Chapter Thirty-One
Pacino
Tanner’s shock at seeing me relieves me. It means he’s not involved.
“Where are they?”
He just shakes his head and moves to sit on the couch in the living room. The multiple men wearing matching leather kuttes doesn’t faze him, and he just looks up at me.
“He’s dying, Tuck.”
Sooner than you both think.
“I don’t give a fuck. Where are Father and Ryan?”
“I don’t know.”
“The fuck you don’t. Either you tell me where they have my girl, or so help me God, I’ll kill you, too.”
His eyes widen. “Your girl?”
Father walks into the room from the hallway and smiles, a clear tube over his nose and around his ears as he rolls an oxygen tank behind him. “Tucker. What a lovely surprise.”
For a man I always remember as being larger than life, he looks unbelievably frail. Nothing about the man standing before me looks remotely threatening or intimidating.
He’s lost at least fifty pounds, and he looks older than his sixty-four years. I always thought he’d survive everything. After the nuclear attacks, it’d just be him and cockroaches left standing.
“Where is she?”
“Do you really think we’d keep her here?” Ryan asks, walking up behind Father.
I just glare as I remember what he said. Home. Yeah, she’s fucking here. “If you give her back to me, I’ll let Ryan live.”
“You’re lying,” Ryan says with a laugh.
“Through my fucking teeth.”
“Good thing we already killed her, then.”
Flashes of Phoebe dead in my arms like Joanna sends me into a blind rage.
I lunge at my brother, grab him, and slam him into the brick of the fireplace.
His temple hits the mantle, and I can’t stop myself.
Holding both sides of his head, I continue to bash his head into the stone ledge over and over.
Each hit gives a gratifying crack as the fight in him dies.
At first, he claws at my arms, trying to push me away. But it doesn’t take long before he becomes nothing but dead weight in my hands, his eyes open and staring at me. Disbelieving I’d do something like this.
“He never could take me in a fight,” I spit out, releasing him and letting him fall to the ground.
My youngest brother’s blood streaks down the fireplace, and what’s left pools on the ground beneath him. He’s dead, and I’m happy about it.
“What have you done?” Father cries.
“Teaching him a lesson he should’ve learned the last time he went after someone I love.” Turning to Tanner, he just gapes at me. “You’ve always been the peacemaker. The middle brother. But if you helped them in any way, I will do the same to you.”
“You killed your brother!” Father cries, stumbling as he crouches down to touch Ryan’s head.
“Where the fuck is Phoebe?” I ask. “I’m not asking you again.”
“You killed your brother!”
Chuckling, I shake my head. “You said you wanted me home. This is what happens when you force my hand. You did this.”
The outrage disappears, and he uses his oxygen tank stand to straighten up. “You look ridiculous in that leather vest.”
“Tell me where she is, and I’ll make sure your death is quick.”
Another lie. His death will be slow and painful. He doesn’t know it’s already been decided. He’s done.
And I don’t owe him a goddamn thing.
“You think my men will allow you to touch me?”
Such a cocky motherfucker. “They let me kill Ryan.”
“Sir, look around,” Jethro says. “Where the fuck do you think your men are?”
His eyes widen as he looks around. “What have you done?”
“What I should’ve done when you killed Jo. You don’t realize it, but my men have actually been here for a while, Dad. While I was talking with John and the commission.”
Zep tosses him scraps of what used to be crisp white button up shirts—the required uniform of men employed by Father—now stained rust red with blood. “All your men are dead.”
To my father’s credit, he still stands with a look of defiance. “You’ll regret—”
“The fuck he will,” Capone says.
Father’s eyes widen. “Gino? Is that you?”
“Tanner,” he says, ignoring Father, “you have a decision to make.”
Shocked, Tanner stands. “Wh-what’s that?”
“When we got the green like to off your father and brother, there was discussion about the family. About you. You can take over your father’s position as head of the family, or you can die with him. Your choice.”
“If you kill him, his death will be avenged.”
Tanner doesn’t sound angry. He sounds defeated. It’s obvious Father and Ryan haven’t gotten easier to deal with, and he’s always been the outsider. The one who wasn’t quite groomed for this life.
I’m the oldest and strongest. I was supposed to take over. Ryan had love for the life. Tanner was just kind of… there.
“The commission sanctioned it. There will be no avenging,” John says, walking up to stand beside me.
Joanna’s father looks beyond ready to get revenge for her death.
“Tucker fought for you not to die, but if you don’t accept these terms, they’ve given the order to kill you and dismantle what’s left of this fucking organization. ”
Glancing between me and Father, he licks his lips. “Okay.”
“Okay, what?”
“I’ll take over.”
“No retaliation.”
He nods. “Understood.”
“Tanner!” Father cries out.
“What’d you expect?” John asks. “Your oldest wants your blood, your youngest is dead, and the one you’ve never cared about doesn’t want to fall on the sword with you.”
Joanna’s brothers walk in around us, my guys parting to let them through, and they grab our father by his arms and legs. The expression in his eyes reads as fear, and it only fuels my desire to make him suffer.
“You won’t let them kill your father, Tucker. You can’t. That’s never been in your blood.”
“Um, he just killed his own brother,” Zep says. “Are you sure you really want to test that theory right now?”
“You like to kill people I care about. I’ve changed, Father. And you caused this. Everything that’s happened today is your fault.”
“Phoebe and I had a nice little chat,” he calls out as they begin to carry him away.
I hold my hand up. “Stop! What the fuck did you say to her? And where the fuck is she?”
The triumphal smirk makes me clench my fists at my sides. “I told her how she’s not your type. And she told me you’re using her just to fuck her.”
“Bullshit.”
“Swear to God. Now that I think about it, I guess you really aren’t the man I remember. The Tucker I knew would never have fucked a hooker, either, but I guess you’ve turned out more like your old man than you thought.”
Phoebe believes I’m using her? We already talked about how she’s not temporary. And I promised I’m not going to throw her to the curb once this is over. I can’t.
Fuck. I know I should have told her I loved her before now. That this love is bigger and more intense than anything I’ve had before. But I thought she felt there was more than just fucking between us.
Or maybe Father’s twisting everything like he always does. He loves to piss me off. Always has. “I’m nothing like you. Never have been and never will be.”
“She said you can’t love her because you can’t let go of Joanna. She seemed so sad when she said you wouldn’t even miss her. Guess we broke you, huh?”
“Is she alive or not?” I ask through clenched teeth.
“Get them to let me go, and I’ll tell you.”
This is getting me nowhere, and he’s buying time. If he and Ryan hurt her, she may need medical attention. The longer he stalls, the greater the chance that she’ll be dead when I finally find her.
Assuming she’s not already dead.
Nodding, I let Joanna’s brothers carry him away. He kicks and fights as much as he can, and I want to tell them to let him go. Let me lock him in a room with nothing but a hard floor and take the fucking oxygen tank away. See how long he lasts.
Hell, I could set up a camera to watch. It would be a drawn-out and painful death to slowly suffocate. Exactly what he deserves.
“I have to find Phoebe,” I say to Zep and Capone.