Chapter One #3
Jack sets his glass down slowly and far more calmly than I expected. “The only job you’re good for is fucking everything up. And for that cheap little plaything, no less.”
I stiffen. “She’s not cheap or a plaything.”
Jack steps out from behind the desk and advances on me. “I don’t fucking care what you want to call her, or what you want to do with her, but one of the first lessons I told you is to never let a woman distract you.”
“I’m not distracted.”
“The Fitzpatricks and Everetts are muscling us out of our business and forging alliances with other families.” Jack continues as if he hasn’t heard me. “I was under the impression the empire was in good hands, but you know how much I hate liars.”
“I didn’t lie. We’ve tripled our profit, and we’ve got people on the inside, manipulating the system in our—”
He slams me against the nearest wall before I can finish my sentence, baring his teeth at me. I hold myself still. After the little performance upstairs, I know he’s trying to regain some of his dignity, some illusion of control.
For the sake of the Empire, I’ll let him have it.
We both know he’s been out of the game too long.
One strike, and I can send him sprawling back.
And one moment is all I need to prove my point and make him back off enough for me to do everything.
Still, I can’t bring myself to do it.
Despite all the cruelty, and all the years he spent throwing me scraps, I don’t want to hit him again.
Like it or not, Jack Payne is the reason I have the power I do today.
Because of him, I was given the chance to command fear and respect in every room I set foot in.
He’s a bastard of a father, but that doesn’t change what he’s done for me.
Goddamn it.
“I knew you were all talk,” Jack sneers. “All those years, and all those lessons I’ve taught you. What’s the most important rule of survival?”
I shove him away, and he takes an uncertain step back. “Never let them see you falter.”
His eyes move over me. “She’s made you weak.
I can smell it all over you. You are going to send her back to work in the club, and we’re going to invite our enemies to see she means nothing to you.
When sufficient time has passed, you can have her back, provided, of course, you keep her in check.
I don’t want to catch so much as a whiff of her name in our ranks. ”
I level him with a look. “And if I refuse?”
“You are a Payne.” Jack’s voice is steel. “You owe your allegiance and everything you are to this family. I am not in the habit of making an enemy out of flesh and blood, but don’t push me. You have no idea what I’m capable of.”
Except I do.
I walk a fine line between keeping our enemies in check and making sure my humanity survives.
My father, on the other hand, gave up any pretense of being human when we laid my mother to rest.
Sometimes, I wonder if he left more than his heart in the ground with her.
He reaches for his drink and takes a few sips. “You’ve worked hard to build everything up. It would be a shame to watch it all crumble.”
He’s right.
Whatever little crumbs of approval he’s been throwing me, I’ve worked hard for. I’ve sweat, bled, and taken lives for the man in front of me, still as imposing and commanding despite the lines around his eyes and the smattering of silver in his hair.
You’re still the little boy who wants his father to pat him on the head and tell him what a good job he’s doing. You’re always going to be that little boy, and you know it.
Do I have what it takes to go up against my father’s wrath?
I’m not sure I want to.
As far as the empire is concerned, nothing has changed.
Except we both know it has.
The minute I went to save London against everyone’s advice, I not only risked my father’s wrath, I also painted a bright red target on my back and hers.
Michael and Lance were probably laughing at how easy it was to bait me.
Fucking assholes.
I can’t afford to fight a war on all fronts, not even for London.
“And what if I told you it doesn’t have to be one or the other?”
Jack raises an eyebrow and says nothing.
“You had Mom and the empire,” I point out softly. “There’s no reason I can’t have both.”
Jack’s expression darkens again. “That woman is nothing like your mother, and I learned the hard way that I couldn’t have both. Or have you forgotten the price we paid?”
“I could never forget.”
I relive what happened to her every day, and the last promise I made while she drew her last breath, the light in her eyes growing dimmer.
Choosing London won’t just affect me.
It’ll impact my siblings, too, and I’ve spent too long trying to protect them from the chaos of this world to throw it all away now.
You made a promise to Mom to protect Olivia and Oliver, remember? Oliver, especially, would never survive this world, and you know Jack has been circling him like a shark for years, waiting for the moment to strike.
Now that Jack has found the chink in my armor, he won’t let go easily.
Not unless I give him something worth far more than the satisfaction of watching London pay.
“I haven’t forgotten my duty to the empire,” I add in a stronger voice. “Or my duty to this family. I will make our enemies pay. I won’t stop until I have them kneeling before us and begging for forgiveness.”
Jack scoffs. “And how do you plan to do that when you’re so busy playing house?”
