50. Vince
Vince
W ith Orion, Jacob, and Caspian properly fucked, I went to my office alone.
I’d lost track of the days passing when it came to life with the three of them, drawing a line across my father’s old paper desk calendar with the tip of my finger until I reached the proper date.
Time had definitely gotten away from me, but with the damage Vanessa had recently brought down onto my own fucking home, it was imperative for me to put my own wants aside and focus on my needs.
I needed Caspian to shoot me.
Needed to smoke Vanessa out of the woodwork.
Needed Orion to put a bullet in her head.
Needed Presley Moore to make his fucking move, and I needed Gideon and Fletcher to do what they did best.
Scheme.
The list of needs quickly overtook the wants in my life, which didn’t extend far beyond keeping three very different men very naked and in various states of use. Unfortunately, that wasn’t something I could enjoy until a handful of people were dead, so time was definitely of the essence.
The one thing I’d learned during the months I’d spent as head of the family had quickly shown me the most important way I was different from my father.
He was always surrounded by other people, but he’d been isolated.
The men around him were there because they were scared of him.
The men around me were here because they wanted to be, and that was an irreplaceable kind of loyalty.
It was the kind of loyalty that would get me out of this shit show alive.
I leaned back in my chair and called Fletcher.
“Angelini,” he greeted, amusement rich in his voice. “To what do I owe the displeasure?”
“It’s a business call.”
He sighed. “Always happy to entertain, but I need you to know if it involves any harm coming to Daren, it’s a non-starter.”
“It doesn’t.” I didn’t plan for it to, at least. I hoped none of the other parties involved would make a liar out of me. “I’m much more interested in his cousin at this point anyway.”
“Jacob Moore,” Fletcher teased. “The penitent priest.”
“If only it was as straightforward as blasphemy.”
He laughed at that. “Did you fuck him at the church? That’s bold, even for you. ”
“I bled out on the steps,” I reminded him. “The least I could do was get a blow job on the altar.”
“Let me know how that logic works out on Judgement Day.”
Scrubbing a hand down my face, I gave another look down at my calendar, at all the days that had passed without notice or care.
“Do you believe in that shit?” I asked him, sincerely interested in the answer.
“I don’t know what I believe. But I know that one life with Gideon isn’t enough, so there better be something for me when all of this is said and done.”
“Admirable,” I mused, knowing in my bones I would find Orion in every other life I found myself living. Knowing Jacob would end up alongside us, and Caspian too.
“I don’t think this is the business you called about, though.”
“No,” I agreed. “I assume you remember that my house was hit?”
He hummed his agreement.
“In the coming days, I’m going to…” I trailed off, suddenly unsure if I could trust Fletcher Sinclair.
“Disappear?” he guessed, after I’d gone too long without finishing the thought.
“There’s lots of reasons for me to die, Sinclair. I just want you to know that.”
On the other end of the line, Fletcher sucked in a sharp and surprised breath. I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the desk and catching my head in my hands.
“What are you…”
“There’s lots of reasons for me to die,” I repeated. “But if you think my time here is finished?—”
“I’d be mistaken,” he answered before I could.
“Exactly.” I traced my tongue across the front of my teeth. “I need…Daren.”
“I told you no.”
“That’s not what I meant,” I snapped, grimacing and rubbing an itch on the side of my neck. The office was cold, I realized, with no fire stoked against the far wall and Orion tucked safe in bed instead of kneeling at my feet.
Fletcher remained quiet on the other end of the line, but I could hear the growl building in the back of his throat. Or maybe it was Gideon beside him, ready to remind me how he’d earned his nickname.
“His father, his uncle…it’s time to chop all of these threats off at the head,” I said. “I need to know if the Mandevilles are also a threat. I’m not interested in dragging this out any longer.”
“Luca’s father has already pledged his loyalty to us,” he said, and relief rolled over me like a wave.
“Will it hold?”
“He knows what will happen if it doesn’t,” Fletcher said.
I imagined a double-patricide would have that effect on some people .
“Good. Would you just have Daren on alert? If he hears?—”
“If he hears anything, you’ll be the next to know. But, Vince…are you sure you can trust Jacob? He was, until very recently, in on the whole plan to have you murdered. Are you certain this isn’t part of the Moore plan?”
Fletcher understood enough of what was to come, I could trust him to make the right decisions and keep the right people safe.
The only thing left now was to act, and then wait.
I’d thought about the answer to Fletcher’s question more often than not, but there were things a man simply couldn’t fake, and the way Jacob looked at peace on his knees in front of me…
that was one of them. That knowledge aside, I appreciated Fletcher’s concern, and wondered if some day we might be…
friends. More than friends, but maybe not in the way he was more than friends with Daren Moore.
Just enough of friends to count when it mattered.
“I’m certain of his loyalties, Fletcher,” I answered, pushing away from my desk. I was suddenly tired and in desperate need of more sleep. “And don’t forget, everyone has their part to play in someone else’s plan until they realize the only thing stopping them from writing their own is themselves.”