Page 88 of Starting Over

The doors to the church flew open, and Tyran, Cian, and Mac all rushed in. Seeing Maureen and I on the floor, Cian and Mac moved to help us stand. Once I was on my feet, what I saw had me pausing.

Duncan had Sal against the wall. King sat quietly in his chair, staring at the tabletop. His club officers all stood with their guns pointed at Sal. The only thing stopping them from pulling the trigger was Duncan blocking their target.

“Do it,” Blade growled, turning his gun on Tyran, who had his hand inside his suit jacket. “Give me a goddamn reason.”

Tyran slowly removed his hand, placing them both in the air beside his head.

“All of you, remove your guns and place them on the table,” Gunner issued the command. As they all slowly removed their guns from their holsters and set them carefully on the table, he added, “Jack, gather them up.”

Jingles had moved to where Duncan was still holding Sal, and removed their guns from both their bodies. Duncan didn’t protest, but Sal railed out in my mother’s language, threatening to end my life.

Still, King sat there.

Like a statue.

“Get your fucking hands off me, Duncan.”

“You gonna calm down? We’re outnumbered here. We no longer have our guns. There is not one man in this club that wouldn’t hesitate to take you out.”

“I don’t care, as long as I take that fucker with me,” Sal snarled, pointing at me. “You knew I had a son and kept him from me! My legacy. My heir!”

“That’s exactly why I fucking kept him from you!” I snarled back. “She didn’t want him to be like you. She didn’t want him growing up in that life. Raised by your father. Do you know what he would have done to her if he found out?”

“I LOVED HER! I WOULD HAVE PROTECTED HER!”

“You don’t know how to fucking love. All you know is death and destruction.”

“Is that why you sent me the information about the woman who killed our mother? You were too chickenshit to do it yourself, so you sent your big brother to do what you couldn’t?”

“What is he talking about?” King asked, drawing my attention.

I didn’t answer him.

I couldn’t.

I sent the information to Sal so he would know what happened.

Did I expect him to kill the woman? No.

Did I believe it was a possibility? Yes.

Is that why I sent it? That was a question I didn’t want to know the answer to.

“Well, you certainly don’t have an issue killing a woman, do you?” Blade asked Sal.

“When the situation calls for it, no.”

“Like my mother?” Blade sneered.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“You killed my parents.”

Sal looked at me before answering, “I didn’t kill your mother.”

“Yes, you did. You sent your goons to kill us. Only after you got her and my father, you decided to keep me around. For what? Why not just kill me too?”

As Sal struggled against Duncan, he looked him in the eye and said, “Let me go.”

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