Page 84 of Deceit
It was one thing threatening to murder him and me, but it was a wholedifferent bag threatening his wife, and for all intents and purposes, his adopted sister, or daughter, or whatever the fuck Angel was to him. It didn’t feel right calling a thirteen-year-old his sister-in-law.
“And what does your father stand to gain from murdering my family?”Kaisaid, surprisingly calm.
Too calm.
And that was never a good sign.
“He wants Hollows Bay,”Rafe said, collapsing onto the blood-soaked couchas if his legs couldn’t hold him up any longer. As he sat, a cloud of dust burst into the already dusty room.“He made a deal with Herrera. He knows you have the monopoly over the arms market in South America, sohe agreed to find a way to take over Hollows Bay and all the Wolfe assets. In exchange for the cartel ending the feud, he’ll work with them sotheyhave the monopoly while he focuses on expanding your drugs market.”
Fuck me. Georgio was an idiot. In the months our enemies tried to rule HollowsBay, a number of our contacts took their business elsewhere, but when Kai returned, those businesses came back to us with their tail between their legs, and begged us to work with them again.
They all sworethatno matter what, as long as there was a Wolfe in HollowsBay, they would remain loyal to the Wolfe family.
The puzzle piece clicked into place.
“Georgio needs a Wolfe,”I said, leaning against the wall and looking fromRafe to Kai, my earlier fury at him gone. For now.“You don’t have an heir, if something were to happen to you, Hollows Bay goes to Riley. If something happens to Riley, the city goes to me. If I have a kid and something happens to me-”
“The city goes toyourheir,”Kai said.“And Angel? She isn’t a Wolfe.”
“I guess my dad doesn’t want to take any chances on someone else staking aclaim,”Rafe shrugged.
“Fucking bastard, Angel isjusta kid,”I hissed, a murderous streak coursingthrough me.
Angel was my family, as was Riley. The thought of anyone hurting either ofthem was incomprehensible.
“I’ll double her security,”Kai said, more to himself.“Riley’s too.”
“No, not yet.”Cogs turned in my head as I thought things over.“I’mguessing with all the secrecy of this meeting, it wasn’t your old man who filled you in on his fucked up plans. We need to keep things normal for now, not give awaythatwe know.”
Kai nodded before turning back to Rafe.“How did you find out all of this?”
Rafe shook his head.“It doesn’t matter how I found out-”
“Of course it does,”Kai barked.“For all we know, this could all be bullshit,and you and Georgio are plotting something else.”
“It’s the truth,”Rafe gritted out before his tone softened.“It came fromsomeone…important.”
Unspoken words hung in the air as Rafe looked between Kai and me.
Interesting.
For all I knew, Rafe wasn’t involved with anyone, but the affection in hisvoice was undeniable. Whoeverthatsomeone was meant a lot to him.
Kai must have sensed it too because he didn’t push any further.“So, Sofiahas a baby, and your old man runs the city until the kid is old enough?”
“Not quite,”Rafe winced.“He…um…he plans for me to run the cityunder his guidance until the kid is old enough to take over.”
The tension thickened once more as Kai narrowed his eyes on Rafe.“Whytell usthen? Surely you stand to gain more by going along with your father’s plan.”
Rafe stood, brushing the dust off his black shirt and beige chinos.“I don’twant your city. This may come as a surprise to you, but I don’tevenwant Forest Point. I’m my father’s second-in-command because I never had a choice,justlike I don’t have a choice about taking his place one day. But I have a choice about this. You want to know why I’m choosing to tell you, aside from not wanting to stand back and watch while Riley and Angel are murdered? I’m telling you because of Sofia. My sister meanseverythingto me, and it would break her to knowthatI didn’t do something to put a stop to this.”
For several tense beats, Rafe and Kai glowered at each other, each mandebating their next move. For me, it was simple. Rafe loved his sister enough to go against his father.Evenwithout the possibilitythatGeorgiowas responsible for the death of their mom, Rafe would have knownthatcoming to Kai with this development would be signing his father’s death sentence.
Thatwas enough to earn my respect.
But it wasn’t my decision to make. As pissed as I was at Kai for his littlebunker stunt, when it came to important shit like this, it was his call what happened next. Whatever he decided, I would follow.
No, I didn’t always agree with his decisions, but unlike some, he made hisdecisions with the best intentions for the family and for the city, andthatwas always enough for me to put my trust in him.
