Chapter 24 #2
“I think Satori is up to something…and I think he has been for a long time.” He turns back to me with fear and anger dancing in his eyes.
“I was wondering, after the attack in Seattle, why the hell Dust didn’t just finish us off.
If they found not only our base there, but also in Texas, they could’ve easily found us at our secondary spot, but it just sort of…
stopped.” Kade starts pacing the living room, bouncing his eyes to different spots on the floor like he’s piecing it all together.
“And Satori’s immediate reaction was to join up with you?
A small team dealing with local druggies?
He didn’t have much interest when you first reached out, but suddenly, it seemed like a good idea?
Satori’s not one to give up any of his power, and he certainly isn’t one to say he’s been bested. ”
“He said it was your idea?” Ashia cuts in. Her tone is shocked and a little disbelieving, much like my confusion. I don’t remember that topic in any of our conversations, but there’s no telling what they spoke about while I was away. Kade stops in his tracks and focuses on her.
“No. It wasn't.”
“Get to the God damn point, Kade! If Satori is up to something, what is it?” Carter yells, his neck taut with rage. Ashia sinks into me, like she’s also putting the pieces together, and my body starts to hum.
“Satori’s been helping Avery…” Zeke mutters, slouching back against the chair.
I can almost see the steam and fireworks billow out of his ears from how hard his brain is working.
I can’t say that mine is any different. There’s a lot of unknowns about what has happened, and plenty that we don’t understand.
For a while, we’ve felt that something was missing.
This fills those holes almost perfectly.
“Why the fuck would he do that?” Carter asks. “What connection does he even have with him?”
“I don’t think there was any prior connection…but after they all but wiped us out, something changed…” Kade clicks his teeth again. “I believe Satori made a deal with Avery and Hugo… Leave Sahara alone, and we stay out of the way.”
“But what does that have to with us?” Alex cuts in.
“As I said, Satori isn’t one to give up.”
“He wanted to rebuild with Devil’s Hands…
” Ashia whispers, thankfully loud enough for us to hear.
Those words shift into place, matching the missing pieces perfectly.
Everything comes together in a hellacious storm, brewing a hurricane in both my mind and body.
I’m not sure I can grip her any tighter, but a part of me needs to.
I know that I’m going to lose it, and she’ll be the only thing that stops that from happening.
“Please!” Zeke yells. “There’s no way in hell that Satori fucking Macher was stupid enough to think D would just hand that shit over to him!”
“That’s why he wanted me gone…” I speak up. “That’s why they all needed me gone… They knew I’d never stop.”
“That would explain why the logs at the Attic were fucked, and how the security here let someone into the house without notifying us…” Carter adds. “He was preaching for days that you had left on your own—that you just abandoned us. We knew he was full of shit, but now it makes even more sense…”
“Okay, but that begs the question of why not just kill him?” Alex asks and gestures to me. “Instead of staging this elaborate plan, why not just shoot him in the fucking head?”
“They did try to kill him,” Carter reveals. “When Ash was poisoned, remember? We’ve always thought they were after Damien instead.”
“Then the warehouse explosion,” Zeke butts in.
“But that didn’t work, so they had to improvise, and that’s why Hugo took her…
” He nudges his head towards his sister.
“He wanted Damien to disperse the drugs and boost Avery’s voting odds.
That would’ve tarnished D’s reputation—we never would’ve been able to get that drug under control if that had happened. ”
“Satori would’ve looked like the savior.” Kade’s tone is disgusted.
“Okay, but even after all of that? I mean, Alex makes a good point,” my wife adds.
“DeLuca…” I choke. “She was obsessed with my dad because of what he did to them… She wanted our family to pay. She wanted me, and it got me out of the way… That would’ve killed two birds with one stone.”
DeLuca’s use of that analogy plays through my head, making me shiver.
“Okay, well that worked. They had you. What the hell was Satori expecting?” Alex stands up angrily.
“Well, that answers something else. There’s one thing Satori didn't account for…” Kade points to Ashia. “Her.”
My breath stalls. The heat that’s been building under my skin rushes to my heart, beating so fiercely that it seizes.
“What do you mean?” she asks.
“He’s a misogynistic asshole. He didn’t think you’d actually run DH, but the men highly respect you. So, when you proved that you could handle operating the organization, it fucked up Satori’s plans. He knew there was no way they would take you out of it or side with him instead.”
“That does explain the bomb in your car,” Zeke points out, and I snap.
“Wait, just fucking stop!” I try to catch my breath, but each inhale burns more than the last. “So, what you’re saying is that Satori fucking Macher is the one that messed with our security…
from the beginning? He’s the one that’s watched our every move?
” I’m shaking so erratically that I can feel my bones jitter.
Mania is coursing through my veins, sending electricity to every limb.
“He let that piece of shit in to poison my wife… He told Hugo who our moles were? He set up that fucking trap?” My mouth trembles in rage, chattering my teeth in an overstimulating sensation. “He told Hugo how to kidnap my wife?”
I explode without another thought. My movements aren’t my own, and the darkness comes back in an instant.
Before I realize what’s happening, I’m across the room and in front of Kade, gripping his throat in my grasp.
He isn’t little anymore. I lift him with one hand and push him against the picture windows, pressing my gun into his temple so harshly that it will probably bruise.
He must be at least six inches off the floor, because I’m now eye-level with him and practically spitting in his face.
“He’s been a part of everything?!”
“I didn’t know, D!” He chokes out, gasping for air like a desperate fish.
“I swear to God! I didn’t know! I knew Satori was unstable after the attack, but nothing like this!
I swear!” He coughs, and the skin bobbing under my grasp spurs me on.
I tighten my grip, absorbing his pulse and allowing it to feed my own.
His nails start to claw at my skin, scratching my arms deeply, but I barely feel it.
He can say he didn’t know all he wants, but there had to have been some idea. Kade has worked for Satori for years, practically been his lapdog. He rejected working for me to stay with him, and now look at what’s happened…
I let them in. I gave them a place here.
Rage locks my grip, and I barely notice how red Kade’s face turns through my crimson haze.
Muffled screams ghost over my ears, but I can only hear my heart hammering.
My mind turns dark and clouded, returning to a hole I thought I had closed.
Whispers hiss between each heartbeat, sneaking their way back in.
Traitor…