Chapter 46
CHAPTER 46
NORTH CAROLINA
B ryson threw some chips on the table. Adria had been gone all day, and the three of them had put together a game of poker.
“Call,” he said, looking at Kaydon.
Kaydon shuffled his cards in his hand, and pushing a small pile into the center of the table, said, “Raise for twenty.”
Seth eyed him suspiciously.
“What?” Kaydon said, trying to seem innocent.
“I don’t think you have shit,” Seth said, calling the raise.
Bryson took one look at Kaydon and threw his cards on the table. “I fold.”
“Okay, let’s see it,” Seth said, throwing down a small straight.
Kaydon took in the cards, his smile growing.
“It’s a good hand, little one, but like the height department, you’re coming up short.”
Kaydon put down three kings, his large hands encircling the pot of chips.
Seth said, “Whatever, it’s not real money, anyway. ”
“Who says? I’m keeping a ledger,” Kaydon said. “I expect to be paid when we get home.”
“When is that going to be?” Bryson asked, shuffling the cards.
Kaydon sorted his winnings.
“Bryson’s right, it’s so far away, you’re old, you’ll forget,” Seth said.
“I think we should tell Adria,” Kaydon said.
Bryson dealt the next hand. “Tell her what?”
“About El, about why your dad knew about the land deal, all of it,” Kaydon said.
And Bryson stopped dealing. “Why would we do that?”
“Because I don’t want to lie to her,” Kaydon said.
Bryson shook his head. “It will be easier if she doesn’t know. Safer. I know you are sweet on her, but I don’t see the value in?—”
“Dammit, Bryce, there doesn’t need to be a strategic reason for it,” Kaydon said. “She deserves to know.”
Seth looked at the two cards he was dealt. “I agree with Kaydon.”
“Big surprise,” Bryson said.
Seth crossed his arms over his chest. “You would agree too if you would stop lying to yourself.”
Bryson eyed Seth. “If it’s truth time, are you going to tell us what happened that night the two of you went out?”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
Bryson sat back. “So, it’s fine for Seth to lie to me, but I can’t lie to Adria.”
“And it’s not even a lie,” Bryson continued, putting his hands in the air.
This was ridiculous. Adria had made it perfectly clear these past few months what the three of them meant to her .
“You don’t owe her anything,” Bryson said to Kaydon, who stared at him.
Bryson doubled down, “You don’t. She did her job and made her choice. We are paying her back for the protection, by getting high marks on the auction. The debt will be paid.”
“I want her to know it was us. That it is our fault the land was even on your father’s radar,” Kaydon said, his face somber.
“You mean my fault,” Bryson said.
Kaydon said, “She put herself in harm’s way for me, for us.”
“You don’t know that. She could have done it for herself, in order to get us to her buyer,” Bryson responded.
Seth chimed in, “Why, what does she have to gain?”
Bryson stood up, suddenly unable to sit still. “Who knows, who cares. She is looking out for herself, and we’re paying our debt, full stop.”
Kaydon shook his head.
“We all know money is not her motivation,” Kaydon said. “You’re playing a game that isn’t winnable.”
Bryson sat back down, grabbing the cards. “What else is there besides money? She wanted the Brazilian property and got us instead. No buyer in Mexico is going to change my father’s mind. It makes no sense.”
Kaydon picked up his hand. “How about you ask her?”
Bryson played with his chips. “How about I don’t want to.”
A wicked smile played on Kaydon’s face. “How about I play you for it?”
Bryson hovered in the hallway outside Adria’s office. Despite the fact that Kaydon couldn’t bluff for shit, he had somehow managed to win that hand.
He got lucky.
Bryson unconsciously ran his fingers over the now healed knife marks.
Adria had only recently arrived back at the house, and Bryson had stalled for a while, reasoning that she would need time to shower and get settled.
He still didn’t believe that telling her was the best play. But Kaydon thought it was, and the three of them had agreed.
“Why are you lurking in her hallway?” Kaydon asked.
“Fuck off.”
Kaydon broke out into a huge grin. “Somebody’s nervous.”
Was that why he was lurking in the hallway?
“I don’t want her to get the wrong idea,” Bryson said.
“What idea? Just tell her you used her phone for an unsanctioned call while she was on the couch dying, what’s to misunderstand?”
“You’re an ass.”
