Chapter 11
Alexander
“You two ever pull a fucking stunt like that again, I’ll do more than smack you fuckers around,” I snap at Pope and Omen, who both stand in front of me with their fists clenched at their sides and dark looks in their eyes. When I returned I expected to find Tatum hiding somewhere but then those fuckers told me they let her go. I lost it and laid into them. Halo and Vat tried to stop me but they couldn’t, so they resorted to fucking tasering me!
“You have lost focus on what we are doing here ever since you started stalking that girl,” Pope snaps.
I cock my head to the side and study him. “I’ve never lost focus. She was our way to finding that cocksucker, and thanks to her giving up that phone we can finally track the snake,” I shout.
“You fucking used her like a cheap whore,” Omen bites out. I cringe. I know this shit is hard for him to understand given his past, but he needs to see that Tate isn’t Rosalina. I didn’t take advantage of her, she wanted me as much as I wanted her.
“Omen, I never used her. Yes, I had planned to take the phone from her but what happened between me and her wasn’t me asserting my power over her. She wanted me and you’re just gonna have to take my fucking word on that.” He opens his mouth to argue but I push on. “We have bigger things to worry about. Desire De Santis is making moves behind Carnage’s back. We need to find out what she is up to and why she is coming after us now after all this time.”
I can’t figure out why she would be making a move now. For five years the De Santis Cosa Nostra has left us alone, but even before I got released from prison there was some stirring in the water. We played it off until I got out, then they became bold and made their presence known. When I went to Hollow Hills to Vivian’s masquerade night at her club, I bailed on her because Omen alerted me to the fact we were being tailed.
“She mentioned Nexus Valerian,” I mutter aloud.
“When?” Halo asks.
“At the meeting.” I turn and face them all. Each one of them looks confused.
“How does she know about him?” Pope hedges.
I shake my head as I try to think back if I mentioned something about him. “I don’t know. She told me the deal extended to him. Why?”
“What if they’re linked?” Vat says.
“How? Nexus meant nothing to us until after we left the family,” Omen clarifies.
Vatican’s eyes widen as he faces me. “Desire is the one hiding Nexus. There is no way that little fuck would be able to hide from us on his own. Desire’s helping him. She knows Halo’s blind spots and is playing on them.” My face slackens as his words sink in. I pull my phone out and dial Carnage. This time he picks up on the third ring.
“What?” he says as he answers.
“How the fuck does your bitch of a sister know about Nexus Valerian?” I snarl.
“Who the fuck are you talking about, Butcher?” He sounds irritated and that is a sign that Carnage is telling the truth. He always gets angry when he doesn’t know shit.
“I’ll say this one fucking time, De Santis. If I find out you or your sister had a hand in anything to do with Elenor?—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, you stupid fucker. I may hate you but that hate doesn’t extend to your sister. You fucking know that, you fucker. I never went after your sister!” he roars. “I was the fucking one helping you protect her and getting her ass into the good schools and making sure no one fucked with her. Don’t you ever fucking accuse me of ever laying a hand on her!” His anger is felt and I know now, without a shadow of a doubt, he’s innocent, which means either the twins are in on it with Desire or she’s acting alone.
“Carnage, pick a side quick because your sister fucked up. She showed me her hand at the meeting and now, I’m coming at her with everything I fucking have,” I yell, then try and calm myself, not wanting to get in a fight with this fucker.
“You have my word, Butcher. If Desire had anything to do with what happened to Ellie… I’ll deal with her.”
“No. If she did, I’ll deal with her myself,” I answer.
“You really gonna torture the woman you were in love with?” I grind my teeth and work my jaw side to side.
“That was a long time ago,” I force out through clenched teeth. “Get the intel fast or I’ll extract it from her the only way I know how. You have one week.” I end the call, then face the guys. “Work with the angle that Nexus and Desire are somehow connected. Figure out how they know each other. We find that link, we find him.” I turn to leave but Halo’s words stop me in my tracks.
“Best way to find that link is to go to Chicago.” I peer over my shoulder at him.
“Your point?” I push.
“Your pretty little blonde is in Chicago.”
I growl in annoyance. “Get a flight out of here tomorrow. We work from there. Pope, call Damon and tell him to meet the Luther’s for the shipment on Friday. Omen, deal with Adrian and have him and some others fly out separately to us and set up a perimeter in Chicago to watch our backs.” I don’t hang around for them to reply, I storm out the back door to call my little Bambi who is going to learn what it’s like to be hunted by me .
* * *
I fucking hate the busyness of the city. I’ve been in Chicago mere hours and I already miss the peace of my home. I don’t get how people can live in a place like this and even hear themselves think. Omen drives us through the city. I don’t know what the connection is, but I can feel it in my bones that Tatum is somehow tied into this web of bullshit between Desire and Nexus.
“We’re coming up to the location,” Omen says, pulling my attention to him. I nod and wait for him to park across the street from the hotel Vivian has purchased to open her new club. The location is prime and will garner a lot of traffic. There is no doubt in my mind that her sex club will be profitable.
“Why was construction halted on this?” I ask Halo.
“The permits keep getting knocked back. Someone is black balling them,” he answers. We all know this has Desire’s name written all over it, she wouldn’t allow a hotel with a sex club to be built here. It would take profits from her brothels she has around town. Unlike the ones she runs, Vivian’s embrace kinks, its upper class and all her girls and guys are tested regularly.
