Chapter Four
Kieran
Although Tristan hadn’t mentioned my diabetes, he had benched me from going out into the field. Instead of accompanying him and Jacob on visits, he pushed me off to Liam so I could learn the informational side of the business. It had once included Restitution Securities before the Ark Boys and I took it as part of the takeover. But Liam still had connections and he hadn’t given up getting the company back. It almost made me feel guilty about having taken it from them. Cillian had made bad deals against the company’s assets. I had simply found new investors and used a frontman to take over the company. Yeah, the money was nice. But all we really cared about was Restitution Security. It had given us an in to the platform Liam had built to infiltrate corporate America as well as international waters. The guy was brilliant. I considered bringing him in on our plan to ruin the families that hurt us, but there was a good chance he’d put a bullet in my head for what I’d done, so I decided to keep my mouth shut.
After a week of cycling through Liam’s life which included the kink club he owned, I was ready to burn the skin off my body. The club, Divination, was part dance club, part kink club, all exclusive members only. This was Liam’s baby and hadn’t been part of Brennan Holdings which meant he’d been able to keep it from me. Not that I wanted anything to do with the entertainment business. Even now, sitting in the private loft overlooking the dance floor, I felt as if I needed a deep cleansing. It may have been due to the fact that Declan Brennan was currently fucking the woman on his lap.
Liam had sent me here to watch over the youngest Brennan who was a total waste of space.
I was going to kill Liam.
I got up after the woman gave off a moan that sounded as rehearsed as a TV ad and headed to where Alessandro Mancini sat scrolling through his phone. He lifted his dark eyes to mine and smirked. “Got tired of the show?”
It took everything in me not to roll my eyes.
He laughed.
The Mancini family led by Aster Mancini ran the west coast distribution ring. They had their greedy fingers in everything from sales to distribution of drugs, weapons, and whispers pointed at possible human trafficking. The human trafficking bit was unconfirmed. I didn’t think Tristan would’ve gotten into bed with the family had it been confirmed that they sold kids. The union between the families anchored our position of power. And Tristan killing everyone who doubted the Brennan control over the city helped too.
I sat down and caught sight of Luca Mancini, Alessandro’s dog, watching me. Aster Mancini had five children. Alessandro was the eldest, followed by three girls, then Luca Mancini. Unlike Alessandro, Luca was a crazy motherfucker who’d been rumored to have spent time in a psychiatric hospital for reasons unknown to anyone. But he’d left too many dead bodies in his wake. I’d met the fucker a couple of times on jobs. He was a ghost, liked to paint his face when he was on a hunt, and didn’t play nice in the sandbox. Everyone knew to stay away from him. If Aster Mancini sent Luca to deal with a job, everyone was fucked.
In contrast, Alessandro had a softer disposition. He was tall with an elegant flair. His dark eyes soft, his smile warm. If it wasn’t that Wren was his bastard son and hated Alessandro for killing his mother, I would’ve made more of an effort to like the guy. Being Maddox’s husband would complicate the kill once we found evidence. When the time came, I could only hope that Maddox wouldn’t give a fuck. There was a code even amongst killers. We didn’t kill pregnant mothers or children. And if Wren’s suspicions turned out true, it meant Alessandro had done both.
“How long have you known the Brennans?” I asked, figuring I’d at least get to know the man.
“All my life. Our families were always in business together.”
“And your marriage to Maddox? Was that business too?”
He sipped his drink. They’d been married for three weeks and eye-fucked every chance they got. When they disappeared into their bedroom, we just ignored their sudden reemergence. Shit like that couldn’t be faked. “No, Maddox and I were always destined to be together.” There was no doubt in his voice, but I didn’t believe in the destiny bullshit. It was clear that Alessandro was a possessive fuck. Every time he saw Jacob eyeing Maddox’s ass, which happened a lot, his expression would turn violent. It was quick and fleeting, and he hid it well, but I’d caught him several times and I swore he wanted to stab Jacob in the eye on more than one occasion. It made me wonder how far he’d be willing to go to keep Maddox in check. But fuck it. That was Maddox’s problem, not mine. After the honeymoon phase, the crazy would come out and then we’d see how long Maddox survived it.
“How do you make it work in this line of work?” I asked, because crazy or not, I was curious.
“Well, we’re still new, but we respect each other’s privacy. That’s important. I don’t ask questions that are not relevant to me and neither does he.”
