Chapter 57
57
Isaac
G iven my pacifist nature during hockey games, I’d never known a very basic fact—getting blood out of fabric was practically impossible.
I glanced with an almost numb disdain at the blood stains on my white button-down as I beat the shit out of the traitor tied to the cement wall in front of me. Every punch, every kick, pulled on the skin on my back and chest. I was still healing from the gunshot, and moving hurt.
Good. It should fucking hurt. Everything should hurt.
I was grateful to my father for making the garage a good spot to torture people, even if looking at it reminded me of Tovah’s screams that terrible day.
The man in front of me was worse for wear—way worse. Blood poured down his face, and his nose was practically caved in from the number of times I’d punched him. Behind me were torture implements in case I needed them. Once, I’d have hoped I wouldn’t. Now, they were tools to help me reach my goal: making sure Tovah and her mother were safe, forever.
I’d lied that day, when I’d left her. It was the hardest thing I’d ever done, but it was necessary, even when the heartbreak on her face broke me. My father still had men loyal to him, even after his death. There were other factions against the Silvers; even the Golds waited in the wings to take us down and take over Brooklyn. I had to distance myself from her. I wouldn’t risk her life, but I wouldn’t leave her either. No, I had a plan to get back to her and be with her for good.
The plan began with violence and interrogations; with wiping the family clean of anyone who might wish us ill. The plan started with the man in front of me.
As I beat him, a memory came to me—chasing a little girl through the backyard as she laughed with delight, air bursting through my lungs as I ran, determined to catch her.
I’m going to catch you, bashert.
Really? You better hurry up, slowpoke!
“Brother dearest, aren’t you forgetting something? If you kill him, you won’t get the information you need.” Sasha said from where he sat, watching me.
Oh, right. I’d gotten so lost in my thoughts, I’d forgotten why we were here.
“I want names,” I told my father’s man. “Everyone who is still loyal to my father, everyone who’s thinking of challenging me. Give me the list, or you die.”
“Fuck you,” the man said through broken teeth.
“If I were you, I’d stop cursing and start talking. Your daughter’s name is Sarah, right? Only seven years old. It would be a shame if something were to happen to her.”
Even at the age of seven, I’d known what caused the bruises on Tovah’s arms. I just hadn’t known who.
Who hurt you, bashert?
No one hurt me.
Then what are those?
I fell.
The pain hadn’t done it, but the threat against his family did. “Alright, I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you,” he said. “Please don’t hurt my family. Please, sir.”
I paused in punching him, wiping my bloody knuckles on my already stained shirt. “Talk.”
Name after name bubbled from his lips. In the end, twenty-two men were against us. Twenty-two men a threat to my family, and the woman I loved.
Tell me, bashert. Tell me so I can protect you.
I can’t tell you. If I tell you, how am I going to protect you back?
I’d blocked out so many memories of her, of us as children, but violence took me back to that innocent time, and to the little girl who’d loved me regardless of who my father was.
Who I would protect, no matter what it cost me.
“One more question,” I asked. “Were you there when Tovah Lewis was tortured?”
The man didn’t speak, but the fear in his eyes told me everything.
Grabbing a scalpel off the tray behind me, I rewarded his cowardice with a slice across the throat. He’d been witness to Tovah’s pain; he died. As simple as that.
When we were done, I turned to my brother.
“You’re a mess,” he said, his own shirt pristine. “You know, Dad would never have gotten his hands dirty like this. He had people to do it.”
I straightened my collar, staring dispassionately at the dead man hanging from chains. “Yeah? Well, I’m nothing like Dad.”
* * *
“Come in,” I called.
I sat in what had been my father’s office and was now mine. There was no memory of him here, no ghost. I’d exorcised his hold on me when I’d killed him.
Eliana and her father entered my office, standing at the threshold and staring at me.
“It’s good to see you here, Isaac,” Donny said. “Even better when my daughter joins you as your wife.”
I saw Eliana flinch.
“Ah yes, about that.” I cleared my throat. “I won’t be marrying your daughter.”
