Chapter 10
Ten
Tinsley
I lay there after Andre left, just staring at the wall, trying to process what I had learned and what I had done. I never thought I would be able to actually kill someone, let alone my own brother. Does this make me just like him?
A soft knock on the door brings me out of my musing. “Come in.”
Stepping through the door is an older woman with a knowing smile. “Hi love, I’m nurse Tina and I’m here to check on you and baby. Do you think you’re up for it?”
Something about the woman reminds me of my mother—warm and welcoming with an edge of badass that takes no shit and won’t put up with shit.
“That would be wonderful. Thank you so much.” I roll onto my back to give her the room to work.
She comes over, sitting on the edge of the bed, pulling a heart Doppler out of one pocket and her stethoscope out of her other one. Miss Tina does all her checks looking at me, smiling wide. “Are you ready to hear that baby of yours?”
“So ready,” I smile.
Miss Tina takes the Doppler and moves it around over my belly until she finds what we’re both looking for. The sound of my baby's heartbeat fills the surrounding room, strong and steady.
“Sounds perfect to me. Now, I was informed that Sir Silas and yourself are close and that you could help me on his hard days.” She moves around, tucking me in.
“In saying that, I also know that until Christmas morning you’re on bedrest so we can be sure that your little one stays nice and tucked where they belong. ”
“Can I tell you something weird?” I blurt out.
Miss Tina turns to me, placing her hands on her hips. “You can tell me whatever you want, and I get to decide if I find it weird or not.”
Chuckling, I sit up and then twist my hands in my blanket. “I want to give you a big hug. You remind me of my mom so much, and she always gave the best hugs.”
“Oh, sweet girl.” Miss Tina sighs, sitting on the edge of the bed, and then pulls me into the best hug I’ve had in so long. “Anytime you need a hug, all you have to do is ask.”
“Thank you so much,” I breathe into her shoulder.
She squeezes me tightly before letting me go. “Now you lay back and rest. The food should be here any—” A solid set of knocks on the door cut her off. “It’s right there.”
Miss Tina stands, then goes to the door and pulls it open to find one of the kitchen staff standing there with a tray of food. They speak quietly for a moment before Tina takes the food and closes the door. She brings the food over, setting it on the side of the bed.
“Alrighty, make sure you eat your food and get some rest. Mr. Andre will be back when he’s done with his meeting.”
I reach out and grab her hand. “Thank you so much, Miss Tina. This really means so much to me.”
She pats the back of my hand. “Anytime, love. I’m going to be here for a long time making sure that you, tiny baby, and Mr. Silas are all happy and healthy.”
“Andre finally found the perfect person for us,” I smile wider, meaning it.
Miss Tina winks at me before she leaves. After looking around, I get excited because I find a TV remote. Not seeing a TV anywhere, I simply point the remote, pressing the power button. I nearly spill my entire lunch when I jump as the TV rises from the end of the bed.
“Holy shit, I thought we had money,” I mumble under my breath, finding one of my shows and then tucking into my food.
I sigh when I’m done eating and place the tray on the nightstand beside me.
Lying back on the bed, I curl up under the blanket and relax.
Somewhere between one commercial and the next, I pass out.
I wake with a start, not sure what woke me.
Looking around the room for what it could have been, I go tense when I see a shadow standing over me beside the bed.
They stand there just watching me, not saying anything for so long that I wonder if I’ve finally cracked and am now seeing things.
Sitting up, I watch the figure still standing there. “Hello?”
The shadow turns and bolts out of the room and through another door.
Yeah, nope! I will not be staying in the room alone anymore, and to be honest, the need to see Andre is strong and leading.
Padding across the room and out the door, I make my way through the house, still marveling at all the Christmas decorations I see in the home.
The house has been transformed into one of those Hallmark Christmas movie sets, and I’m so in love with it.
My foot hits the ground floor, and one of Andre’s men steps out of the shadows.
“Are you okay, Miss Reeves?” He looks me over as he asks this question.
“I’m doing okay, just looking for Andre,” I tell him.
“He is still in his office speaking with your brother. Is there anything I can do for you?” He looks around nervously.
“No, that’s okay. I’ll go find him. Thank you for all your help.” I give him a grateful smile and wave as I walk away from him.
I slowly pad down the hallway, finding more and more magical wonders until I reach the hallway leading to the men’s offices, and then there isn’t a single decoration. The door to his office is closed, and I take a deep breath before knocking.
“Enter,” Andre calls out.
Nerves settle over me as I turn the doorknob and step into the room. His eyes instantly go from hard Don to soft Andre as soon as he sees it’s me standing there. Kingston turns my way, looking older and more tired than I ever remember him being.
Andre stands and then comes to me. “Are you okay, Tesoro?”
“I just needed to see you,” I tell him nervously.
“All you have to do is ask,” he tells me, pulling me into his chest.