“We got a situation.” The urgency in Pope’s tone has me going on alert. I follow his gaze to the alley next to the hotel. My breath lodges in my throat when I see Tatum standing there, she looks pissed off but it’s the sight of her in those jeans that hug her like a second skin and that tight yellow long-sleeve shirt she wears that falls off one shoulder that has my mouth watering. “Why is Wrath here?” I shake my head and push away those thoughts. I cut my gaze to the guy standing beside the one she is arguing with and my anger soars. Wrath De Santis shouldn’t be anywhere near her. He is fucking poison and I know for a fact he loves to take what isn’t being offered. I’ll be fucking damned if I let him take a single fucking thing from her.
Only I get to fuck with her.
“Well, I guess we know who is blocking the permits from going through now,” Vat mutters. I grunt my agreement without taking my eyes off Tate. Wrath is grinning like a fool, he’s loving the sight of her all fired up.
“This isn’t a coincidence, I don’t believe in that shit,” Halo voices. I nod in agreement. “There is no fucking way Desire suddenly comes back to haunt us, then drops Nexus’s name and now suddenly, Wrath is here with your girl.” I bristle at the whole my girl comment but remain silent as I watch her throw her hands in the air, then stalk away from those two. She pulls her phone from her pocket, then brings it to her ear. She suddenly pauses, then turns and faces our car. She may not be able to see us through the tinted windows but she doesn’t need to, she can feel me watching her.
“Go. We need to get recon done,” I order. Omen obeys and drives us away from Tatum. I plan to pay her a visit later tonight. After seeing Wrath with her, I’m now more certain than ever that she is linked to the De Santis family without even knowing it. My money is on her piece of shit of a brother making a deal with them and using her as leverage.
We make it back to our home base which isn’t much. We rented a house under Adrian’s name that’s on the outskirts of the city. Damon is handling our shipments while we are away. Omen and Vatican are my guys who handle coordinating our other runners. Unlike most networks, we are based in one spot and ship from there. Which is why Desire will never figure out how things are because we have runners. They fly in and collect one of our trucks loaded with guns and drive them across state lines to where they need to go. If anyone was really looking they would see that Halo owns a moving company. We do have a crew that is completely legal and does inner state moves to keep the books steady while we use the other trucks to run guns. We’re opening another base of operation in Hollywood under Pope’s name to help with the demand.
“Where do we start looking for the link?” Vat asks me from his spot at the small, round dining table where he sits with Halo. Pope and Omen are out doing a sweep of Tatum’s hotel, making sure she isn’t being tailed and to watch and see if Nexus comes to her.
“Go back to when we left the Cosa Nostra.” Both of them jerk in surprise.
“Any reason why we are going back that far?” Halo presses.
I scrub a hand down my face and sigh. I have no idea if my hunch is right but something in the pit of my gut is telling me I’m right. “Desire is a jealous bitch, she let us go too easily?—”
“Too easy?” Pope snaps. “I’ve seen the fucking scars, Alexander, she didn’t let us off easy at all!”
“She let us live!” I roar.
“Why?” Halo yells. “Tell me why the fuck my crazy ass sister let us leave with our lives?” I open my mouth but clamp it shut as Omen and Vatican enter the house. They look between the three of us and frown.
“What the fucks going on here?” Omen barks.
“Nothing.” I answer.
“Alex is about to tell the truth,” Halo says at the same time. I pin the little shit with a glare which he ignores and continues to stare at me.
“Truth about what?” Vat hedges.
“Why Omen’s twin let us live,” Pope answers. Both Vat and Omen snap their gazes to me expectantly. For years I have kept this secret, I thought I would take it to my grave but it turns out, I was wrong.
“I did something that guaranteed she could never turn against us!” I admit.
“You have leverage on her don’t you?” Pope breathes out in surprise.
I nod. “Yes. It was the only way I knew that she wouldn’t come after us or send the fucked up twins and her army after us. I have a failsafe. If Desire ever took us out, a letter would be sent to Carnage.”
All of them look confused but it's Halo to ask the question. “What do you have on her?”
I exhale and run my gaze over each of them, praying they understand and don’t hate me. These four are the only family I have, they are my brothers. “When I made the deal with Desire, it was originally for six of us to go free.”
“What?” Pope pushes.
“The deal was for not only my freedom from the Cosa Nostra but for the four of yours and Carnage’s.” My answer is met with fucking crickets. No one moves or utters a single word for a minute but my gaze is locked on Halo.
“You made a deal to save my twin. Why the fuck would you do that?” The anger is crystal fucking clear in Halo’s tone.
“Because your brother was my best friend, Halo. Carnage wasn’t always a piece of shit. He was good but the more time he spent with that vapid bitch, she corrupted him.”
“He was always fucked up. He still thinks we killed our father. None of us put the hit out on him. Roberto De Santis was murdered by the Vatel family.” When I say nothing, Omen narrows his eyes and pushes on. “He wasn’t taken out by a rival family, was he?”
I blow out a loud exhale and shake my head. “No, he wasn’t.”
The four of them lose it. They all start shouting and Halo goes as far as throwing one of the dining chairs across the room, shattering it against the wall. I say nothing. I stand here and take the hate and shade they throw at me, knowing I deserve it. They hated their father but it doesn’t mean they wanted him dead. Only one of their siblings did and she is the one who gained everything while they lost their family.
“Who did it and don’t fucking lie to us, Alex.” Vatican’s tone is firm and unyielding. The four of them stand shoulder to shoulder staring at me expectantly.
“I did. I killed your father and helped Desire take over the De Santis family.”