Chapter 59
CURITIBA PARANá
The four of them lay in bed, watching TV. Bryson had his arms around Seth and Kaydon to his left, and Adria was next to him on his right, her head resting on his chest.
Seth was barely conscious, but Bryson could see his eyes were still open. Desperate to still hang out with the group.
Bryson absent-mindedly traced the snowflake on Seth’s neck.
“I need a new one,” Seth said.
“New what?” Bryson responded.
Seth shifted in his arms. “A new bite mark, the old one faded.”
Warmth spread in Bryson’s chest. He loved that Seth enjoyed his marks.
Kaydon’s hand came over and brushed Bryson’s neck. “You’re the only one that hasn’t gotten any bite marks.”
Adria adjusted, and when Bryson turned to look at her, her big eyes held him in place.
“Maybe Bryson doesn’t want to be marked,” she said.
Bryson looked at the ceiling.
Watching the fan blades spin above them.
Feeling Seth breathing on his chest.
Acutely aware of Adria and Kaydon’s attention next to him.
“Maybe I want something more permanent than bite marks,” he said.
It was late, and the moon was high in the sky when Bryson woke up. Adria was with them. The four of them had fallen asleep watching TV. For one small delicate moment it was just them. No outside forces. No traumas, and no death threats.
Just them.
A family.
Feeling restless, Bryson took a walk around the grounds.
Tomorrow, Cole would be there, and they would set their plan in motion to get his father out of the Nine. And, hopefully, take Alessandro down in the process.
If they could do that, Adria would be able to prove her innocence. She would move into the Triune and he…
Truthfully, Bryson wasn’t sure what would happen to the Winters line. All he knew was that he didn’t want it anymore.
He wanted to be with Adria, Kaydon, and Seth. That was all. If his entire life led him to these moments, he would be damned if a seat at the Nine was going to come between them now.
“Can’t sleep?”
Bryson froze as Sophia’s voice cut through the night air.
She sat on a white rocking chair on a side porch, looking out onto the town below.
“Guess not,” Bryson said, trying to move on.
“You are playing this whole thing wrong, you know.”
Bryson stopped. “Excuse me?”
“Adria…you three are going to get her killed.”
Bryson shook his head; he hated that he was taking this bait.
“Adria can take care of herself,” he said.
Sophia looked at him under the moonlight. “Is that what she deserves? To have to take care of herself. Her whole life has been taking care of herself.”
Bryson ran his hand along the archway and leaned into the frame. “And whose fault is that?”
Sophia took a long drag of her cigarette before speaking. “You think my failures give you a free pass?”
Bryson just stared at her. People like his father always had an angle. It was time he stopped looking at Sophia as Adria’s mother and started looking at her as a serious player in the game.
Sophia leaned back. “She deserves a family. A life. She can’t have that with you three. You sealed that fate the instant you put a bullet in Jonathan’s head.”
Mothers, Bryson didn’t know shit about. But this.
This was a game Bryson could play.
“And you think you deserve a say in what happens in her life, after leaving her?”
Sophia turned, her cold eyes pinning him in place. “Me leaving was good for her.”
“Not from where I’m sitting.”
She turned, looking out over the moonlit hillside once again. “You’re young. You don’t even know what you’re looking at.”
“I know I love her more than you.” He hadn’t meant to tell her that. But seeing her here. Surveying her kingdom. Bryson needed her to know.
Needed her to see what an amazing person she had left behind. And that Adria wasn’t better because of her. That she was stronger and more powerful despite her.
Sophia laughed. “Only a fool would bring love into this. Love doesn’t save her.”
“What does?” Bryson asked, already knowing the answer.
If Sophia was a serious player, then there was only one goal she cared about.
“Talk to your father, confess. He’ll protect you.”
Liar.
“And if he does?”
“Then we go forward with our plan,” Sophia said. “Get Callen and Alessandro out and Adria and you step in.”
The moonlight caused shadows to dance across her face. “Then you will be equals and you will be able to truly put her first.”
That’s what Sophia thought he wanted.
Power.
She was just like his father. Sophia and his father would never understand that power wasn’t an end goal for everyone.
How could they? When they spent their entire lives reaching for it.
Bryson walked over and took her cigarette, taking a long drag. “You know I finally placed that symbol that is on your green antique.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
If power was her end game, Bryson could use that against her.
“I didn’t tell Adria,” he said, taking another drag and offering it back to her.
She took it. “And why not? You two are so close.”
Because I didn’t want to hurt her.
Because I’m a coward.
“I’m waiting, in case it becomes useful,” he said.
She nodded.
“Let’s say I do turn myself into my father,” Bryson continued. “What guarantee do I have that he won’t kill me?”
Sophia snuffed the cigarette out on the tile and moved to stand up. Her white silk robe billowed in the breeze as she moved to the balcony’s edge. Bryson moved to stand alongside her.
“I have information on Sean Cahill. Xander has a personal vendetta against him and wants to use the information to get him out.”
Sophia turned, her hazel eyes assessing him. Bryson noted that while Adria shared her father’s name, it was her mother she took after in looks.
The two of them had similar mannerisms, bone structure, jaw line.
There was a reason Adria was a force to be reckoned with.
And part of that reason was standing in front of him right now.
For better or for worse, Sophia had shaped who Adria had come to be.
And while Bryson wished her life didn’t have to be as hard as it was, he couldn’t imagine a world without Adria, and everything she was built of, in it.
“Xander will do what I think is best. And I think the information on Cahill could be used for better means,” Sophia said, putting another cigarette to her lips. “With my leverage, I’ll ensure he stands in the way of your execution. The Triune needs three.”
That was the one piece Bryson was genuinely curious about.
Bryson grabbed her lighter off the chair and offered her a light. “What is Xander’s role in all this?”
She was quiet for a long time, and Bryson wondered if he had pushed her too far. Played her game for too long.
“Xander wouldn’t have any of this without me. He plays whatever role I need him to. Has for a very long time.”
“And what is in it for you?” Bryson asked.
She feigned hurt. “I’ll be seeing my only daughter ascend to the Triune.”
“Come on,” Bryson said, conspiratorially. “You’re helping me get a seat. Just give me a taste.”
A light flickered behind her eyes.
“What’s good for the goose,” she said, exhaling smoke.