Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Everleigh
“Mom! What are you doing?”
Her head turned swiftly toward her bedroom door where I stood. She quickly stepped down from the chair that sat just below her bedroom ceiling fan.
“Evie, I didn’t know you were back from school. I thought you had soccer practice today?”
My eyes drifted up toward the ceiling fan that had a long piece of material hanging from it before she stepped in front of my line of sight.
I narrowed my eyes, “It was canceled due to the rainstorm coming in. I tried to call but you didn’t answer.”
She laughed but it sounded odd as it came out. “Oh, I’m sorry. I must’ve gotten carried away cleaning the fan. You know your father, everything has to be perfect. Not a speck of dust in sight.”
She continued to smile, which felt even more off than before. It didn’t put me at ease, but I knew better than to question her or my father.
I took a step back out of the doorway, “Do you want me to start on dinner?”
She exhaled what seemed to be a breath of relief. “Yes, that would be wonderful. If you’ll go ahead and get the water boiling and toss the pasta in, I’ll come and help you in a few minutes.”
I nodded, before turning away from the door. As I walked toward the kitchen, Mom called out from behind me.
“Evie.”
I stopped, only turning my head to glance back at her. “Yes?”
She bit her lip, hesitating a moment before continuing, “Don’t forget that pinch of salt in the water. You know it makes all the difference in the world.”
I pressed my lips together in a thin line before turning away from her.
I wish I would’ve noticed more. Maybe then she’d have followed me to the kitchen to make my father his favorite meal. Maybe then I wouldn’t have found her pale with no pulse minutes later.
The lights from the busy street side reflect onto the window as we drive toward the complex.
I feel at ease knowing Finnic will be right where I left him when I return another time.
All of this started because of my idiot brother’s decisions. I can’t necessarily blame Finnic for his part in all of this. If something as atrocious as that happened to me, my brothers would’ve recked this city to find out who committed the act and no stone would’ve been left unturned.
But it wasn’t me. It was her.
Finnic did what any natural person would do.
An eye for an eye. Well, almost.
He only beat him to death.
If I was done that way by another man and Viktor found out who that man was, he wouldn’t stop there. I could guess that he would take an eye for an eye pretty seriously, allowing the man to feel what I felt in such a moment like that. If there ever is a moment like that.
There won’t be.
After we arrive at my penthouse, Dante is already there, leaning against the wall, waiting for me to enter. He anticipates my arrival since we have trackers on our phones.
“Since my service decided to cut out on the drive back, I’ll go ahead and continue where I left off.” I unbutton my coat, and as I do, Dante walks behind me to help drape it down my shoulders, tugging it off. “Everything went as I thought it would.”
“Is he going to be a problem?” he asks as he places the coat on the hanging rack by the door.
I slip out of my heels one by one, letting them fall behind me as I cross the room toward the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Every inch of this penthouse is my inheritance. Every corner, every shadow, every echo of my father’s former life now belongs to me.
“Finnic?” I ask with humor in my tone.
“Something funny?” Dante questions as he arches a brow.
I allow a slow smile to spread. “Not necessarily. I just think it’s interesting that you think he’ll be a problem in a place like that.”
His tone hardens, “You know what I mean, Leigh.”
I turn to look back at him as he stands by the black sectional a few feet away. “I do know what you mean. All you need to know is that most of Beacon is on our payroll. If something happens, if something changes - we’ll be the first to get a call. Especially when it comes to Finnic.”
He steps closer. “And what about the other one?”
I ignore his question, moving onto more pressing concerns.
“The families think my father’s death is an opening for them to expand into territories he locked down.”
Dante’s jaw tightens. “I know that.” He shakes his head, “One of our contacts reached out to me earlier today about the Lucchese brothers.”
A cold laugh leaves my mouth, “I’m not surprised those greedy bastards are the first ones to try and go after those facilities.”
Dante nods slowly. “It wasn’t two months ago that they were trying to siphon profits off of the warehouse on River Street.”
I walk over to the mini bar. “They’re sloppy.” I say as I pop the cork on a five thousand dollar bottle of red, pouring it into a regular wine glass.
With the wine in hand, I trail back over to the windows.
The city lights reflect onto the glass as I swirl the liquid around.
Every glint of light reminds me that the streets below are moving pieces in a game I now control.
“My father was only respected because one, he was a male. And two, because his father gave him a title that any other little shit could’ve been given. ”
I take a slow sip, letting the wine sit on my tongue before swallowing it down. It isn’t worth the five thousand, but I’ll keep drinking it like it is.
I glance over my shoulder at Dante. “I don’t have the luxury of being a man. I just have what he passed down to me.” A low chuckle leaves my throat, “He wasn’t ready to pass it down, but that doesn’t make a difference.”
His gaze narrows. He knows where I am going with this.
“I won’t ask for their respect,” I continue. “I’ll condition them to it.”
I set the glass down on the marble stand behind me, the quiet click echoing through the penthouse. “Fear is faster than loyalty. From what I’ve personally witnessed, it spreads the word quicker and tends to be more useful.”
Dante straightens slightly. “How?”
I smile, “We bleed them quietly.”
His brow furrows. “Financially?”
“Yes,” I agree. “We do our best to kill their access and intercept their shipments. Make them think the police are watching them.” I cross my arms over my chest, “Then we isolate the heads. Turn their inner circles against them. The paranoia spreads and the wives start talking. It’s fun to watch when no one knows who to trust.” A small laugh falls from my lips, “Maybe they’ll just kill each other and save us the time? Think we’re that lucky?”
Dante exhales slowly through his nose. “We’ve been lucky so far.”
I turn fully then, meeting his eyes. “Can’t break our record this early in the game, Dante.”
I watch his dark eyes search my form.
I don’t think he expected us to get this far with all of the plotting we’d done over the last year.
It’d taken me the last three years to convince him to turn on my father.
But when Finnic killed Marco, things really shifted into place faster than initially planned.
More in my favor, thankfully.
“And if they try to come after you?” He questions.
I take another sip, then exhale a breath, “They’ll learn not to do it again.”
Dante continues to study me as he stands only inches away now.
A chill seems to spread through the room when I speak, “They won’t fear the Genovese name anymore.”
I look back out at the city, at the streets that will soon whisper my reputation instead.
“They’ll fear mine.”