“By cutting them off at the knees. Since they saw fit to go after something of mine, all bets are off. I can do whatever I want as retaliation, and they know it.”
There’s a hint of approval in his eyes. “Good to see she hasn’t made you completely worthless. I was planning to pay Oliver a visit. It’s high time to bring him into the fold, don’t you think?”
Ice settles into my veins. “There’s no need. Mathew and I can handle things.”
Even as a spineless coward, Oliver is one of the few things Mathew and I can agree on.
He needs to stay as far away from the family business as possible.
I don’t want it to cost him his life like it did with our mom, and if that means my youngest brother hates me for what I’ve become, it’s a small price to pay.
I will shoulder it without question to keep him safe, because that’s what I promised my mother.
Jack shoots me a chilling smile. “Show me you can handle this, and I won’t be forced to deal with your little problem.”
I know he’d take pleasure in that.
London doesn’t stand a chance against him or anyone else from my world.
And whose fault is it that she’s in this mess to begin with, huh? You had to get attached.
I clear my throat and cross over to the desk. After pouring a drink, I raise the glass in his direction. “I’ll make our enemies regret the day they crossed us. I’m gathering intel and preparing for a strike as we speak.”
“I look forward to it,” Jack says. “Now, tell me—”
The door to the office bursts open and Carlisle hurries in, blood caked on one side of his head. He skids to a halt, and his eyes widen when he sees Jack. Then, he bows his head.
“I’ll come back later.”
Jack crooks a finger in his direction. “Speak.”
Carlisle lifts his eyes. “There’s been an attack, sir. In one of the warehouses. We’re working on getting it contained.”
I slam down my glass. “What the fuck do you mean there’s been an attack? How did this happen?”
And why did it have to happen with my father here?
Are they trying to send a message, to prove that even Jack Payne doesn’t scare them anymore?
I glance in his direction, and I can already see his wheels turning. Whatever leeway he’s giving me is contingent upon my success, and Carlisle bursting in here like a madman talking about an attack on one of our warehouses isn’t helping.
Fucking Carlisle.
“You came highly recommended, Carlisle. Your father and brothers know how to keep their own,” Jack adds. “I can see my son hasn’t molded you the way he should have.”
Without warning, my father whips out a gun and presses it to the side of Carlisle’s temple.
His eyes dart between us. “All due respect, I didn’t have any orders to be on the lookout for warehouse attacks—”
“All I hear are excuses,” Jack snaps. I hear the click as he removes the safety, causing a muscle to tick in Carlisle’s jaw. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t put a bullet through your head.”
I give Carlisle a meaningful look. “You heard my father. Talk.”
Carlisle is a brute, but I chose him for a reason.
He is far less skilled and tactful than his brothers, but he was much more eager to prove himself.
I know he feels indebted to me for giving him a chance.
When push comes to shove, his loyalty won’t be called into question.
Even now, he doesn’t falter as he turns to Jack Payne, who moves the gun so that it’s pointed at the center of his head. Carlisle faces the barrel unflinchingly, and I know it has less to do with fear and more to do with control.
The kind he’s spent years honing.
The kind that could get a man like the great Jack Payne killed.
My right-hand man looks ready to rip into my father with his bare hands, but he’s not stupid enough to take that risk when he knows I’ll have to retaliate.
“I’ll bring you their heads on a platter,” Carlisle offers after a long pause. “And I’ll send a clear message to their loved ones.”
Jack pulls the gun away and pretends to examine it. “Things have gone to shit since I’ve been gone. It’s a good thing I arranged to stay a while.”
“Carlisle will make it right,” I say without looking at him.
Jack unfastens a button on his jacket with one hand and uses the other to put his gun away. “Make yourself useful and bring the car around. Let’s see what kind of mess my son has created now.”
Carlisle nods tersely and exits the office.
On my way out, I spot Katia at the top of the stairs, her face smoothed into an impassive mask. She looks at Jack and then back at me. I jerk my head toward my bedroom, and she nods in return.
Outside, I duck into the car after my father and drum my fingers against my thighs. “I know where to hit them so it bleeds. I’ll make sure they pay for this.”
My father gives me a bored look when he looks up from his phone. “I’m sure you’ll find a way to make sure this doesn’t go unanswered.”
“It won’t.”
We both know we can’t start a war with our allies without cause.
Whatever tightrope they were walking, they gave me what I needed to blow them out of the water if the need arose, and I’m glad they did.
As far as my dad is concerned, it gives me a good excuse to get my hands dirty.