Page 38 of The Tallest Tower (Underbelly Enchanted)

“A rebellion from his older sons?” I squeeze more cream free of the tube, depositing it onto the fingertips of my left hand this time, and apply it to my opposite wrist. “You and your brothers weren’t acting right?”

He chokes out a laugh and opens the container filled with marinated rib-eye fillets. “We’ve never acted right. Ever. So maybe Cato was planned, or maybe he wasn’t, but in the end, he was protected. And now he’s in Copeland, still being protected. He’s enrolled at Copeland U for the fall term. He’s got aninwith the Condors pro basketball team. He’s shacking up with a cop and a doctor. Fuck,” he drops a thick steak in the sizzling pan and quickly follows it with another the same size. “I’ve delivered him to the very best place I possibly could.” Leaving the meat to cook, he turns back to me and purses his lips. “So you can shut the fuck up with your‘is he gonna be a gangster?’bullshit.”

Touchy-touchy.

The boy is loved. If nothing else, I know that for sure.

“Youstill chose to stay and be…this,” I lift my hands and gesture to his formidable figure. “Maybe Cato and Archer and the younger Timarethe better Malones. Maybe they made better choices than you, and thus, deserve their redemption. But you’re a grown man too, Felix, and still choosing to deal in illegal markets that put our society at risk.”

“Yes, I stayed and stood up in our family’s power, because if I didn’t,” he takes a sharp knife and sets it on the counter beside his salad supplies, “we’d have been a hunted species. The whole lot of us. You don’t get to walk away from this world, Christabelle. You don’t get to do the things my father did to create the name we hold, and then expect there to be no blowback.”

“What kind of blowback?” I lick my dry lips and wish for another glass of water. “And why not just go to Copeland with your brothers?”

“Because New York will follow us wherever we go.” He begins peeling the outside layers from the mushrooms and popping off the stalks. “The others get to leavebecauseI’m here holding the line. If I don’t maintain the power this family currently has, we’ll be stompedout. Our enemies won’t just stop at me. They’ll take Cato out. Tim. Archer and his lovely wife. And… you.”

“Me?” My nose twitches in repulsion. “Why me?”

“Well, it’s public knowledge we’re dating, isn’t it?” he sniggers. “In fact, I can’teverlet you go home now that the world knows about us. You have new enemies, Darling.”

“We arenotdating!” I shove up from my stool, the metal legs scraping along the tile floor. Leaving the cream and first aid kit behind, I storm toward the back door that overlooks the pool.

The speed with which I moved means my head swims, and the glisten of moonlight on the water’s surface makes my vision spotty. So I grab the doorframe and wait for this to pass.

With my back to Felix, I pray he doesn’t pick up on my current weakness.

“Why not create a legitimate business?” I ask. Then I breathe through my mouth to keep the nausea bubbling in my stomach at bay. “That way, you maintain money and power, but you don’t kill people in the process.”

“First of all…” he begins chopping peppers; I don’t turn and look, but I know the sound and recognize the smell infusing the room. “How do you know I don’t alreadyhavelegitimate dealings? And second,” he finishes one pepper and starts on the next, “men have killed, and have been killed, over things that weren’t illegal, Cannon. New discoveries are made every day, money is to be gained, people are exploited. Diamonds are legal, yet blood is shed throughout the Congo year-round.”

Regaining my equilibrium, I turn from the pool and glance back across the room. “You compare yourself to diamonds in the jungle?”

“No. I’m making a point. Wherever money goes, death follows.” Then his brows furrow as he looks me up and down. “Who died in your world, princess?”

Sweat prickles on my skin, nerves washing through my blood and making my vision shadow. “What?”

“You’re the wealthiest woman in the city—hell, probably the whole country. And, like I said, money attracts death. So who have you had to fight off to maintain power?”

“You mean besides you?”

Laughing, he points the tip of his knife my way. “You started our conflict, Christabelle. I’m merely responding. Also, can I call you CeCe?”

Nausea makes way for surprise, and that surprise helps me recover my senses and realign my thoughts. “What?”

“Christabelle is such a long name,” he faux sighs. “‘Christabelle Cannon,’ while delicious on the tongue, is a mouthful. So, ya know, C.C. for Christabelle Cannon. CeCe.”

“No! Use my proper name.CeCewould imply we share a friendship. Intimacy. Nicknames are for people who like each other.”

He only shrugs and turns to deal with the steak. “I’m gonna call you CeCe. It’s easier. Where’s your mom?”

“What?” Lost, dizzy, confused, all because ofthisman, I trudge away from the door and stumble back to my seat. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Money. Power. Death.” He glances over his shoulder and smirks. “It just occurred to me that I know nothing about your mother. Is she alive? Is she dead? Did she divorce your father and run off with half his wealth? Shit,” he adds, leaving the steak and coming back to rest his elbows on the counter, his eyes boring into mine. “Did Tim fuck her, and that’s why you’re so mad at us?”

“No!” My temper bubbles, boiling over so I burst out and snarl, “And fuck you for being such a dick. My mother is dead. But not because of money, drugs, or a Malone. Don’t speak of her again.” I shove away from the counter again, inadvertently knocking my stool over in my haste.

But I don’t turn back to fix it.

I can’t.

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