“You must trust him.”
“With my life.” Damn, the guy was dick whipped. “Trust is the foundation for a strong relationship.”
Tomás and I started on a rocky foundation. I had made his life at Arcadia a living hell and he blamed me for what happened to his father. We’d only been together for a few months, most of it apart. There was no way he could love me. His declaration of love for me after I saved him from Cillian had been a reaction to saving his life. It hadn’t been real.
“How about you?” he asked. “Any girls or boys? I do not judge.”
“No. Nobody important.” A total fucking lie that hurt too damn much.
Just then my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket without looking at the screen and quickly answered. At the same moment, the girl’s moan had reached a crescendo that snuffed out all noise and made all the hairs on my body stand on end. I wanted to murder Liam, so sure it was him on the phone telling me he wasn’t relieving me of babysitting duty. “You better be on your way,” I growled into the phone.
“Where are you?”
I recognized the voice instantly, and it wasn’t Liam.
Alessandro cocked a brow at me. Despite the noise, he’d heard. I cupped the phone. “Excuse me,” I said, ignoring Alessandro’s knowing smirk, and rushed to the restroom. After shoving the bartender out, I locked the door. “What’s up?” As the words left my mouth, I knew they were the wrong thing to say. I shut my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose waiting for the onslaught I deserved. It’d been weeks since I left his text unanswered.
“What’s up? What’s up?” he started. The anger building in his voice made it rise. “How about you ditching my calls and ignoring my texts? I knew you were hiding us, Kieran, but I never took you for a fucking coward.”
Wow. He grew a fucking pair while I was gone. I clenched my fists to keep from slamming them against a wall. “Be careful what you say, Tomás. You won’t be able to take it back.” The stretch of silence that followed made my chest clench.
“Are you even coming back?”
I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. “You said you’d wait until I was ready.”
“And when will that be, Kieran? After your attempt at fucking your way out of being gay fails?” His voice cracked.
“I haven’t fucked anyone,” I growled out.
“That’s not what I heard when you answered.”
Tomás must’ve heard Declan and his fuckfest. “Do you trust me?”
“You’ve given me no reason to trust you.”
He was right. I should cut him loose, but I couldn’t fucking do it. Someone banged on the door. “I’ll call you back.”
“Don’t bother,” he hung up.
I threw my phone across the fucking room. It slammed into the wall and busted on the floor. I thought about crushing it until it turned into dust, but instead I plucked up the pieces and shoved them into my pocket right before I threw the door open. Jacob stood there. For a moment I considered slamming him with a fist. I knew he’d be ready for it. He and I had sparred quite a few times already. But he cocked his head as if questioning the onset of my rage. It’d been hard to trust anyone outside the Ark Boys, but I thought about trusting Jacob. I nixed that idea quickly. He was too close to Tristan.
“Daddy’s calling a meeting.”
The way he used the word Daddy for my actual father made it sound dirty. I’m sure that had been his intent. The fucker liked to rile me up. He deserved that fist. But I showed him I was a bigger man and didn’t take the bait.
He chuckled behind me as I walked out.
The room had been cleared of everyone but Tristan, Maddox, and Jacob. The windows were blacked out to ensure privacy, and I knew Liam used privacy tech to secure our conversations.
Tristan sat down where Alessandro had been just as Jacob lowered a drink on the table in front of him. A hidden communication passed between them. It felt intimate. Something a father-son would share. I quickly clamped down the stirring of jealousy in my gut.
“We have a big fucking problem.” Tristan tossed an envelope on the table. Scowling, Maddox picked it up and removed the contents. “Apparently, we are not the only ones who know how Cillian really died.”
The level of power Tristan had to fake a police investigation and autopsy results was a fucking scary thing, but he’d managed to do both. The official cause of death reported by the coroner’s office was cardiac arrest. Cillian had been on his boat at the time, known for taking it out alone, he’d fallen overboard and was found by a couple of kids. His body was then cremated. No chance of exhuming the remains if that shit ever came to light.
Maddox’s face instantly paled, eyes widened as he carefully placed the contents of the envelope on the table. It was a picture of Tomás strapped to a chair with Cillian hovering over him the day I killed my grandfather. The photographer was behind Cillian and only captured his back, but Tomás’s face was clear and the fear in his eyes all consuming. I racked my brain going over the events of that night. How the fuck had I missed the person? I’d been too damn wound up. And although Maddox had taken out only one photo, I was sure more photos of that night existed. Especially, one of me shooting Cillian in the head. I raked my hand down my face.
