Chapter 17
Hazard
My personal phone vibrated like a drill on that paper-thin desk.
A goddamn woodpecker alarm clock. I wiped the drool from the side of my mouth and glanced at the screen.
An unknown number, the seventh time this person had called today.
Who knows how many times the same number had called in the last two days?
The Syndicate phone was under my bed. It could have had something to do with that, and a tingle of hope flickered at the back of my throat. I hadn’t heard from Zira since I left that tomb. Maybe it was her.
Fuck it, I thought.
“Yeah,” I answered.
“The Masquerade is tonight. You’re coming, correct?
” a man said. His voice was throaty, instantly sending unease down my spine.
Gore Bloom. Daddy fucking Bloom. The man that I should’ve killed the first time I walked onto his property.
The digital clock hummed on the nightstand; it was three in the afternoon.
In the last two days, I had survived on beef jerky and whiskey, only leaving the motel once to pick up more guns.
I had this feeling I would need them, and somehow, that purchase felt like it would give me some answers.
Was I right to say those things to Zira, or was I wrong?
I had lied to her. I did believe in Zira. She didn’t need me to accomplish anything. She never had.
And damn it, I wanted to help her.
She was right. If I hadn’t been such an impulsive son of a bitch, Gabby would still be in Oakmont, pushing drinks and lap dances, cleaning motel rooms, and answering phone calls at a little desk.
I hated myself for saying that shit to Zira. She wasn’t like her daddy. She might have been a sadistic, power-hungry queen, but she was still better than him.
“Son?” Bloom asked, interrupting my thoughts.
“Masquerade?” I rubbed my forehead. “I thought the Syndicate only held those once a year.”
“Once every quarter, actually,” he corrected me. “But this one we’re doing early, to hold it in your honor.”
In my honor. There was something awfully strange about that.
I was a scumbag from Oakmont, clawing my way up their ranks, and yet, the secret society was filled with complete and utter bullshit, just like Oakmont.
Fairview and its favorite private community, Opulent Gates, might have had a shiny exterior, but the residents were as pathetic and unworthy as the rest of us.
But maybe that was the point. Maybe everything in this strange, fucked up situation was all a fabrication, and we were just thin little threads holding it together.
Maybe it didn’t matter if Zira was right or if I was wrong. It was bullshit, anyway. We both wanted the same things; we just wanted them in different orders.
But damn it, I couldn’t stand someone using my own tricks against me.
I don’t know what possessed me, but the next words slipped out of my mouth like drops of rain: “Sure. I’ll be there.”
“Can you come early?” Bloom asked. He cleared his throat, then lowered his voice: “I’ve got a discussion I’d like to have with you.”
A sudden charge ran through my chest. A new opportunity to be with Daddy Bloom. Alone. Where I could kill him and finally end this.
“Sure, Master Bloom,” I said sarcastically, then I hung up.
If Bloom knew I had killed Ernest, then this ‘discussion’ could have been his chance to kill me.
But I didn’t care. I was going to kill him and end this once and for all, and then the Bloom Estate and everyone in it would be a speck in my rearview mirror.
Because Zira didn’t need me by her side.
I pulled on a black stained work shirt, then headed to the Bloom Estate, parking my pickup right in front of the main building.
The valet panicked, but I stowed my keys in my pocket and winked at him.
I didn’t give a flying fuck if Daddy Bloom finally figured out who I was.
Not Chris Cox. Not someone who belonged on the board.
I was my name personified: a goddamned hazard.
The estate manager directed me to the nearly finished office.
The new contractor had done a decent job.
He must’ve finished up the gym, then. It was funny how things moved quickly when you had a worker who actually cared about the job.
Bloom stood, his red cheeks puffy and hanging over his jaw. We shook hands.
“Thank you for meeting with me,” he said. “Please, sit down.”
Two men silently lined the back wall, clothed in black from head to toe, armed with rifles. I nodded toward them.
“Your regular group of guards today?” I joked.
