Chapter Twenty-Nine #2
Core operations. Distributors. Enforcers.
Informants. Three other states. He didn't list those things the way you'd list an inheritance you'd just been handed—with the particular uncertainty of someone reading from someone else's ledger.
He listed them the way you list things you know by heart.
The way Xaden rattles off his men's positions in a building he's never been inside.
The way you talk about something you built yourself, piece by piece, until the architecture of it is inside you.
His network.
I have been so focused on what Masen took from me that I haven't once stopped to look at what he built while I wasn't watching.
I came back to Somerset looking for the brother I lost and found a stranger, and I assumed the stranger was new.
I assumed grief and my father's corruption reshaped him into something I didn't recognize.
But you can't describe two hundred people across three states with that kind of precision unless you've been managing them for years.
The stranger isn't new.
The stranger is just the version of him I was never allowed to see.
I look at my brother across the table and something cold and clarifying moves through me.
How long have I not known him?
“Two hundred,” I repeat numbly.
‘The Kellar Cartel is extensive,” Masen says, his voice carefully neutral. “Dad spent decades building it. Creating networks. Securing loyalty. It's not just Somerset, it extends to three other states.”
“Jesus Christ, you've been running all of it,” I say. “Since you were seventeen.”
“Yes.”
“While playing hockey. While pretending to be normal.”
“Yes.”
I stare at him, trying to reconcile the brother I thought I knew with this stranger in front of me.
“How?” The word comes out broken. “How did you—how could you—”
“Practice,” he says simply. “Compartmentalization. Dad trained me well.”
“Dad turned you into a criminal,” I correct harshly.
“Dad gave me purpose,” Masen shoots back. “Gave me power. Gave me something to build when everything else was falling apart.”
“You killed four people and Dad gave you an empire as a consolation prize?” My voice rises. “Is that what you're telling me?”
“No.” His voice hardens. “I killed four people and Dad gave me a way to make it mean something. To use the guilt and the pain to build something bigger than myself.”
“That's fucked up,” I breathe.
“Yeah.” He looks away. “It is.”
Silence stretches between us, heavy and uncomfortable.
“Tomorrow night,” I finally say. “When the men show up. What are you going to tell them?”
Masen looks back at me, and something shifts in his expression.
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“On whether you're willing to stand beside me,” he says carefully. “Dad's dead. The cartel needs leadership or it falls apart. I'm the second, but I'm compromised. I need someone the men will respect. Someone with the Kellar name who can help me maintain control.”
My blood runs cold. “You want me to help you run Dad's empire?”
“I want you to help me keep it from tearing itself apart,” he corrects. “There's a difference.”
“I don't know anything about running a cartel!”
“You don't have to run it,” he says. “You just have to be visible. To show the men that the Kellar family is still united. Still strong.”
“We're not united!” I shout. “You let Dad lock me in Walter House! You killed my best friend! We're not family anymore!”
“Then what are we?” he challenges. “What do you think happens if the cartel falls apart? If the power vacuum creates a war that kills dozens? Hundreds?”
“That's not my problem!”
“It became your problem the moment you walked into Walter House to get me,” Masen says harshly.
“The moment you decided to extract Dad's intel. You're in this whether you like it or not. Don’t fucking act like this isn’t what you wanted. I know you want to go to war against your boyfriend to prove you are strong enough to beat him, I’m giving you the fucking weapon you need! ”
“Stop saying that!” I shout, standing abruptly. “Stop acting like I chose this! I didn't choose any of this!”
“None of us chose what we got,” Masen says, his voice rising to match mine. “But here we are. And we have to deal with it.”
“By making me stand in front of two hundred criminals and pretend everything is fine?” My voice cracks.
“By giving us a fucking chance to survive,” he corrects. “Look, I'm not asking you to become a crime boss. I'm not asking you to make decisions or give orders. I'm just asking you to show up. To let the men see that the Kellar family still exists. That's it.”
I want to say no.
Want to tell him to go to hell, that I'm done with him and this family and everything they represent.
But I can't.
Because he's right about one thing—if the cartel falls apart, innocent people will die.
And I can't have that on my conscience.
Not on top of everything else.
“I need to think,” I say, my voice shaking. “I need—I can't make this decision right now.”
“Fair enough,” Masen says. “But tomorrow night, those men will be at the house expecting answers. Expecting leadership. And if we don't give it to them, things are going to get very ugly, very fast. You can’t cut the head off the snake and not replace it, there always has to be a leader and it’s better to be a Kellar in the power seat rather than a Devlin. ”
The threat isn't subtle.
The words hit like physical blows because they're true.
I am in this.
Deep. Irrevocably.
He’s speaking the truth and hearing it out loud—
“We're done for tonight,” Carn says firmly, his hand going to my lower back.
Halo steps forward and gestures for Masen to follow him. My brother stands slowly, his eyes never leaving mine.
“I know you hate me right now,” he says quietly. “And you have every right to. But I meant what I said, we're still family. And I'm trying to protect you the only way I know how.”
“You and Dad dragged me into this!” I snap bitterly.
“I’m trying to keep you alive,” he corrects. “Because if the cartel falls and the wrong people take over, you're a target. You and that baby. And I won't let that happen.”
The words send a chill down my spine.
“Is that a threat?” Carnage growls.
“It's a fact,” Masen says, looking at him. “Toren is Steven Kellar's daughter. She knows things. Has access to things. The moment the cartel destabilizes, every rival organization in three states is going to come looking for her. The fact she is pregnant with a Devlin makes it worse.”
“Then we protect her,” Carnage says flatly.
“With what?” Masen challenges. “The Denver Kings? They're powerful, but they're not prepared for the kind of war that's coming if this empire collapses. You want to keep her safe? Help me keep the cartel stable.”
“Get out,” I say, my voice hollow. “Just... get out.”
Masen looks like he wants to say more, but Halo physically turns him toward the door and walks him out.
The moment they're gone, my legs give out.
Carnage catches me before I hit the floor, lowering us both to the sofa.
“He's lying,” I whisper. “He has to be lying about me being a target. About the baby—”
“I don't think he is,” Carnage says quietly, and the honesty in his voice makes me want to scream.
“So what?” My voice breaks. “I'm supposed to just stand beside him tomorrow night? Pretend I'm okay with everything he's done? Pretend the Kellar family is fine?”