Brown eyes stared at me. “Did you just say we’re getting married, Isaac Silver?”
I smiled at her with a gap in my teeth. “That’s right, bashert. One day, you’ll tell me your name, and then we’ll be together forever. I promise.”
In the present, Donny stiffened, his chest puffing out. “I had an agreement with Abe…”
I gestured around me. “In case you forgot, Abe Silver is dead. I make the decisions now, Donny. You either get in line, or I’ll make sure your family starves.”
“Is this about that little slut?” he sneered. “Because?—”
Reaching under my desk, I pulled out the gun I’d become familiar with and shot him between the eyes. He slumped forward in his chair.
I expected Eliana to scream or faint, so I was surprised when she smiled.
“Thanks,” she said.
I blinked.
“We’ll have to unite our families in a different way,” she continued. “I’m not opposed to marriage, but since you’re not an option, can I suggest one of your brothers?”
I laughed in shock. “We’ll discuss it,” I told her.
Rising, she cast her eyes at the dead man beside her. “I look forward to doing business with you,” she said. “And I hope I’m invited to the wedding.”
I grinned at her, dimples on display. It was the first time I’d smiled in weeks. “I’ll make sure you get an invitation.”
* * *
If you thought about it, really thought about it, the human body was an amazing thing. It kept breathing, kept moving, kept walking and talking and even pissing and shitting, even if you were completely dead inside.
I was completely dead inside. It had been a month since I’d walked out of Tovah’s hospital room and out of her life.
Well, technically out of her life. I hadn’t talked to her so much as once, but that didn’t mean I’d left her alone. If anything, I spent more time with her than I had when we were together. I watched the tracker all the time to see where she was. I wired the house with cameras and mics (except for the second bedroom her mother was staying in), so I could watch her 24/7. I wired the newspaper offices too, which was…illuminating. I had guards on her whenever she left the house, to make sure no one got close to her or could hurt her.
And in the time I wasn’t busy lining up the dominoes or going to class—I was still a college student in the midst of all of this mafia shit—I stalked her myself, hiding in the trees with binoculars and watching her through the windows, which the damn woman never closed. Did she not care she was giving any creep in the woods a peep show?
Of course, the only creep in the woods was me.
But right now, I wasn’t in the woods. No, I was in Toby’s fucking dorm room, wearing gloves, waiting for him to get home from the newspaper office. He and I had an appointment with a window, a window I’d opened to let the night air in. I might not be able to be with Tovah, but I’d fucking make sure no one tried to ruin her career or her future.
A key turned in the lock and the door opened. Toby stood there in skinny jeans and a tweed jacket. He didn’t notice me at first, his head buried in his phone.
I cleared my throat.
He jumped.
And then he saw me and jumped again.
“Isaac, what are you doing in my room?”
“Oh, Toby, I have a bone to pick with you. Well, several bones. And honestly, they may be picking your bones off the ground in a bit.”
He blanched, then lifted his phone, probably to call the cops. Fortunately, I had hockey reflexes, and the phone was out of his hand and in my pocket before he could dial 911.
“I didn’t do anything,” he cried.
“No? You weren’t planning on publishing an article with naked photos of her calling her journalistic integrity into question?”
“How…how did you find out about that?” he practically choked on his question.
I’d bugged his office, that was how. But I wasn’t about to say that.
“I don’t think you should be worried about my sources. I think you should be worried about your own skin. Because if you don’t kill the article, I’m going to…well, do I have to finish that sentence?” I asked coldly.
“You fucking hockey players think you run this damn school. And your little whore is just as bad?—”
Rage filled me. He had no right to call her a whore. No one called her that and lived.
“Wrong answer,” I said, dragging him toward the window.
“What’s that word for throwing someone out a window?” I asked casually.
“You won’t get away with this,” he spluttered. “I’ll call the cops. You’ll go to prison?—”
I paused, staring down at him, knowing there was death in my eyes. “Toby, I’m now the proud owner of an entire criminal empire. The cops are in my pocket. The judges are in my pocket. Everyone is in my pocket. Now, tell me the word, or you’re about to experience a four-story drop.”
