the living room and found Lyra sitting on the couch, a flickering candle highlighting her concern-ravaged face.

“Someone took a shot at me today,” Lyra said quietly. “This evening when I left my car in the parking lot of the bar to head in to work. It scared the shit out of me.”

I leaned back against the closed door of our apartment. I didn’t need to ask her what time this happened as it had to be same time Camila and I were shot at—“warned.”

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