Page 10 of Boss's Fake Wife

And if the police hadn’t come sniffing around by now, they would be coming later.

I walked into the mansion through the courtyard, noting from the dark interior and dead grass that the place hadn’t changed much. It still looked like some kind of fucking mausoleum with cold dark grey walls. Not exactly every child’s dream, but it had been my home.

When I was younger, I thought we were part of a cult or something. I thought that was why we had so many people living in one house, even though we weren’t related by blood. I thought that was why we called ourselves The Brotherhood.

It wasn't until I was about eleven that I learned the truth.

We weren’t a cult.

We were so much worse.

The Brotherhood took in minors at around age fifteen—those who got into too much trouble and had nowhere else to go—gave them shelter and food, and turned them into criminals.

And people like me were the money mules.

The hallways were quiet, but that was because everyone should have been packed into the meeting room by now. I headed there immediately, throwing open the door and cutting Chase off mid-speech.

Chase’s hand automatically went to his gun until he realized it was me. His hand relaxed, but a frown creased his brow. “You couldn’t have entered quieter?”

I ignored him, walking to the middle of the room and staring at all the men seated there. I was older than most of them sitting here, except the elders. I knew some of them since they were in diapers and knew everything from where they pooped down to who their mothers were. Some were family as well, although they were so extended that they felt like strangers to me.

I stared into their eyes and held the silence for long enough to see a few people squirm. That was when I spoke.

“Which one of you bastards did it?” I asked coldly.

Nobody responded at first. I could feel Chase rolling his eyes, but he didn’t interrupt until the silence had lasted for nearly a minute.

“Come on, brother,” he said. “None of them did it. I already asked all the questions before I even called your ass.”

I glanced at my brother. He was only about three years younger than me, but sometimes it felt like a decade. Even at this age, he still insisted on being far too trusting of these criminals.

Part of the reason the men didn’t dare to deceive him was their awareness that I would handle the situation if they did.

I turned back and analyzed their faces, trying to see anyone who flinched. But they were too trained for that. They all stared blankly back at me.

“Alright.” I held up my hands as though letting it go. “Look, I know you think you were doing me a favor. I appreciate it. I just want to talk to you so I can reward you, whoever you are.”

They didn’t fall for it.

“Chris,” Chase said, and I felt his hand on my shoulder. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Talk,” I replied.

“In private?” Chase’s voice was tense enough to get my attention. I could see that my brother was upset about something, and as much as he irritated me on many occasions, I didn’t like making Chase upset. I obliged but I still cast a scrutinizing glance at the men, searching for anyone who showed excessive relief at the end of the interrogation.

Once again, all of them had blank expressions on their faces.

But they didn’t fool me one bit.

One of them fucked up and killed someone I had beef with. Their actions once again put me in the police crosshairs, and I was fucking exhausted from dealing with law enforcement.

So I needed to make it abundantly clear that they would pay for it.

“What?” I asked the minute Chase shut the door, allowing us the privacy of an echoey hallway.

“What do you mean what? That should be my line. What is wrong with you?”

“What is wrong with me?” I repeated.Did he just ask me that?“You mean apart from the fact that the man who owed me a huge sum of money just turned up dead?”

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