Page 86 of Reluctant Heir

“Why should we stick our necks out to play savior for people we don’t know?” he says, finally speaking. He should’ve kept his mouth shut.

“This is only the beginning,” I tell him, crossing my ankle over my knee. I’m the picture of ease when all I want to do is pummel his lying face again.

I know I can’t trust him. I don’t know why I let him stay. He knows too much now, and killing him would certainly raise a few eyebrows within the families. My hands are tied.

“This is one point where we can thwart them and make them start to pay for what they’ve done to us.”

“They literally control everything we have,” Ginny points out, and I nod.

“Not for me,” I tell her.

She huffs, “Lucky you. You won’t lose anything.”

“I stand to lose everything, more than you even. You’ll be given a slap on the wrist. I’ll be killed.”

“Then, don’t do this,” Dean says.

I drum my fingers on my leg. “That’s not an option. Wehaveto do this. We can live this life, keep what we have, and not sacrifice our souls in the meantime.”

“I feel like mine is already gone,” Dean says.

“Dramatic,” Ginny says with a snort. “But true. The only reason I’m in this with you is for what I stand to gain if we succeed. My own independence.”

“It’s what we all want. A new generation of the five families that work together, not against each other. And who don’t engage in human trafficking. We have standards.”

“The white knights of the black market,” Geo says, and I look at him. The corner of his mouth twitches, and then his face remains as stoic as ever.

“Let us know the plan, oh white knight,” Ginny says, standing. The sarcasm doesn’t grate like it normally would.

I know this is out of the ordinary. Aren’t all mob bosses money-hungry, power-hungry, morally bankrupt people? Maybe. But we shouldn’t give up everything for nothing. I won’t let Lilliana grow up in that world. I can support her on other endeavors, less problematic ones, and have the kidnapping of Ruby and hundreds, if not thousands, of other girls off my conscience.

“Find out where Lucas and Arie were tonight,” I tell Geo as we all stand, joining Ginny.

Dean gingerly touches his cheek and then narrows his eyes at me once more.

“Not a word about any of this, got it?” I tell him, hoping my five-fingered warning will be enough to keep him quiet. I feel like we accomplished nothing and everything at the same time in this meeting tonight.

I know I still don’t understand the full scope of this. I don’t know the moving parts or how there isn’t a mass uproar about people going missing.

How do they pick their targets? Or take them without notice?

Ruby was a one-off. She wasn’t a target, but my involvement with her made her one. Maybe that’s why I’m doing this. I feel bad about that. It’s my mother in me. My father would have never bothered.

The door shuts behind Dean, Geo, and Ginny as they leave, and I stand in the center of the office, feeling lost. I am now a head of a family, on top of our little corner of paradise in Heywood, California, but I still feel like a scared boy. I still feel like the child who screamed himself hoarse as blood sprayed from his mother. I still feel like the one who pissed himself as I wrenched that man’s finger back with all my might.

I should be stronger. It’s what my father raised me to be.

Fuck him. Fuck him for making me feel like this, even beyond the grave.

I can’t change everything—I’m only one man—but maybe changing this aspect of our business will make reparations for the wrong that’s been done. Maybe it will save my dark soul from the hell it’s destined for.

Maybe.

“I’m not a beat cop.I don’t do stakeouts,” I tell Geo after he suggests we spend the day outside of Fleur to see for ourselves who is coming and going. Who we know and don’t know. “I thought you had a guy doing this?” I wipe my face, sweat pouring down it after I finished my last round of cardio.

“I do.”

“Then, what would it change for us to do it?”

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