“Hope you understand my caution, but Ernest has disappeared. That makes four recent board member deaths. Not to mention Marc, Simon, and Toben.” His double chin jiggled as he fixed his tie. “My daughter seems to think that you killed Ernest, actually. Care to explain that?”
This was my chance to throw Zira in the lion’s den, to let her take the fall for my actions. And if she thought she could play me, this was the way I could show her that I was one step ahead. Just like her.
But I hung my head low, unable to force the words out of my mouth. “Don’t know why she’d say that.”
“I figured,” he said. “She’s a bit desperate sometimes. But you see—that leaves an open spot on the board, and we need to fill it as soon as possible.”
My stomach twisted, but I couldn’t stop myself from saying it: “What about Zira?”
Bloom blinked at me, then he laughed loudly, holding his round belly. It was a stupid thing to say. If Bloom hadn’t put her in that position by now, he was never going to.
But I still had to try.
Damn it. I shouldn’t have cared what Zira wanted. I should have said ‘fuck it’ and killed Bloom right then, and let the gunmen take me with him. But instead, I was pleading for her position.
“You’re serious?” Bloom said, his posture stiffening.
“Why not?” I said. “She’s more dedicated to this board than anyone I’ve met in the Syndicate.”
“She’s dedicated to her own goals,” he said calmly, fixing his collar. “Zira has always been a bit of a problem. She’s very good for the Syndicate, but she does what she wants without any regard for tradition. I was honestly hoping that you would take care of her soon.”
I leaned forward. “Take care of her?”
He nodded. “She’s a nuisance. The only reason I kept her around was for a grandson. Can you do that for me? How stable are your sperm?”
I furrowed my brows. He really did want a grandchild.
“We’ve only been seeing each other for a short while,” I said, cautiously reclining in my chair.
“But once she’s had a son, you can sacrifice her at the Masquerade. We’ll keep her on the guillotine until the thing finally clicks. Ten clicks or a hundred! Maybe even program the remote to do it the first time so we can get it over with.”
My head spun.
“By the time a grandson comes of age, you’ll be dead,” I said.
“That’s the point!” He smacked my arm. “You’re strong. Spry. Give me a grandchild just like you.”
An unsettling tension weighed me down, making it hard to think. Everyone used everyone. Bloom was using me to mold the board he wanted. Ernest had tried to manipulate me into killing Zira instead of him. And Zira had used me to help her get the power she had always wanted.
And I had used Zira, and my own sister, to get what I wanted too.
But Zira was right. Coming here had never been about avenging my sister. It was about my guilt. I hated knowing that I was a piece of shit brother who was responsible for all of it.
So why couldn’t I let it go of Zira?
“At the Masquerade tomorrow, you must interview every member that you meet,” Bloom said. “Nothing formal; just get a feel for them. We’ll discuss potential board members later that night and see where to go from there. We could even make an announcement at the Masquerade as well.”
“You’re not going to select the person yourself?”
He laughed, then stood, patting me on the shoulder. “I plan to do that,” he said. “But I do like having input from the board. It’s more—” he clicked his tongue, “—more interesting that way.”
I sighed; I hated every single word that came out of his mouth. I stood too, ready to leave.
“But son?” he asked.
I turned toward him, my face blank.
“Zira is smart. Cunning. Intuitive. She will find a way to eliminate you if you’re not careful.”
“She’ll eliminate all of us if she wants to,” I said flatly.
Bloom’s expression darkened. He studied me, trying to read if I was hinting at something Zira had planned.
“You must be ahead of her,” he said coldly. “Kill her if you must.”
I laughed. He was predictable.
I parted ways, whistling as I walked down the long hallway. He was a Bloom, through and through. He never got his hands dirty, always using other people to do his dirty work for him. And now, he was trying to use me to kill his daughter.
But as much as I should have wanted to kill Daddy Bloom myself, I couldn’t do it. Not until I gave Zira the chance to kill me first. I respected her too much.