“Just trying to help.”
Kaydon put his hands on Bryson’s shoulders. “Brother, just talk to her. You’ll figure it out.”
With a little shove, Kaydon pushed him forward and sauntered down the hallway.
When he was well out of sight, Bryson brought his hand up to knock.
With a soft hand, too soft to make a noise, he brought it down in a pathetic nudge.
No noise was made, but the door slid open. Just a crack. Bryson gave the door another nudge, peering into the empty office.
“Adria? ”
He spoke into the vacant room. The window behind her desk showed the dimming sunlight. Stepping inside, he glanced into the bedroom and saw Adria asleep.
Her eyes were puffy, and her face was red, like she had been crying. His body reacted like there was a threat, but after a few moments of breathing, he saw there was no danger. She didn’t seem injured, but Bryson inspected the area.
There were papers on her desk and the soft glow of a screen.
Moving to glance at it, Bryson saw message bubbles.
Looking back in her direction, he convinced himself a small peek wouldn’t hurt. It might even help to know what was going on before talking to her.
Scrolling up in the conversation, he stopped when he saw.
Just finished visiting Loretta in the hospital.
X: What happened?
She fell down a flight of stairs
I can’t help but feel like I had something to do with it.
X: Jonathan ?
He knows.
X: Tell me.
X: Adria.
I got a letter today, from an unknown sender, with the photo.
X: The one you two sent him?
Yes.
X: Is she okay?
They don’t know yet.
X: Want me to look into it ?
Please.
X: Have you decided on the boys?
I can’t do it. Tell Teo the deal is off.
X: That is disappointing.
X: To be clear, if I do that you lose any chance at the airport being moved. All your plans for the past ten years go up in smoke.
X: What about your mother?
It was stupid. Thinking I could change the past. I wasn’t making a difference, anyway.
X: You can make a difference. What about his additional offer to gift you a new parcel of land? We get that land and we can take Jonathan down. All those years of abuse, you want to just let him go?
No but I cannot see another option. I can’t keep letting him hurt people I care about just so I can get revenge.
X: The boys will be perfectly safe with Vega. You are not hurting them.
So, he has a name.
X: They have to go to someone.
They have no contacts in Mexico, they will be vulnerable there. I just can’t do it.
X: Who then?
I’ll figure it out.
X: You’re upset. You are not thinking clearly. I’m going to wait to tell Teo in case you change your mind.
I won’t.
X: Wishful thinking.
Bryson stared at the conversation, trying to make sense of it. Next to the computer were maps and land schematics. Some were images of the land he and his father had commandeered.
Bryson felt sick. He had brought up the importance of the land to his father. He had noticed its transit properties.
But this new parcel that had just as much potential.
He thought about the name. There was a Vega who worked on the conservation of land appropriation, loosely affiliated with the Galician family. If he owed Adria a favor, that would mean he could change the air transit lines. Making his father’s land worthless, and Adria’s new land the prize.
Land his father had no claim to.
But what would Vega possibly want with them? He wanted them badly enough that he was willing to risk war to do it. Angering the Nine was a dangerous business. Bryson could understand Adria’s hesitation in selling them there. There was no telling the motive.
The gears in Bryson’s mind turned as he sifted through more of Adria’s paperwork, looking for a clue that would help him solve things. Not seeing much, he was about to give up when a small white envelope peeked out.
Already opened, it was addressed to Adria with no return address. Picking it up, two small photos fell out.
Looking at them, Bryson felt like cold hands were clawing at his chest. Ice freezing his insides, making it hard to breathe.
Like nails on the chalkboard, the image seemed to scream into his mind, and his hand shook under the weight of it. Within the four corners was a younger but unmistakable image of Adria’s father, Ivan. Next to him was another man in a suit. His head just out of frame.
What made Bryson’s hand shake was that below these very grown men on the desk was a naked, bound, and gagged young Adria.
Very young, she couldn’t be more than ten.
With trembling fingers, he turned the photo, reading the handwritten note on the back.
You will always be my little princess.
Bryson felt dizzy as his mind reeled, and his stomach contents threatened to come up.
The second image was of Adria wearing a cap and gown, with a younger Loretta standing next to her.
Adria stirred in the adjoining room, eyelids fluttering.
Heart racing, Bryson dropped the photos and fled from the room.
He was a coward.