His eyes practically bugged out of his head, making him look particularly froglike.
“Defenestrate,” he said weakly.
“That’s a really big word for a hockey player. Spell it for me.”
“Isaac, I swear, I’ll never?—”
“Spell. It. For. Me.” I repeated, glaring at him.
He swallowed.
“D-E-F-E-N-E?—”
He didn’t get a chance to say the “s”—I’d already lifted him up and tossed him out the window.
Moments later, I heard a loud thump, then screams.
I texted one of the men who was loyal to me.
Need cleanup on the newsie job. Let our people in the Gehenom police department know.
That done, I left Toby’s dorm room, no fingerprints, and moved my way through the chaos in the hallway, spotted the emergency exit, and headed down it and into the night.
* * *
I thought taking care of the Toby problem would give me at least some peace.
It didn’t. Not when Tovah was so close, but still out of reach.
But she’d be back in my arms soon, I promised myself. Soon.
I stood in the shadows, watching Tovah as I toyed with the ring box in my pocket. I’d bought it in the city after killing Donny Rabin. It was perfect for her: a rose gold band and something called a halo diamond. One day, soon, it would be on her finger. I kept it on me all the time, taking it out to look at when I really wanted to hurt.
As I reached into my pocket to stare at the ring some more, a twig snapped.
Someone was here.
Without a thought, I pulled out a gun. If there was a single goddamned motherfucker who thought they could touch a hair on either woman’s head…
“God, you’ve become a paranoid asshole. Put that gun down,” my older sister said as she came out from behind a tree.
“Oh, good. You’re here,” I said, lowering the gun.
“I’m here,” Liza acknowledged. She scanned me. “I have to say, being head of the family does not agree with you. You look like you’ve been run ragged, although I guess that bespoke suit is flattering.”
I shrugged. I missed my hockey uniform. But not only did I not have the time right now for hockey, I’d been kicked off the team after running out of that game. Jack and my friends had fought for me, but Coach was adamant that I was out. I hated it, not playing, and I missed my teammates—but it was worth the sacrifice. She was worth the sacrifice.
“This job isn’t easy, or for the faint of heart,” I told her.
“You think I don’t know that?” The bitter jealousy flashed in my sister’s eyes.
I hid my smile. I’d been counting on it.
“I have an offer for you,” I told her.
“Listening.”
“You’ve always wanted to be the head of this family. Since we were kids. It went to me because I was the boy, but it’s 2025. Way past time to shake things up. And fuck, I don’t want to do this shit.”
Her eyes tracked me, and her breathing sped up. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying it’s all yours, if you want it. The family, the money, the power—no one deserves it more than you. No one has your ability to play this game, negotiate, and wield violence when necessary. You were made for this, Liza, and I’m happy to?—”
She raised a hand to stop me. My heart lodged in my throat. Was she going to turn it down? Had I been wrong? Had all this work been for nothing?
“You realize,” she said, “That if you pass it to me, no one is going to be okay with you being half in, half out. I’m not okay with you being half in, half out. You’ll still be a part of the family, but the money, the power, the resources to protect you when you’re throwing someone out a window—yes, I heard about that—it’s all gone.”
Hell yeah. Relief filled me. She wanted in. Still, I spoke. “One of these days, you’ll fall in love. And you’ll be willing to sacrifice everything else that matters to you to be with them.”
Liza wrinkled her nose. “I fucking hope not.”
“So, is that a yes?”
“They aren’t going to make it easy,” she said.
“You love a challenge,” I pointed out.
She quirked a smile. She’d always been calm and composed, but this was the most excited or happy I’d ever seen her.
“You sure?” she said.
I fingered the ring again. “Never been more sure about anything in my life.”
“Then it’s a deal,” she said. “I hope she’s worth it.”
“She’s worth more than you could even imagine,” I said, squaring my shoulders. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have somewhere to be.”
“Good l?—"
But before she could finish, I’d already taken off through the trees.