Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
K aine stood at the door to his brother’s suite of rooms, debating whether or not to go inside.
Just two weeks ago, he was hanging out with his siblings and his mate, the problems waiting for him at home put out of his mind.
He well knew that those problems would be waiting for him when he got back.
Now, it was time to face them. To that end, he didn’t do anything without his siblings and this should be no different, but a part of him wanted to protect them from what he could possibly find out.
Ain’t that some shit?
His tiger justified his siblings being able to kill people as a part of their job because its nature was savage and feral, but emotional pain was something he wish he could protect them from.
He took the bulk of their beatings when they were siblings because he wanted to protect them.
They were grown; hell, they were the same age.
But he’d stood between them and pain his whole life and this was no different.
Still, it was time for them to know everything. Kaine knocked and waited. Easy called for him to enter and he found his brother lounging on his sofa, the TV on low, a pencil in his hand drifting across a sketchpad.
“You busy?” he asked to buy himself some time.
Easy looked up at him and frowned. “What’s wrong?”
Kaine sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Let’s wait on Evie.”
They sat in silence for a moment, his brother going back to his sketching. Eve came through the door a few minutes later, in pajama pants and a tank top.
“What’s up, brothers?”
“Sit,” he ordered his sister, and she looked at Easy to gauge Kaine’s mood. Instead of arguing, she sat in the armchair next to Easy’s sofa and waited him out.
“I just wanted you two to know that I’m working with a detective.”
Easy sat up, setting his sketchpad aside. “Working with the cops? For what?”
“Not cops, just a single detective.”
That didn’t ease the frown on his brother’s face. “What’s going on?”
“I’ve had him looking into Henry’s death.”
Easy’s face creased more. “For what?”
“We pay a private detective a good ass retainer to look into things for the guild,” Eve reminded them both.
Kaine didn’t say anything and his siblings read between the lines. Easy ran a hand over his face.
“Fuck, you think the guild is involved.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t want to work with anyone employed by the guild.
Plus, I wanted to do it myself. Since the beginning, the reports and shit that the cops were giving us to show their work were incomplete, sloppy.
I put Josiah on it since I trust him. He found the original detective they assigned to the case. ”
“So, the police were covering up the murder? On orders from someone else?” Eve asked, alarm on her face.
Easy squinted, his mind working through the problem. “Ain’t nobody out-money-ing us, so that means they have to be high up on the chain,” he muttered.
“How long have you been working with him?” Eve asked.
Kaine looked away, guilt tensing his shoulders. “A couple of weeks.”
“You’ve been carrying this alone for weeks?” Easy didn’t get mad, but there was worry in his gaze.
“Ezra,” Eve sighed. “We’re not letting you deal with alone.”
Easy studied him. “It’s too much going on for all of this to be coincidence. The last attempt in Eastfield was done by an amateur, but the male felt bold enough to go for it.”
“I’m knowing,” Kaine told him.
He had joked with Sin about the shifter trying to get the drop on him, but inside, he knew it was part of the larger picture that was building around him.
Easy sighed. “Fuck. How do we weed through this shit? The Aces got so many secret hierarchies that finding out who did it will be like untangling a knot.”
Kaine nodded because it was done purposefully. His grandfather had wanted to make sure that no one person could bring down the organization, but it came with its own pitfalls. The possibility that someone in the Aces was trying to kill him had his mind spinning. How would he weed out the culprits?
Eve leaned forward. “The Ascension Ball is coming up,” she informed them.
In another month, the Aces were supposed to be officially celebrating Kaine’s ascension.
On the night of the ball, it would be a year to the day that he’d been Ace of Spades.
Exactly a year since they lost Henry. Could that be the reason for the attempts on his life?
If they succeeded before the ball, someone else would be voted in.
“What are you thinking?”
She tucked a stray hair behind her ear. “We can smoke them out at the ball. They’ll have to show their hands.
The Aces are anonymous, but they will have to reveal themselves to you as Ace of Spades.
You’re the only one who will have that information.
If you died prior to ascension, then the next Ace takes the top spot. ”
“Next after spades is clubs,” he murmured, going through the hierarchy in his head. He already knew who the Ace of Diamonds was, and he had his suspicions of the other two.
“Once you find out who the Ace of Clubs is, that will tell you who is in line for your position.”
“Why the Ace of Clubs?” Easy asked.
“They’re next in line after Kaine.”
Their brother frowned. “They would have to get through me, though.”
Eve shook her head. “If Kaine doesn’t ascend, it goes to a vote.”
“So, the Ace of Spades could go to a whole other family?” Easy frowned. “Since when?”
“Since always,” Eve growled. “Did you pay any attention to our training? It was grandfather’s way of keeping someone from taking out the entirety of our family to get the position.”
Easy scoffed. “They better take all three of us out because no one in this city would sleep until I got the person who took out my brother.”
Kaine smirked because he wholeheartedly agreed. He closed his eyes and went through the thoughts flitting through his mind.
“They’ll have to do something drastic before the ball because after my ascension, Easy is my heir until I have kids,” he finally concluded.
Eve nodded. “Your ascension is automatic because you’re grandfather’s heir. The only way to get rid of you and stop your heir from taking over is before the ascension ceremony. If we double your security now, the ball is their last chance to get at you.”
Kaine frowned as he realized what his sister was proposing. “You want me to hide in the house until the ball.”
Eve shrugged. “Not hide per se, but they were able to infiltrate HB Inc. It means they have some pull.”
“So, what are you proposing?” Easy asked their sister.
“Kaine needs to stay at the estate until the Ascension Ball. It would give us a chance to set a trap for the Ace of Clubs.”
“That’s all well and good, Evie, but until my mate is under this roof, I’m not risking them going after her to draw me out.”
Eve hummed. “I’m sure Lucky will come in if she knows it’s to keep you safe.”
Kaine grunted because that was debatable. “I’m not agreeing, but I will contact Lucky.”
He had a feeling he would have to go and physically pick up his mate, but he wasn’t above that. He took a deep breath and decided to tell it all. “According to the detective, he thinks the same people who got rid of Henry killed our grandmother as well.”
Eve gasped. “Ezra,” she whispered.
Easy cursed. “How he get there?”
Kaine shrugged. “A vague money connection. He’s still chasing it down. He’s supposed to get me the information when he’s done.”
“I want to see what he has now,” Eve demanded.
“As soon as he has something concrete, he’ll come to us.”
Tears crested Evie’s face and Kaine’s chest tightened. This was what he was hoping to avoid. Easy pulled her into a hug.
“If it’s true, we’ll get them all,” he promised his siblings. “And if the Ascension Ball is the place to do it, then let’s make sure the plan is rock solid.”
His brother nodded and Kaine sat back in his chair. Grief filled his chest and he wished his mate was near in this moment. Safety aside, he needed her home, and he planned to make that happen sooner rather than later.