Chapter 38 Kingston
Kingston
In my family’s estate, there are three floors with an array of bedrooms spread throughout.
When my dad died, I took over the master suite, but only because it was expected of me.
In the bathroom that connects to his bedroom––my bedroom––I forcefully scrub my hands with a bar of soap.
After my first kill, my father warned me it wouldn’t get any easier.
And even though I didn’t pull the trigger this time, Marty’s blood is still on my hands.
But without his death, there would be so many more.
Besides, he chose to take on the Romano family. And that was a fatal mistake.
Rinsing the suds off, I grab a towel and dry my hands. After replacing it on the rack, I unbutton my white dress shirt, one loophole at a time before gliding it down my shoulders and tossing it in the hamper.
Reggie isn’t answering his fucking phone. I don’t know how else to reach Ace, but I saw the results from the tournament. She won. I’m so damn proud and shocked she pulled it off in the first place. Pulling out my phone, I reread the last text from Reggie.
Reggie: At the diner. Eating eggs. No threats.
Rubbing my hand across my face, I head to the bedroom in hopes of getting some sleep when a loud knock pounds against my door.
With furrowed brows, I open it to see Stefan’s ghostly complexion.
“What is it?”
“Regina’s missing.”
My fingers dig into the doorjamb in hopes of it keeping me grounded as I see the remorse shining in his eyes. There’s no way. We talked. I told her she needed to stay home. This isn’t possible. She has to be here somewhere. We just need to look.
“What do you mean she’s missing?” I argue. “She’s been here the whole night.”
With a shake of his head, an apologetic Stefan continues, “No, sir. She snuck out. I checked the GPS on her phone, but it only led me down the block before I found her cell in the bushes. She’s gone.”
She disobeyed my orders. I’m terrified. Pissed. Frustrated. And so many other emotions I can’t even comprehend them all.
What the hell were you thinking, Regina?
“Fuck!” I yell as I tug on the roots of my hair with so much force I’m sure they’ll fall out in seconds.
I have to fix this. Storming out of my room in nothing but a pair of black slacks, I head down the hall to the security room.
The door is usually locked as a precaution, but Lou must already be aware of the situation because the door is propped open, ready for my entrance.
Computer keyboard in hand, Lou’s prepped and ready to help.
“Pull up the feed from tonight. I want to see everything,” I order.
“Yes, sir.” Lou starts tapping away until he finds what I’m looking for and starts displaying the videos on the screens that line the walls.
When I see Regina hidden in the shadows on one of the televisions, I point to it. “There.” Lou resumes his typing, blowing up the video and playing it in slow motion.
I watch as my baby sister sneaks out the front door without a backward glance before moseying down the driveway then turning left. That’s it. That’s all I’m given.
“Do we have any footage of where we found her phone?” I grit out. My tone is like steel.
Clearing his throat, Lou shakes his head. “Sorry Boss, but we don’t have shit. We’ll find something, though. I’m going to keep looking.”
I open my mouth to voice another question when I hear the slamming of heavy footsteps in the hallway coming closer.
Diece appears in the doorway, almost out of breath as he says, “Your office phone is ringing.”
With sweaty palms, I sprint to my office on the first floor, taking the stairs two at a time before throwing open the door and answering the call.
“Yeah?” Quietly, I calm my breathing as I wait for a response. There are only a handful of people who know this number, and Regina’s one of them.
“Kingston?” a feminine voice crackles through the speaker, but it sounds forced.
A second ticks by as I try to register who I’m talking to.
“Ace?”
She’s not who I was expecting, but something feels off.
“Um. Yeah. Yeah, it’s me.”
Her labored response sets off the warning bells in my head.
“What’s wrong?”
Silence.
“Ace, talk to me.”
If it were anyone else on the other end of the line, I’d hang up and go searching for my sister, but it’s Ace. And she doesn’t sound right. My senses are on high alert, knowing something is wrong.
“I didn’t know who else to call,” she confides.
“Talk to me. Now.”
I hear a soft sniffle before her raspy voice echoes through the speaker. “One of Burlone’s men came to see me—”
“What’d he do?” I cut her off because the possibilities are made of nightmares.
I need to find out how much she knows, and who’s going to pay for hurting her.
This call pushes me over the edge, and my grip tightens against the phone until I’m sure the plastic will crack from the pressure.
My chest tightens as I wait for her response.
The sooner I have names, the sooner I can slice their skin from their pathetic bodies. Inch. By inch.
She sniffs again but doesn’t reply.
I check the time on my wristwatch and keep my tone even as I ask, “Where are you, Ace? I’m going to send someone to come get you.”
With a soft whimper, she says, “Yeah. Um...I think that might be good. I’m uh, I’m at the liquor store by my apartment. On the corner of—”
“I know the one,” I interrupt. “Be there in ten.”
Hanging up the phone, I bark my orders to Diece who seems to have followed me.
“Where the hell’s Reggie?”
I don’t know why I bother to ask; I already know the answer.
D forces a swallow. “His phone is dead.”
“Fuck!” I scream, finally snapping and hitting my fist against the desk. Reggie’s dead. I have no doubt in my mind, though it makes my stomach churn to think about it. Death might be a relatively common occurrence in my world, but it doesn’t get any easier when it’s my own family.
Reggie. Ace. Regina. What started out as a successful night just turned catastrophic, and I don’t know if I’m strong enough to carry the weight of it all. Then I remember who I am.
I’m the only one who can.
“Send someone to track him down with the GPS on his phone. If they find a body, have them call in the clean-up crew.” He nods as I continue, “And I need you to go pick up Ace. Now.”
A brief rap of his knuckles against my desk is all I get before he disappears down the hallway and to the garage. How the hell did everything get so screwed up?
And how am I going to fix it all?