7. Forever
FOREVER
The drive from Cannon Towers to the Everwood Group’s headquarters in the university district felt long even though traffic was clear. I tapped the steering wheel to the beat of the consistent thrum in my head.
He’d noticed that I was hurting, and the way he asked made me feel funny, like I was about to be exposed as too weak to handle the job.
I could tell he was plotting on me. Not just because he’d said it the first time we spoke, either. It was something about today that solidified the statement about getting me to switch sides.
By the time I got to Midtown where the Everwood Group’s headquarters and my office were, I made up my mind to kill Demetrius after the gala in two days. Even if I never got the answers I was looking for about this contract, he had to go.
What I hadn’t planned for was the slap that spun me off my axis the second I walked through my office door.
My father didn’t do anything halfway, not even when it came to sneaking up on me. I stumbled but kept my balance. Years of forced gymnastics training and competitions made my balance impeccable. It’d take more than an unexpected slap to get me off my feet.
“Those used to hurt much worse,” I said, spitting blood at his feet as I pulled the gun from my waist and pointed it at him. “You’re getting old and weak. Have you been to the doctor lately?”
Whenever my father didn’t get his way, he resorted to violence. And he didn’t discriminate or show favoritism.
Anybody could get hit.
I learned to take it, but could never just let it ride like Kai. Me and shutting the fuck up didn’t mesh.
I’d gotten my temper from Eliel James, and he hated it.
“Do you think chasing down the Carroway killer gives you permission to back out of the marriage alliance?”
He pressed his chest against the barrel.
I tugged the safety back and smiled at the twitch in his brow. We both knew I wouldn’t pull the trigger; the minute I did, the society would stop at nothing to end me.
“Permission?” I questioned, licking the cut in my lip. “I outrank you, Eliel.”
“You think you’re smarter than me, don’t you?”
Every muscle in my body wanted to prove a point.
“Hit me again and find out how smart I can be.”
He ignored my request and let out a nasty laugh, one filled with promise and consequences.
“You’ve lost the plot, Forever. But don’t worry, I’ll help you find it again. Marrying Jayden is non-negotiable. Either I walk or drag you down the aisle, your choice.”
The only way he’d be dragging me was in a body bag.
“Wrong place and time,” Carmen said as she pushed the door open and took in the scene. “Forever, put the gun down.”
My father moved back with a smirk on his face as I lowered my arm and tucked the pistol.
“Listen to your assistant. She knows what’s up.”
The fuck did that mean?
Then he stepped up again, close enough that I could smell the liquor on his breath.
Muthafucka had the nerve to drink from my stash while waiting.
“I’ll take all of this from you with the snap of my finger,” he whispered. “The broker delegates. Give the Cannon contract to someone else and focus on this alliance.”
He left, letting the command hang in the air as if it were final. Like I had to listen or else.
I snorted and perched up at the edge of my desk.
Fuck him.
Carmen didn’t say anything right away, but I felt her gaze on me as she grabbed a paper towel and pressed it into my hand.
I dabbed the blood dripping from my lip, pissed off knowing the cut there wouldn’t be healed before the gala.
“I don’t understand this change in you,” Carmen said after a while, now sitting on the arm of the couch across the room. “Eliel isn’t wrong. This job is barely yours. He can take it with one phone call, and we both know you don’t want that.”
She wasn’t wrong.
Being the Broker gave me more freedom than most. And while I did outrank my father on the surface, under it, he had way more pull within the society.
“Why do you keep doing this? You could just let it ride. Take the easy jobs and hand off the rest. Play the long game. But instead—”
I looked up, and she shut up fast.
“Because he won’t ever let me go,” I said, choosing honesty. “Not even if I do everything right. The only way to live is rebelliously.”
Carmen stood and walked toward me.
“He cares about you, you know,” she said. “He just doesn’t know how to show it.”
“That’s not caring. That’s ownership.”
She shrugged and walked toward the door, pulling it open but lingering in the opening.
“Maybe. But it’s the only thing you’ll ever get from him, so you might as well use it wisely. Be grateful you aren’t being auctioned off instead.”
Be grateful?
The door clicked shut behind her, and I closed my eyes. My fingers brushed the butt of my gun, and I slipped it from my waist.
Dying would be better than this, I thought, putting it to my temple.
The silence was so loud as I waited for the urge to awaken within me.
Do it, Forever.