“Fuck,” I whispered.
Where was a diabetic coma when you needed one?
By Maddox’s reaction, Tomás hadn’t told him about being taken by Cillian that night. “Why the fuck did you fail to mention Tomás?” Maddox growled out to me.
Tomás believed Maddox didn’t care about him, but he was wrong. Maddox would kill for Tomás, as would I. Apparently. “I was trying to protect him,” I said. The truth, considering. “He didn’t see me kill Cillian. He’d been knocked the fuck out. He doesn’t know anything.”
“And what the fuck were you doing there in the first place?”
“I was there to kill Tomás. Grand—” I shook my head. “Cillian promised me the kingdom if I killed the guy. One last death.” Maddox’s eyes narrowed. I knew he wanted more information about Tomás and me, but I had nothing to give him.
“And why are you both protecting this kid?” Tristan asked. “What am I missing here?”
For a second, I thought Maddox wouldn’t admit the truth to Tristan. But then the man let out a long breath. “Tomás isn’t a threat. He’s my half-brother.”
Nothing much threw Tristan for a loop. The man seemed to know everything. But he hadn’t known this and whenever Tristan didn’t know something all the expressions a normal human would wear simply fell away, leaving only what resembled a stone statue behind. Tristan showed nothing of his anger or pain. I’d gotten that from him too.
Maddox knew he’d fucked up. And that’s how Tristan found out about Cillian’s affair with Katarina Ruiz, Tomás’s mother. How Maddox was born and taken by Cillian when he was six months old and how Sarah Brennan, Tristan’s biological mother, had raised him as her own son. Maddox hadn’t learned of it until the hit on the Moyas. Daniel had used that information to save himself. Maddox had then freed Daniel and Cruz and set up a pair of bodies to bury.
Tristan listened to everything with stoicism.
“Tristan,” his voice softened. “Tomás’s mother abused him. Sold him…” Maddox pressed his lips together while I clenched my fist under the table. I had known something had happened to Tomás, I just never asked him about it. I’d been such a fucking asshole. I didn’t deserve Tomás’s love. I didn’t deserve him. “Tomás wouldn’t take my help unless I forced it on him, so I paid Katarina to legally adopt him. And he hates me for it.” Maddox finally stopped talking and Tristan slowly got to his feet and got another drink.
Maddox and I just watched, unsure what to do. Lies festered. They destroyed families. Maddox knew the damage was irreparable. Alessandro was right. Trust was the glue that kept us from falling apart.
Tristan returned and sat down.
“Justified or not, Tomás isn’t a Brennan. Saving him will cost me .”
“Us,” Maddox snapped. “I married fucking Alessandro Mancini to protect this family.”
“From something you started!”
“I didn’t kill Cillian—your son did that!”
I swallowed hard, my heart beating fast. Maddox would protect Tomás from Tristan. That was clear to me as it was to Tristan. No one would protect me from Tristan’s wrath.
“He’s my brother, Tristan.” Maddox’s voice softened. He sounded defeated. Maddox didn’t seem the type to show vulnerability often.
Tristan sighed, his body showing fatigue for a fraction of a second before he clamped that shit down. “No fucking lies. The both of you. Understood?”
Maddox and I both nodded.
“So is there anything else I should know about this kid?” Tristan dragged his eyes from Maddox to me. The look he gave me made me feel as if a stone had dropped inside my stomach. He knew. Something in his expression said he knew about Tomás and me. I couldn’t breathe. Tristan could read the worst of enemies. He could sure as hell read me. But I still kept my mouth shut.
“I have Liam and Graham researching the source of the fucking picture. Someone out there knows what you did to save this boy. That puts us at risk. Until we figure shit out, we lie low.” He turned to Maddox. “Get the fuck out of here. I don’t want to see you anytime soon.”
“Tristan, I—”
“And you,” Tristan’s words cut over Maddox. “Jacob will take you back home. I’ll deal with you later.”
I felt like a fucking teenager getting busted joyriding his father’s car.
Just then, Tristan’s phone pinged, and Alessandro burst into the room, Luca behind him. Music blasted inside the loft, then silenced when the door snipped shut. Luca’s smirk sent a chill through me.
“There’s been a death,” Alessandro said. “At the school.”