Page 5 of Unconditional

There he was.The little boy I’d fathered, throwing a football at the park, to a man I now recognized as Kenna’s new husband.He looked a lot like me, the child, the only key differences being his hair color and the transparent joy that lit his features.“Obviously expert track covering isn’t a family trait.You certainly did a piss poor job of it.Did you really think I didn’t know about your little whoospie baby?”

Kyle’s mocking tone was the catalyst that broke me from my trance as I stared down at the photo of the child.I reached across the desk and fisted my hand in his shirt, dragging him forward until our noses nearly touched.“Stay the fuck away from the kid.He’s got nothing to do with this.”

Despite the thundering of Kyle’s heart in his chest battering against my fist, he laughed again, cold and calculating.“What’s the matter?Don’t want to introduce your boy to his family?Hisrealfamily?”

“This isn’t his family.”

“Thanks to you.”

“I’m warning you, you motherfucker—”

“You’re warningme?”Kyle’s tone changed then, one of his hands dipping behind his back to pull out a handgun, all humor lost, suddenly stone cold serious in that eerie way of his.“No, I don’t think you are.See, this is what’s going to happen, Talon.I’m going to give you exactly six months to get Milo in front of me, dead or alive, or Uncle Kyle is going to go pay a visit to little Leo and his whore mother.Do you understand?”

Leo.His name was Leo.Not a name I would’ve thought of, but still, it fit.Leo.

And certainly not something I wanted to be learning for the first time from this fucking pig.

Rage unlike anything I’d ever felt, threatened to blind me.All I could imagine was beating this fucker’s face in until he choked on his own blood and drowned.Maybe I should.The world would be better off if I did.Instead, I threw him backwards, barely satisfied when he tripped over the chair behind him.

“Six months, Talon, or you’re going to be attending your boy’s burial.It’s Milo or Leo.I’ll let you decide which is more important to you.”He left the photo on my desk when he walked out, a sick laugh echoing behind him.

My fist hit the table in front of me hard enough to send my beer crashing to the floor.I had to fucking find Milo.The auburn haired boy’s smile glared up at me from the photo that was now kept in my wallet, a reminder of why I was doing this in the first place.I didn’t want to go after my brother.I didn’t want drag him back from whatever fucking fantasy realm he’d built for himself.But Leo didn’t ask to be born and I’d made a promise to his mother that I would keep them out of danger.

I had to make good on that promise.

Bri’s call came bright and early, just as always.I cursed, pinching the corners of my eyes in an attempt to wipe away the fatigue before I answered.

“What the fuck do you want?”I barked, leaning my elbows on my bent knees.

“Good morning to you too, little brother.”Briauna’s voice was cold as ever, a note of condescension always present.She was the oldest of our brood, and by far the most bitter.It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the fact that she was nearing her forties and was still perpetually single—she wasn’t the type of woman that gave a fuck about settling down and starting a family.Not anymore.

No, Briauna MacArthur’s sole purpose on this planet was to ensure that this family made money.Of the three of us ‘kids,’ Kyle trusted her the most, at least from where I sat.She was who he went to first in all things, and when he wasn’t getting what he wanted, she was sent to oversee that it was taken care of.

It was obvious to anybody with half a brain that she hated him as much, if not more, than the rest of us.And yet, she did as she was told.I remembered a time when she fought him as hard as Milo and I had.A time when she’d put herself between a raging drunk Kyle and our younger brother, guarding him from the lashing our uncle was about to dole out with his belt.

But then there came a day where he could no longer count on her protection because she had changed.So drastically and so quickly that neither of us could have prepared for it.The anger within her was unmatched and unfortunately Milo caught the brunt of it.Bri never spoke on what had happened to cause such thorough resentment, but I knew it went much deeper than the loss of our parents when she was nineteen.Asking her only seemed to make her angrier.

At this point, so many years had passed and so much shit had been done and said that I wasn’t sure I cared to know anymore.

“Always a pleasure,” I bit out sardonically.“Now what the fuck do you want at this ungodly hour?”

The red illuminated numbers from my ancient ass alarm clock glared at me from my nightstand.Nine a.m.I guess it wasn’t that early.Whatever.

My sister seemed to have the same thought because she snorted.Knowing her, she’d been awake since five a.m.performing a blood ritual to some demonic overlord or some shit.Eight o’clock was sleeping in.

“It’s time for your weekly progress report,” she said, not a drop of humor in her tone.

I felt the growl build up in my throat.She knew exactly what I was going to say.Nothing had changed.

“He’s clearly in witness protection,” I ground out.“What the fuck am I supposed to do?Infiltrate the fucking DEA?”

Briauna was unmoved.“Whatever you have to do, Talon.Find the little shit and get it over with.I’m sick of babysitting you.”

“Then tell Kyle to go fuck himself.What’s he got on you anyway?You’re the golden child, he might actually listen to you.”

There was a long, tense pause where all I could hear was her ragged breathing.Then, in a clipped voice that seethed with venom she reissued Kyle's earlier threat, “Find the runt, Talon, or in four weeks you can introduce yourself to your son at his funeral.”When she hung up the end tone echoed back in my ears like a bomb siren.I squeezed the phone so tightly in my grip that I heard the plastic protesting, my fury radiating off me in waves.

Breaking my phone and destroying anything within reach wouldn’t change a damn thing though.Bri didn’t care and I already knew Kyle sure as fuck didn’t.They were sticking to this stupid fucking timeline and if I didn’t deliver, they would.I closed my eyes tightly, biting back a roar of frustration rushing through my system as I fell back against my pillows once more.

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