Page 2 of Five
“You believed a lying, easy, ladder climber over my brother? Frederick worked for you for three years.” He lifts three fingers in the air. “How many cases did he win for this firm? How many clients did he bring in? He made you rich.”
Tedious.
Boring motherfucker, Bez feels the need to add.Drown him out with some Queen of the Stonage.
Now is not the time for your rock music, I tell him.
“I was already rich, and everything Frederick did was for himself.” I turn my eyes to my cell phone again and start answering an associate’s text.
Through my peripheral vision, I see Bart lower his fists to my desk, his purple tie falling on the wooden, shiny top while hisbody leans toward me in what he must think is an intimidating move.
Bez doesn’t like the pathetic power move. He hisses, and he’s the one slightly curling my left hand around the chair’s armrest.
He’s what psychiatrists call the protector, while I’m the core identity. He takes charge in the event of real or perceived danger, physical or emotional. But it rarely happens these days. Bart Dorridge’s bullying, aggressive act is only that: an act. He’s all bark and no bite. He’s good at making the opposition take deals. His cases rarely end up in court because if they do, he loses.
“That lying bastard is still working for you, though!” he hisses.
Lori is many things, snarky, arrogant, over-confident, but not a liar. When I lift my eyes to Bart’s, my blank expression doesn’t show any sign of emotion. “Not for me. For the firm.”
Bart starts ranting, and my bored mind switches to Lori. He’s a paralegal, a very good one, I was told. He used to work for Bart’s brother, but after rightfully smashing Fredrick’s face against a desk, I moved him to a group of new associates.
Lori is my brother-in-law’s best friend and a magnet for trouble. And he has hated my guts from the very first time his chestnut brown eyes fell on me.
Rague has asked me more than once why I hired him since Lori never hides his dislike for me. My brother knows very well I don’t do anything out of the goodness of my heart. I always have an agenda. I’m a lawyer. I’m part of a conniving, bloodthirsty bunch. Manipulating and plotting is an everyday occurrence for me.
At first, I hired Lori because I didn’t trust him. He came into our lives when Rague met his husband, Ollie. And Ollie accepted quite easily what my family does because, well, he loves Rague. But Lori? He isn’t a bloodthirsty psychopath like Raph or a torture-loving sociopath like Uri—my other two brothers—still, he’s eager to punish evil, just like we do. Why?
“…so why didn’t you fire him? You’re not afraid of a lawsuit; you can crush him in court if he sues. Unless…are you fucking him?”
Mmm, Bez’s noncommittal hum echoes in my head, bringing me back into the conversation.
Bart’s face has turned red, his lips have taken on a disgusted twist, and his little eyes have narrowed in on me. Does his homophobic brain know that his brother likes to grope men, like he did to Lori?
I sigh as I place my phone into my gray waistcoat pocket and then relax back into my leather chair. “You couldn’t be more irrelevant. Why are you here wasting my time?”
“I want to know why you’re protecting a-a nobody…a paralegal! And why did you force Frederick to sign a document that prevents him from suing the lying bastard? He broke his nose for fuck’s sake!”
His impulsiveness and directness make him an average lawyer—even less than average. His persistence is as commendable as it is vexing. Maybe I should fire him as well.
Right now, I could call security and have him removed.
Or stab him in the heart with the combat knife you placed this morning in the extra pocket Vincenzo sewed for you in the inside of your suit jacket, Bez suggests.
I won’t do either. Fear is always the fastest weapon to make cowards retreat, and I have work to do.
“I didn’t force him. He signed because this wasn’t your brother’s first time harassing one of his staff.” Bart’s eyes widen as I keep talking. His demeanor radically changes in front of my eyes. “I now know about all the people he molested and then bribed, threatened, or coerced into silence. I talked to every single one of them.” And sent them to an attorney working for another law firm, who took their case and will sue the ass off Frederick Dorridge. Except Lori. He already had his revenge on the guy’s face.
“That’s…impossible. He… What…?” He stumbles over his words as he takes a few steps back, looking shocked and maybe slightly scared. Either by the fact that his brother is a disgusting pig or that his boss knows about it and is now on to him. Because I am. Bart’s background looked clean…too clean for my liking, just like Fredrick’s before I let my brother, Rami, dig deeper.
“If I find out that you were aware of your brother’swrongdoings, your termination will be immediate, and I won’t stop there.”
He opens his mouth, but the cold stare I usually reserve for my donors shushes him. Bez’s growl comes out of my lips, and I fill my voice with ice. “Now get out of my office and don’t try anything, Bart. Remember, I can easily crush you.”And not only in court.
He looks down at the wooden floor, I can clearly see on his face how he’s frantically trying to find the best way to proceed. After a couple of seconds, he gives me a stiff nod and leaves my office, closing the door a little too vigorously behind him.
Fear of losing his job, his credibility, and his position worked like a charm. Also of getting caught?
Maybe he is eligible to become a donor—that’s what my brothers and I call the people we kill. But they have to be evil to receive such an honor, and we need substantial proof, as the code we follow requires. It’s a family side business—technically a foster family side business. Still, we think of ourselves as brothers since we made a promise in blood many years ago to always be there for each other. The long, old scar on my palm feels uneven under my thumb.
