Page 39 of Vicious Savage

“I work for the person who gives me what I want.”

“And what is it that you want?”

I’m actually curious to know, but instead of answering, he turns away and goes back to assembling his gun. Choosing to ignore my question.

“Where is everyone?”

He lifts his chin and points it in the direction of the large bay window looking out toward the sea. I stand and walk slowly; it feels like I’ve taken a beating, and my side hurts where my father’s knife plundered my skin.

The men are standing in a tight circle on the grassy lawn that leads to a drop into the ocean. I can see the azure waters off in the distance beyond the cliff, the softly lapping waves rippling like silver streaks across the sea.

Attila and TJ are standing with two other men — Dante, who I now know is the man who held the gun to the back of my father’s head. And the fourth man, handsome and impeccably dressed in a navy suit, the top button of his shirt undone and his tie missing. He has his hands on his hips as he talks to the men, and although it’s obvious he’s powerful and a leader, I can’t differentiate who is the elder amongst them. They all seem to have an equal footing. Except… that they’re arguing.

I can’t hear a thing from where I am, but judging from the looks on their faces and the gesturing back and forth, it’s Attila against the fourth man, while TJ and Dante stand quietly by allowing the dispute to happen. At times, TJ speaks, and the fourth man directs weary eyes toward him. Once or twice, Dante says something that has the unknown newcomer deferring to him.

The tension between the two men — Attila and the newcomer — is palpable. I cock my head and watch, trying to decipher their body language, but I get nothing. Until Attila looks up at the window and sees me standing there. He holds my gaze, even as the fourth man continues to speak, until all the men turn to the window to see what’s captured Attila’s attention. Four sets of eyes blaze through me, each different yet all the same. The eyes of made men.

40

ATTILA

Iknew it would come to this. Although I didn’t.

Caleph somehow managed to make his way to Mexico. It had been decided that he’d have nothing to do with Coyin Castillo’s downfall. That would be all me and Cesar, with a little help from Dante Accardi. That was what was decided and agreed upon, to maintain the integrity of his budding relationship with Ariadne; he couldn’t afford to fuck that up before it even started.

Yet now he is here. And how. We argue back and forth about the Castillo cartel. Not that he’s not grateful that we’ve rid the world of the scum of the earth that was Coyin Castillo. But he seems to think we’ve got an even bigger problem now with the mess that Castillo has left behind.

“You really think his sons are just going to let this pass?” he asks, hands on his hips. A vein in his neck pops as his anger swells.

“The boys haven’t been seen in a while,” I remind him. “We don’t even know if they’re alive.”

“How can four of his sons. Four grown men. Just disappear off the face of the earth?”

“We’re working on it,” Cesar tells him.

Caleph turns his acidic gaze toward Cesar. He’s still not over The Jekyll’s role in Ariadne’s kidnapping, no matter that Cesar has made amends for that error in judgment.

“Why?” he asks. “Why areyouworking on it? You got your vengeance for your wife’s murder; why are you still here?”

Cesar stiffens. His back goes rigid with the implication of what Caleph is saying. It’s true; Cesar has gotten what he came for; why then, is he still here? We hadn’t spoken past what would happen after we destroyed Coyin Castillo. We hadn’t considered the road we would take; either together or separately.

“I did get what I wanted,” Cesar admits. “We all got what we wanted.” He pauses, looks out toward the sea before his eyes skirt back to us. “But there’s no telling what the aftermath of this operation will be; I’m not willing to leave Attila to deal with that on his own. We started this together… we’ll see it through together.”

“I commend your loyalty, no matter how misplaced it may be,” Caleph starts, but he’s interrupted by Dante.

“Cesar is right. There’s no telling what the backlash will be. We don’t want to be looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives.”

Caleph thinks about this. He knows there will be repercussions from Coyin’s offspring. He knows there could be problems. In our years long search for the man, it’s the one thing we hadn’t cared about — because there’s never been anything any one of us had worth losing. Now there is. None of these men wanted the Castillo cartel touching anything good in their lives, including their wives.

I see movement out of the corner of my eye and turn toward the house. Luna is standing at the window watching us, obviously intrigued by this meeting between four men who are virtually strangers to her. She cocks her head curiously, and I know she’s trying to read the situation.

“What about the girl?” Caleph asks, following my eyes to the window. When I don’t respond, they all turn and notice her there.

“The girl has nothing to do with this.”

* * *

“What’s going on?”Luna asks, as I walk into the house with Cesar. Dante and Caleph are still outside talking. Honestly, I love my brothers to death, but their hovering over me gives me whiplash.

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