I let out a long breath and relax into him. Andre bends down and sweeps me up into his arms, carrying me over to the chair across from Kingston, where he sits with me in his lap. My brother watches us with a thoughtful look on his face.
“Does he make you happy?” Kingston finally asks.
“We’ve got a lot to talk about and figure out, but I think I’m exactly where I want and need to be,” I answer honestly.
“What does your grandfather think about this? The Kardoni and Reeves families haven’t been friendly for a very long time,” Kingston states, leaning back on the couch with his glass hanging from his fingers.
“Luckily, my grandfather has taken a liking to her, and she is one of the few people he recognizes when his mind slips. Meaning the Kardoni’s are good to go. What will the great Reeves family have to say about it?”
“Considering I’m one of the only true Reeves left, I would say you’re cleared on our side as long as you treat her right and take care of her like she deserves,” Kingston answers him.
Andre just gives him a nod, rubbing his hand up and down the outside of my thigh. “Tesoro, we’ve finished our deal, and now that the families will be related by blood, there is no changing it. You asked to speak with your brother before he left. Would you still like to do so?”
Sitting up, I turn to him. “King, why did you and father turn such a blind eye to Otis?”
Kings sits forward, his elbows on his knees. “Father didn’t know most of what Otis did or was doing.”
Sitting on Andre’s lap, my soul fills with anger.
“I told him. I told him about the nights he would sneak into my room while I was showering and changing. I told him every time Otis stalked my every move and climbed into bed with me at night. That’s bullshit, King.
He fucking knew and chose to continue to let it happen. ”
A bone-deep wariness seems to wrap its arms around Kingston’s shoulders. “I need you to listen to what I’m about to tell you, Tins. I need you to not interrupt or say anything until I’m done. Can you do that?”
I give him a deadpan look. “We both know I’m impulsive and rarely can stop the words before they pop out of my mouth, but I will do my best to just listen.”
Andre pulls me so that my back is against his chest and slides his hand under my shirt to lazily run his fingers along my lower belly.
“Father was never truly the leader of the Reeves family.” Kingston’s words ring out like a bomb thrown into the city center, blowing my entire belief system out of the water.
When I don’t say anything at his confession he continues, “Father had three brothers, one older and one younger than him. The older brother ran the family until he was killed. You see, our family, much like the Italians, is very traditional. When the leader of a family can no longer run the family, it is passed to the eldest son. If there isn’t an eldest son, it passes to the next brother in line.
So, father's oldest brother Marcus was running the family when father had me, and then because our grandfather was an asshole, he had another son about two years younger than me.”
I shake my head because this man isn’t making any sense at all. “King, you’re not making sense. I don’t understand.”
King sighs, leaning back on the couch, throwing his drink back before he tries again. “Ruler of the family, Grandfather Reeves. He had three sons: Marcus, Kingston, and Otis.”
“Are you telling me that Otis wasn’t our fucking brother but our uncle?” I’m shouting.
King nods. “Grandfather started losing his mind. Marcus was able to get him to step down and turn the family over to himself. Father didn’t care anything about running the family because he and Momma had just gotten married.
They had me, and about two years later a young woman showed up holding a crying child and claiming it was Grandfather's and that she wasn’t ready to be a mother.
Marcus, who was making very stupid and risky deals, made one with undercover feds, and they locked him up. ”
He stands and goes to fix himself a drink.
After drinking that one in one swallow, he pours another.
“That left Father to care for Otis. It was decided he would raise him as his own. Marcus was in prison, but he could still run the family from there, so Father was just the acting leader so that we had a face on the family. Five years later, here came our perfect doll. You were the best baby and Momma and Daddy’s obsession.
Father was getting ready to step away from the family, wanting to protect us children.
Marcus refused and instead had Father train Marcus’s son that he had at the ripe age of seventeen. ”
“That’s the moment the Kardonis decided that working with the Reeves’ was not a good idea,” Silas says as he comes through the door looking thoughtful.
“Deciding not to work with a family shouldn’t turn into the years-long cold war it did,” I mumble, my mind still reeling from the information that King has given us.
“That happened because on the night that your parents passed, they were coming to see me as I was going to help them get the information they needed to skip town with you and your brother.” Grandfather shakes his head sadly.
“You said brother, not brothers, so they were not going to bring Otis with them?” I ask, my brain running a thousand miles a minute.
“Yes. Brother,” Grandpa states firmly. “By the time they decided to leave, they knew exactly who and what Otis was. Your parents loved you so much and were doing everything they could to protect you.”
Tears are falling down my face. I miss them so much, and knowing everything I thought I knew was a lie leaves me completely shattered.
“The thing no one has ever known is that when Marcus was killed in prison and his son showed up to run things, Father still stayed the face of the family. The night that they died, it wasn’t just Mom and Dad in the car, but Marcus’s son as well.” King tells us, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Why was he with them if they were coming to get information for us to be able to run away?” I question him.