You can’t be controlled if you’re dead.
Carmen returned at the right time.
“What the fuck, Forever,” she shouted, rushing over to snatch the heavy metal from my hand.
I tossed my head back and laughed.
“I wasn’t going to do it,” I told her, smiling wide. “Where’s the thumb drive I gave you?”
She nodded, eyes still wide as she held it up.
“That’s what I went to get.”
“Plug it into the monitor.”
I’d used it to download whatever was on Echo’s hard drive in his office today while he was gone. Luckily, it’d finished before he returned and caught me, but not in enough time for me to sneak out.
I was being reckless for no reason at all.
Carmen tucked my gun and shuffled over to the free-standing monitor, slipped the drive into the USB slot, and waited. The screen blinked once, then loaded up a beautiful string of nothing. Zero fucking files.
“Knew it,” I mumbled. “He only pretends to be careless. Everything’s probably locked away somewhere on that compound.”
Carmen huffed, arms crossed.
“Let me kill him. Easy peasy.”
“You scared they’ll fire you if I get benched?” I asked, tipping my head.
I wasn’t sure if she was more worried about me or herself.
“I couldn’t care less about being fired. I’m trying to understand what you want from breaking the alliance?”
The migraine settled behind my eyes, and I walked around my desk to sit.
“What I want is to not have my head feel like it’s being split open daily. You wouldn’t understand, and I’m not about to keep explaining myself. Remember your position in all this.”
I closed my eyes.
“Right,” she mumbled. “My position is standing behind you at all times. Understood, boss.”
I opened one eye, then the other.
“Once you wrap your stubborn mind around the fact that I’d rather die than marry that man, we’ll be on the same page. I’m not built for a velvet cage, never have been.”
We sat in the tension for a second, but eventually I moved on. She would never get it, and it wasn’t my job to make her.
As long as Carmen didn’t cross me, she was useful.
“I need more on Demetrius,” I said. “Don’t care if you have to finesse it from his brother, find something and do it fast.”
She looked as if she wanted to argue, but nodded instead.
“You got it, boss .”
I left the office altogether, knowing full well Carmen would be working late, digging up as much as she could on Demetrius.
No matter how she felt, I was indeed the boss. And until my father made good on his word, because he would, what the fuck I said goes.
I made it to my car in time to miss the sky opening up on my fresh twist-out. The rain pelted my windshield, and not even the wiper blades were doing enough. But I made it home and out of the storm safely, only to find Kai rummaging through my pantry in the dark.
“Who gave you a key?”
At least he’d had the decency to leave the lights off and blackout curtains closed.
“Swiped it from your mother,” he said, turning empty-handed. “There’s no real food in here.”
I dropped my bag on the living room floor.
“The goal is to keep you, and everybody else we share a last name with, out. What do you want? I’m in a bad mood and will put you down if you piss me off.”
He raised his palms, the key to my place dangling from his big ass paws. My brother had a defensive lineman’s physique with the agility of a running back. He’d always been quick on his feet and not just in the physical sense.
I saw the bargain coming before he opened his mouth.
“I got some valuable intel for you,” he mused, dropping his hands and leaning against the counter. “But I need something in return.”
I shrugged.
“Depends on the intel.”
“I know who killed Jeremiah.”
He pulled a folded piece of paper from inside his hoodie pocket.
“You know how I move, sis. My intel is always solid, and I know deep down you’d kill for this. It’ll only cost you one favor. Not now, but when I call for it, you’ll answer. No questions asked.”
I walked toward and stopped in front of him, slipping the paper from his hand. Doing a blind favor was the least of my worries.
And whatever Kai was up to didn’t matter either. We all had our agendas and his had always been very different than mine.
“Deal,” I agreed, locking eyes with him to seal it.
In this family, you never committed to something without looking the person in the eye.
“Source?” I asked, already unfolding it. “Word?”
The name written was unexpected but didn’t surprise me for reasons I didn’t have.
I looked up to find my baby brother smirking.
“All signs lead back to him. Might as well kill two birds with one stone, right?”
He reached out suddenly and gripped my chin.
“Did Eliel do this to you?”
Licking my lips, I relished in the sting that followed before knocking his hand away.
“Yup. Nothing new except he hits like a bitch now…” I turned and started toward my bedroom. “Leave the key on the counter on your way out. Thanks for the intel.”
Demetrius. Demetrius.
What the fuck are you up to?