Page 103 of Outcast

For some reason that irked Matthews. "Yet your father isn't here."

That caught me off guard. "You know the Institution no longer exists, correct?"

He scoffed. "Of course, I do."

"Then you know how Vicente Castillo lost his power?"

He eyed me, like he wasn't sure where I was going. "Thedetails around his death are murky at best. I couldn't find a definitive answer."

"My father was killed by his only daughter. Valentina." May she rot in Hell. "You know how she died?"

His eyes widened for a fraction of a second. Whoever he had used to get his information had left some gaping holes.

"I didn't realize there was a sister."

Laughing, I slapped my knee like I was having a damn good time. Then I killed it. "There was. She was the bane of my existence and the second person I ever truly hated. The first was my father. She died at the hands of that lovely little woman my brothers call their wife."

His mouth popped open and Esteban lost it. "I had the same reaction the first time I heard. But I already knew she was a little badass."

"My point is, the Institution didn't fall because of a rivalry. The Institution fell from the inside. No one but his children could have ever touched him. And all that power now belongs to my brothers."

"That you don't want, even if it was rightfully yours," Matthews pointed out.

Esteban's gaze burned a hole in the side of my head as if he too was interested in this answer.

"No, I don't want it. It was ours, not mine, and they're much better suited for running Carnage Industries."

Matthews stretched his arms across the desk. "Yet here you are, trying to be at the top of the Dirty Dogs. You want power, you just don't want to admit it."

I raised a brow and didn't deign to answer him.

"I heard that there's an office being cleared for you as we speak at Carnage Industries. Your brothers want you to work for them. Are you sure you're so loyal to the Dirty Dogs?"

The burning in the side of my head intensified.

"Don't question my loyalty and I won't take your heart and deliver it to Rita." I stood. "I'm done here, Esteban. It was a wasted trip."

Esteban remained sitting as he narrowed his eyes on Matthews. "You know, I can figure out who the rat is. But if you have information about Rita and you don't share it, I will make it my personal mission in life to erase every single one of you from existence." He flicked his gaze to the men at the door.

"You won't be alone." I clapped Esteban on the shoulder.

He glanced at me, a question in his gaze. He wanted to know if what Matthews said was true. He trusted me so little that he was concerned I'd leave and work with my brothers.

I loved those four assholes, and I wouldn't betray them for the world, but my place wasn't with them.

My place was with Rita, and the more time I was back, I was starting to think my place was with Esteban too.

Esteban dipped his head, then turned back to the men at the door. "Do you have anything to tell us before we walk out that door?"

Dingo glanced at Matthews who gave a minute shake of his head. "Nope. I got nothing."

Standing, Matthews pushed his chair in and rounded the desk. "I don't want a war. I really don't. But if I have to fight one...we have plenty of experience to make sure we come out on top." It was a warning.

I wanted to deliver my own.

"When your man died, he was shot by apendejowho we beheaded as our own form of justice and delivered to you as proof.” It didn’t matter that the man acted on his own without Dirty Dogs’ permission. “He could very well be the rat."

The skin under Matthews left eye twitched. Interesting.

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