Page 76 of Like a Hurricane

“What about them?”

“That’s who made the payment.”

“Yes,” I nod, “My father worked for them before Torin, and I were born and continued to until he died. He trained us for them.”

“It just seems so normal.”

“The Farrow’s use businesses to hide the money made through their hit list. From huge corporations to tiny little cafes and hotels. They siphon money into each one and place it in the banks of each business which are all then overlooked by Farrow Industries. Payments for jobs always come through them. They take a cut from every contract.”

“How big are they?”

“Honestly, I do not truly know. No one knows the family who runs it. They’re simply known as Farrow. It could be one man; it could be twenty. They remain anonymous, likely to protect their own asses since they’re greedy, selfish assholes and always have been.”

“You’ve worked for them your whole life,” she points out.

“I’ve never known anything else. They made me money, and money was all I wanted, to begin with, that and a legacy separate to my brothers and father. But if you piss off the Farrow’s you’ll know about it. No one has successfully left their ranks without ending up dead.”

“Torin?”

“He was the first. He was a favorite though so perhaps they gave him his freedom since he made them so much money.”

“They sound like awful people.”

“When you’re born in darkness, nothing is impossible. The world is greedy and corrupt, and death is spilled far more often than one realizes.”

“Torin,” Arryn continues, “Did he know his retirement could have gotten him killed?”

“Yes,” I confirm, tucking her hair behind her ear, “But he was willing to risk it for Grace and his son. I think the Farrow’s were sure he’d be back, and he was… but that had consequences. Tragic ones.”

“What happened?”

With a long, heavy sigh I answer, “His wife, the one he left the organization for, died, along with their infant son.”

Color drains from her face, “They killed them?”

“No, I think it would have been easier if they had. They died in a storm. Torin and I went to the mainland for a job, he’d already retired at this point, but I’d convinced him to do one last job with me. We worked together often, and I wanted my brother. He had agreed. We did the job and got paid.

“I stayed on the mainland after it was done, and Torin got on that boat with his wife and son. Torin made it back but they didn’t. He blamed himself for it. For a long time, my brother was wasting away here on this island, five years he didn’t speak to anyone, see anyone, do much of anything really until Maya and Harper.”

She shifts closer, her hand sliding across my chest, “If they find out…”

“They’re not going to find out. Now that the payment has been made, no one will ever look at it again. To them you’re dead and it’s done. If they were going to figure it out, they would have when I sent the photos.”

“And what about when you go after the Ware’s?”

“They’re not part of the organization, their deaths won’t even be noticed.”

“So, you have everything figured out?”

“To keep you safe,” I tell her, “I’ll burn the fucking world.”

“And they say romance is dead,” she laughs loudly, “I don’t need any world burning, Everett. Just my life back. Our life.”

“I’ll give you the very best.”

Chapter Thirty-eight

We’d been staying with Torin and Maya for days now, snow has come down thick and heavy, covering the town in white blankets that were almost impossible to walk through. There were no snowplows here, just shovels and sheer willpower to keep the town going.

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