I went to her room, my footsteps crashing down the hallway. A few staff members backed away, and one of the guards watched me from afar. He must have had orders not to intervene unless it had to do with Daddy Bloom’s safety. His daughter didn’t matter.
A shirt clung to her chest, pants on her legs as she sat on her bed, peering out the balcony’s glass doors. I blinked. Pants? I almost didn’t believe it was her.
I removed my father’s pistol from my holster, then offered it to her. A blank expression consumed her as she stared up at me.
“You know how to use it?” I asked in a quiet voice.
“Yes,” she said.
“Then use it. If you want to kill me, then kill me.”
I lifted my hands, showing her that this was it. I was defenseless. Unarmed. At her mercy. I even got on my knees, keeping my hands up, ready to take that bullet for her.
“If you let me live, I will kill your father. So you better kill me now,” I growled. “But once you get on that fucking board, you better kill your father. Make this right for everyone. Not just yourself.”
Her forehead wrinkled with tension, her eyes fluttering across me.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked.
I wrapped her hands around the gun. “Kill me, Zira.”
“I don’t want to kill you, Hazard!”
Her hands were warm in mine, and for the first time, she was trembling in my grasp with actual fear. The guillotine didn’t scare her. Me holding a gun to her temple didn’t unnerve her. But having to face the possibility of taking my life, that scared her.
Irritation burned in my chest. Why couldn’t she just do it?
“Tonight is the Masquerade,” I said. “If you don’t kill me now, I will find a way to kill your father. And then you won’t have the chance to take over the board. The Syndicate will absorb it from you, and the carnage will continue. You’ll never get your revenge.”
“You won’t let that happen,” she said.
Anger tumbled through me, my chest expanding.
“I don’t give a fuck about your revenge, Zira.
I don’t even care about you,” I lied. “All I care about is finding my sister’s killer so that I can move on for once.
But that’s not going to do anything, is it?
Killing your father won’t take away my guilt.
It’ll only ruin your dreams.” I gritted my teeth, my eyes on her. “So you need to finish this now.”
Her eyes were steady on mine. And that’s when I saw it—the crown of rubies and teeth resting in the corner of her room, on display for everyone to see. My chest burned for her.
“I was wrong to lie to you,” she said. “But you’re not going to ruin this for us. You know that doing this my way is the only way to make things right again. For both of us, my king.”
I howled, rage ripping through me. I hit the wall with my fists. I wouldn’t ruin this for us? My king? She saw something inside of me that didn’t exist. I didn’t believe in anything. Not in the world, and definitely not in myself.
But damn it all, I did believe in her.
“We will do it my way, my king. Tonight. Don’t be in that building for long.”
I heard what she really meant; if I was in that building at the wrong time, I was going down with it. Zira knew what she wanted, and she wasn’t going to let anyone get in her way.
I respected that. And if she wasn’t going to kill me, then I was going to do the same and not let anyone get in my way. I was going to kill her daddy, whether she liked it or not.
I pointed at the gun in her hands. “If you’re not going to kill me, then you use it for your plans.”
“Thank you.”
My chest tightened and I turned away, forcing myself to leave.
I barreled down the hallway, the staff members and the guards following me like a swarm of gnats.
The estate manager motioned to me, telling me he could find me an appropriate outfit for the Masquerade tonight.
I shoved him into the wall, clearing my path. But then I stopped.
There was a certain appeal to being dressed like one of them, as Zira burned the world, and I was reduced to ashes with it.
A series of black suits and masks were displayed in a room on the bottom floor. The estate manager quickly measured me as I chose a suit, but to top it off, I wanted my black and white bull skull mask.
As the estate manager pinned my suit, I kept mulling over my plans.
Zira and I going our separate ways and me killing her daddy, didn’t sit right with me.
Zira was stupid for seeing shit in me that didn’t exist, but if this is what I needed to do to play along, taking my spot on the board until she figured out what to do next, then I’d do it.
I wasn’t going to kill her father. I didn’t know what I was going to do.
But I would make sure Zira got the fire she wanted.