Page 58 of Tethered Souls
The rest of my brothers fan out, mingling with the guests who are already here. Maddox grabs a glass of champagne from one of the waitresses milling about and pretends not to notice how everyone tries to avoid him. No one wants him to study them enough to be able to shapeshift into them. Spotting Uncle Myers and cousin Vinny in the crowd, he heads towards them, his glass to his lips.
Rudy lingers at the edge of the room, but Talon, who is already here, sees him and makes his way over, two women by his side. I want to intervene before T reaches our brother, knowing Rudy is too polite to decline their company, but I also want to see who he talks to. Who he might be in bed with. Who he’s working with if he is the traitor. So I don’t go to his rescue, turning the surface of my attention back to Micha’s father.
“Look at my fiancee like that again,” I say, “and I’ll cut out your eyes.”
“My apologies. I –”
“Your claim of territory has gone well,” I cut in. I do not care to hear his apologies; they mean nothing to me. If he fails, he loses his eyes; simple as that.
He hesitates for a second, then, “Thanks to your support.” Humble right off bat. That means he wants something.
Good. I want something too, and I have way more power to negotiate than he does.
“You should deal with the Mad Hatters before they cause trouble,” I say casually.
He shakes his head. “They won’t. We have reached an agreement given our different businesses.”
A waitress moves over to us, and I grab one of the Ricks on her tray. Stefaan’s eyes widen as I toss the vial to him. “You could expand.”
“The Mattos twins don’t sell to non-established Families.”
“I assure you, we are well established.”
His mouth going slack, he glances down at the vial of blue liquid in his hand. My gaze roams around the crowd as I give him time to think it through, what a war with the Mad Hatters will mean – going back on his honored word, potentially losing good men. But also gaining the backing of this Family even if I never marry his daughter.
A low growl builds in my throat, but I shake it off before it can sound. If she can’t get pregnant, then there’s no point keeping her. But that thought, for some unknown reason, only makes me more irritable.
“What would your cut be?” Stefaan Black asks, pulling my attention back to him.
“Fifty grand to set you up with the twins. Then a forty percent cut.”
He mulls it over before he counters, “Seventy upfront and thirty percent.”
“Thirty-five.”
“With the seventy?”
I nod. He could get a better rate elsewhere. He has the men and the reputation for getting things done. Hel, he could probably approach the twins himself in a few years. But his is a new gang, and he wants the prestige and open doors the Shadow name can give him.
After a moment, he gestures over one of the waitresses, all of whom are dressed in black jumpsuits with white Gucci belts. She glides over, her movements too controlled to be anything other than a fighter, and I like that he’s doubled the staff as the security. It gives the place a much more sophisticated and laid-back feel than having armed goons mulling around.
When he reaches for a champagne glass, Khalid does the same. My brother offers it to me, having just checked it for poison with his magic – a subtle spell he learned long ago so as to not insult the men I go into business with.
I take it from him and lift it towards Stefaan.
“To new beginnings,” he says.
We drink, then I move away, accepting congratulations from one of my capos while my attention stays on Rudy. He’s looking pale beneath his smile, beneath the glass of champagne raised to his lips. There’s a glimmer of sweat beneath his red curly hair as he talks to three others, and I can smell the sickly sweetness of his terror. Instinctively, I let a crack open in my defenses and push out one of my greatest fears – line dancing goats.
His head whips to me. A smile lights his face even as my stomach drops and I want to down a whole bottle of helfire to get rid of the image now in my head. Goats are fucking scary on their own with their demonic eyes. If they ever become organized enough to line dance? Ain’t no fucking way humanity survives.
But Rudy likes goats for some bizarre reason. The freak.
He tips an imaginary hat to me, and a smile twitches at my lips. He can’t be the traitor with the genuineness of his relief, with the thankfulness in his eyes. Staring at him, I feel disgusted with myself that I ever thought he could be.
But that doesn’t stop me from moving to the next brother on my list of suspects. One of them stabbed me in the back, wants me dead, and I need to find out who it is before they try to finish the job. Because they will – all of my kin are fucking stubborn like that.
“Varius!” Uncle Myers says as he approaches along with Maddox and cousin Vinny. He clasps one hand on my left shoulder, champagne in his other hand. “Congratulations on the engagement. It’s almost been two weeks.” He sighs as he releases me and takes a drink. “Ah! How romantic would it be if you find out she’s pregnant on Valentine’s Day?”
