Page 41 of Winter's End

“Make no mistake, though,” Kellan said as he finished up our guns, now freshly cleaned and ready for use. “Georgio knew who you were if he sought you out. I have no idea if our father knows—I’d assume if he did, he would have you in his clutches by now. Why he kept you a secret concerns me. Georgio is cunning; you’re a bargaining chip of some kind.”

The tingle grew to a slow burn again, like bad indigestion overtaking my abdomen. Great.

“Did he seek you out too?” Kellan turned to Cam, who’d stayed stoically silent as I regaled my sob story.

My brute of a best friend cocked his head in thought and then nodded in confirmation.

“I’ve been thinking about that.” He accepted the gun from Kellan’s outstretched hand and eyed it warily as he continued. “I’d always thought it was my misfortune that I’d accepted Georgio’s legal help after my temper got the better of me, but knowing we’re blood-related makes me rethink that.”

Cameron Chase laid out his own story of adoption, his normal upbringing, and his parents’ deaths, which led to his wayward wandering and eventually finding his mother. Happenstance and sheer coincidence had led him to this area. One night of rage had left him indebted to Georgio indefinitely.

“If anyone is going to quietly overthrow our father, it’s Georgio.” Kellan leaned against the fence; his face full of fierce loathing. “The twins don’t care enough to step into leadership. They do whatever our father asks, when he asks it. Matteo is dead. I’ve been playing the double-role for over a decade. The FBI found me in one of Antonio’s training camps when I was a teen and turned me before I lost my soul. Our father thinks I’m a righteous soldier right now, playing my part in the FBI and the DEA and turning enough agents over to our side so we can grow ranks and take over North American distribution entirely.

“But Georgio is the one we need to watch. Right now, he’s following every command, but he’s setting his own traps. I have a feeling he found out about you a long time ago and was lying in wait for the right time. You coming to him was just the perfect set of circumstances.”

I didn’t miss the hatred that shadowed every facet of the passable Viking’s face when he discussed his family. I’d been living a pseudo double life for a few months—to play it for a decade? It was a wonder Kellan had any semblance of who he was left in him.

His gaze caught my own. “Understand that, for the mafia, blood is everything.”

“He’ll be thrilled to know he has two grandsons to share the family responsibility with”—his blue eyes darted over to Cam’s almost matching ones—“but he’ll be rabid if he knows he has another son to step in to grow the empire. If you know where your mother is, I want to get her under our protection as soon as possible.”

“And then what?”

Cam’s voice was steel as it broke through the bitter fog of family trauma surrounding me.

“You protect her, and then what?” he repeated when Kellan didn’t immediately respond. “We hide? We cower? We ‘keep our ear to the ground?’ This changes things,brother.”

He spat the word, not hiding his disgust for the situation whatsoever. “We’re not only trapped in this scenario, but now we have targets on our backs from a family history we’re just learning about today. And we’re just supposed to trust you? Why aren’t we being put on a plane or in Witness Protection? Instead, you’re just playing us on the other side of the field.”

He folded his arms and widened his stance, looking ready to haul off and punch Kellan if he made a false move. Kellan didn’t bat so much as an eye as he pushed off the fence, stopping directly in front of Cam in a weird Alpha-male brother standoff.

“If you teach me how to shoot a gun right now, I’m gonna shoot you.” Cam growled, his eyes narrowing to slits as he stayed as still as a statue.

The blond man’s mouth split into a wide grin before a thunderous laugh escaped him. He slapped a still angry and stiff Cam on the back before grabbing the cleaned gun off the table and handing it to him. “I’d like to see you try, brother! Come on, I’ll show you how to hold it.”

Cam stared at the gun in his hand before his eyes met mine. Concern and leftover rage filled their depths. Reluctantly, he followed Kellan to the shooting section of the range.

An uncomfortable prickle drove its way through my skin as I assessed the man who held the fate of our futures in his hands.

DNA had proven we were family; tainted blood flowed through all our veins. Would Kellan deliver us from its evil? Or were we all destined to be damned?

“A word to the wise, Georgio’s starting his fight nights up again.”

Kellan’s words echoed in the back of my mind as I entered the staff locker room at Bourbon & Blues for my bar shift.

I’d spent the day delivering bags of dirty cash to even dirtier businesses across this quarter of the state, and my mind and body were dead tired.

Luckily, Winter was working tonight, and I’d be spending the night at her place. It felt like forever since I’d had some quality one-on-one time with my girl.

The fight nights worried me. After a three-month reprieve, Georgio was obviously feeling self-assured enough to start them back up again, and I didn’t know what that meant for us. I doubted Winter or I would get a free pass on the schedule, and Cam was his biggest money-maker. It was guaranteed that his headlining cash cow would be forced into knocking out degenerates once again.

I was more worried about my friends than I was about me. The noose had already been tied around my neck; I could only hope Kellan was my savior, not my executioner.

Winter was already at the bar, grabbing a tray of drinks from Colin.

Her smile when she saw me lit me up and pulled me out of my dark spiral, reminding me of the important things in my life; the things worth living for.

“Hey, beautiful.” I leaned down, kissing her cheek, before grabbing a kitchen rag from the counter to wipe down the stools.

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