Page 25 of Filthiest Of Them All

“Go. We need to get recon done,” I order. Omen obeys and drives us away from Tatum. I plan to pay her a visit later tonight. After seeing Wrath with her, I’m now more certain than ever that she is linked to the De Santis family without even knowing it. My money is on her piece of shit of a brother making a deal with them and using her as leverage.

We make it back to our home base which isn’t much. We rented a house under Adrian’s name that’s on the outskirts of the city. Damon is handling our shipments while we are away. Omen and Vatican are my guys who handle coordinating our other runners. Unlike most networks, we are based in one spot and ship from there. Which is why Desire will never figure out how things are because we have runners. They fly in and collect one of our trucks loaded with guns and drive them across state lines to where they need to go. If anyone was really looking they would see that Halo owns a moving company. We do have a crew that is completely legal and does inner state moves to keep the books steady while we use the other trucks to run guns. We’re opening another base of operation in Hollywood under Pope’s name to help with the demand.

“Where do we start looking for the link?” Vat asks me from his spot at the small, round dining table where he sits with Halo. Pope and Omen are out doing a sweep of Tatum’s hotel, making sure she isn’t being tailed and to watch and see if Nexus comes to her.

“Go back to when we left the Cosa Nostra.” Both of them jerk in surprise.

“Any reason why we are going back that far?” Halo presses.

I scrub a hand down my face and sigh. I have no idea if my hunch is right but something in the pit of my gut is telling me I’m right. “Desire is a jealous bitch, she let us go too easily?—”

“Too easy?” Pope snaps. “I’ve seen the fucking scars, Alexander, she didn’t let us off easy at all!”

“She let us live!” I roar.

“Why?” Halo yells. “Tell me why the fuck my crazy ass sister let us leave with our lives?” I open my mouth but clamp it shut as Omen and Vatican enter the house. They look between the three of us and frown.

“What the fucks going on here?” Omen barks.

“Nothing.” I answer.

“Alex is about to tell the truth,” Halo says at the same time. I pin the little shit with a glare which he ignores and continues to stare at me.

“Truth about what?” Vat hedges.

“Why Omen’s twin let us live,” Pope answers. Both Vat and Omen snap their gazes to me expectantly. For years I have kept this secret, I thought I would take it to my grave but it turns out, I was wrong.

“I did something that guaranteed she could never turn against us!” I admit.

“You have leverage on her don’t you?” Pope breathes out in surprise.

I nod. “Yes. It was the only way I knew that she wouldn’t come after us or send the fucked up twins and her army after us. I have a failsafe. If Desire ever took us out, a letter would be sent to Carnage.”

All of them look confused but it's Halo to ask the question. “What do you have on her?”

I exhale and run my gaze over each of them, praying they understand and don’t hate me. These four are the only family I have, they are my brothers. “When I made the deal with Desire, it was originally for six of us to go free.”

“What?” Pope pushes.

“The deal was for not only my freedom from the Cosa Nostra but for the four of yours and Carnage’s.” My answer is met with fucking crickets. No one moves or utters a single word for a minute but my gaze is locked on Halo.

“You made a deal to save my twin. Why the fuck would you do that?” The anger is crystal fucking clear in Halo’s tone.

“Because your brother was my best friend, Halo. Carnage wasn’t always a piece of shit. He was good but the more time he spent with that vapid bitch, she corrupted him.”

“He was always fucked up. He still thinks we killed our father. None of us put the hit out on him. Roberto De Santis was murdered by the Vatel family.” When I say nothing, Omen narrows his eyes and pushes on. “He wasn’t taken out by a rival family, was he?”

I blow out a loud exhale and shake my head. “No, he wasn’t.”

The four of them lose it. They all start shouting and Halo goes as far as throwing one of the dining chairs across the room, shattering it against the wall. I say nothing. I stand here and take the hate and shade they throw at me, knowing I deserve it. They hated their father but it doesn’t mean they wanted him dead. Only one of their siblings did and she is the one who gained everything while they lost their family.

“Who did it and don’t fucking lie to us, Alex.” Vatican’s tone is firm and unyielding. The four of them stand shoulder to shoulder staring at me expectantly.

“I did. I killed your father and helped Desire take over the De Santis family.”

Tatum

“Those assholes think they can keep issuing fines for bullshit reasons and I am about to go fucking ham on their asses, Vivian,” I seethe as I continue to pace my hotel room. My anger hasn’t lessened. I just received eight-thousand-dollars’ worth of fines for bullshit reasons today.

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