Page 41 of Karrington

“We can talk about this outside of my home.”

“So that’s a no?” Bosco confirmed.

“Yeah, it’s a no,” I said as I stood, prepared to escort them out. As I turned to tell Eyela to stay here, Uncle Pete said…

“Damn. I got rid of my brother, now I have to get rid of my nephew too.”

My head jerked in his direction, in complete disbelief of what he’d said. Before I could even process it, he pulled his gun and shot. I didn’t give a damn about myself, so I jumped on top of Eyela to shield her. As soon as the bullets pierced my back and side I groaned. Her screams pierced my ears as she tried to shift herself to cover me.

“Stay down,” I gritted, hearing the heavy footsteps of my men entering the room.

As gun fire rang out, I felt my body weaken and grow heavier at the same time. The hot holes leaked like crazy, and as my vision blurred, my eyes stayed on Eyela who was now covered in my blood. I tried to do as she said and stay alert, to keep looking at her, but that was getting harder and harder.

Loki and two guards laid me on the ground. My ears sounded like they were filled with water as I tried to make out what Loki was saying. I looked down at saw Pete and Bosco’s lifeless bodies. For some reason, that didn’t give me peace. I wanted him to suffer and tell me why he killed my father, his own brother, before he died. It didn’t look like that would happen, and as I lost consciousness, all I could do was hope I wasn’t joining them in hell… no matter how much I wanted to ask him.

The Next Day

The soundof beeping filled my ears. My eyes fluttered open and landed on a white ceiling. The smell of disinfectant instantly invaded my nostrils. A chill shot through me because it was so cold, and that feeling was immediately replaced with pain. Shifting slightly, I groaned.

Ma immediately hopped out of her seat and rushed over to my bedside.

“Where am I?” I asked groggily. “They didn’t take me to a hospital, did they?”

Her head shook as tears immediately fell. “No. They brought you to Kyrese’s clinic.”

That gave me some relief since Kyrese was a doctor who worked for us.

“What happened?”

Everyone made their way around my bed. In the sea of my brothers, a face was missing—my wife’s.

“Pete killed your father,” Loki said.

“I know that, but why?”

“Apparently Gio told him about his retiring and the changes you wanted to make,” he added. “He didn’t agree with them. Clearly.”

“Claire said he wanted your father’s place and for Bosco to have his,” Ma said. “When your father told Pete you would be his replacement, he devised the plan to kill your father. He thought if he did it before he retired, he would automatically become boss, but since so many people already knew he wanted you as his replacement, it didn’t work that way. Pete didn’t know Gio had already gone to the council.”

“So let me get this straight.” I tried to sit up, but pain shot straight through me. “He killed his brother to take his place, and then planned to kill me too when that didn’t work?”

“Unfortunately,” Ma said.

“And they’re both dead?” I confirmed. “I think I saw that but—”

“Yeah,” Loki confirmed. “We handled it. And I’m sorry we weren’t there sooner. We didn’t think your own blood would be a threat.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. I didn’t either. Something felt off, which was why I wanted to get them out the house. Where’s my wife?”

Loki and Ma looked at each other. When they remained silent, Beethoven spoke up.

“She’s stable but she’s here in her own room. After everything went down, she passed out.”

My heart monitor beat rapidly as I fought through the pain and sat up. “Why didn’t y’all say that sooner?” I ripped the stickers from my chest and IVs out of my arms before getting outof bed. Ignoring them all reaching for me and telling me to lay back down, I started my search for my wife.

22

Eyela

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