Chapter 22
CHAPTER 22
CARTER
P lanning Charlie’s funeral during a war where the opposing family has no fucking morals is hard, but we get it done. Unlike for anyone else that dies in our families, especially the inner circle, we throw them an extravagant send off, no expenses spared. The city is shut down, no illegal dealings done to honor the dead. But with the Fensters god knows where, we can’t afford to do anything like that.
The funeral we hold for Charlie St. Clair the next week is intimate, with only his immediate circle and ours in attendance. We have his service graveside, and we don’t stay longer than thirty minutes. I think Kai appreciated not being there for long, since he’s still conflicted on how he feels about his dad.
I arranged everything so Kai wouldn’t have to. It was more than Charlie deserved. If it were up to me, I would have tossed his ass in a ditch and let the birds have at him, but that would have hurt Kai. I’d cut off my right arm before allowing him to be hurt.
The family has a cemetery and Charlie already paid for his plot, but we knew the Fensters would expect us to bury him there. Kai suggested we keep his body on ice and wait until the war was over to lay him to rest, but none of us knew how long that would be. So, we buried him outside the city with plans to exhume him when everything settles down.
Now we’re sitting in his home office, going over all the financial reports on his legal businesses. Charlie was in the hole close to eleven million dollars, a large sum when I know he makes more than that moving drugs and guns. What the fuck was he spending all that money on?
Kai grunts as I look over his shoulder, shuffling through paperwork for The Reef Casino, their largest holding. “He was behind on his taxes for the past five years. Wanna know how much it was?”
“Tell me,” I say, scanning over another set of paperwork for his house and all the bills.
“Eleven million dollars. Wanna know how much my construction company is worth?”
I already know the answer to that. Now it all makes sense. Charlie’s disparaging comments about the construction company not being profitable, suggesting that Kai sign it over to him. He probably planned to sell it to the highest bidder to cover his back taxes.
Kai shakes his head. “Pop was a fucking cunt.”
I bark a laugh, not expecting his comment. “He was something.”
“Maybe I should let it fail. Let it go back on the market and someone else can have that headache.”
“Is that what you want?” I lean against the desk and cross my arms.
He stares off into space, quiet for a few breaths. Sighing, he shakes his head, pushing his fingers through his hair. “No. I just don’t have eleven million dollars on hand to fucking pay this bill.”
Shrugging, I say, “I do.” Kai looks at me sharply. “What? I do. Dad put me in charge of our drug sales when I was eighteen. I have about five times that squirreled away. I can give it to you.”
He narrows his eyes at me, studying my face. “You can loan it to me. And I’ll pay back every cent. With interest.”
Smiling, I bend to plant my lips on his. “Whatever you want, pretty baby.”
As they always do, Kai’s cheeks redden when I call him pretty. I run my fingers over the heated flesh, then kiss him once more.
Kai exhales roughly when I release him. “At least we’re not completely broke. We have product that we’re delivering to our contacts in DC. That’ll bring in a few million. Everything else is tied up in these shitty investments he made.”
“Pull it all out. You’ll be at a loss, but you can rebuild and reinvest when you have more money. I can help you there. The only saving grace is Charlie kept good faith with your coke, heroin and weapons customers. You’ll make back any money Charlie pissed away.”
Even though he nods, I can see the apprehension clearly on his face. Fucking Charlie. If the cocksucker wasn’t dead, I’d kill him all over again for the shit he put Kai through.
Turning his chair around, I kneel between his legs and look up at him, hoping he reads the sincerity on my face. “You can do it, Kai. You’re smart enough. You’re driven enough. You’re good enough. Don’t ever doubt that.”
Kai smiles at me and nods. He leans forward to give me a kiss but stops short with raised voices reach our ears. “The hell?” he asks distractedly, trying to hear what’s going on.
I pause as well, straining to make out the words, but the door is shut, and the shouting seems to be coming from the foyer. Eyebrows scrunched, I go to the door and pull it open, sticking my head into the hallway.
There are St. Clair’s and Whitlocks milling around the house in honor of Charlie. Most of them here couldn’t make it to the service because of the small crowd we had. They either offered Kai their condolences or pledged that they’d follow him just as they did Charlie. Kai takes this all in stride, as we’ve already been in the position as heads of the family. I wanted to cut the tongue out of the mouth of every man that utters some shit about following Kai now . But again, I controlled my temper so I wouldn’t upset Kai.
With the door open, the voices become clearer and I recognize one of them as Declan. I look back at Kai, who has a bewildered look on his face. “It’s my brother. The fuck is going on?”
Coming from his seat at the desk, Kai follows me downstairs. When we hit the bottom step, the scene before me doesn’t make sense. One of Charlie’s guards is in Declan’s face, shouting at him at the top of his lungs. Declan’s face is contorted in anger, but he doesn’t try to defend himself.
“And if you fucking say anything,” the guard yells, spittle flying from his mouth, “I’ll say you’re a fucking liar because you are. Fucking Whitlocks?—”
Whatever else he wanted to say is cut off when Declan pulls out a blade from his sleeve and buries it in the man’s neck. The man falls to the ground and Declan follows him down, burying the knife in his eye.
“Declan, what the fuck?” I run over and pull him off. I grab his blood-soaked hands and hold them at his side. “What the fuck?” I repeat.
“He fucking deserved it,” Declan says in a sharp voice.
Kai steps over to the man and kicks at his feet, his face set in a hard mask. “Because he was talking shit about your family?” He looks up at Declan, his eyes hard. “That’s no reason?—”
Declan pulls out of my arms, whirling around to look at me. “He was going to kill you. That’s why I fucking offed him.”
My head snaps back. “Kill me? What are you going on about?”
“I heard him on the phone, telling someone he’d cut your brakes to make it look like an accident. I listened first, used my head like you told me. I heard him.”
“Do you have proof?” Kai asks.
“Proof?” Declan’s face scrunches up as if he’s never heard the word before. “I just fucking told you I heard him. Check his phone. Ask the person he just talked to.”
Kai does just that, calling the number. A woman answers the phone. “Who is this?” Kai barks into the phone.
“Uh, Whitney.” She sounds young, not like someone that just listened to someone threaten to kill me. “Who is this?”
“Who’s number is this?”
“I think his name is Diego. I don’t know. He called to make an appointment for his daughter to get her nails done.”
Declan’s face clouds with rage and he tries to snatch the phone from Kai. “You’re a fucking liar!” he shouts.
“Look, what is this about?” Whitney asks, but Kai hangs up.
“You can’t just kill people that talk shit to you, Declan,” Kai says.
“Oh, fuck you, Kai! I didn’t just kill him because he talked shit to me.” He pushes Kai in the chest, and I see red.
Reaching out, I grab Declan by the back of his jacket and slam him against the wall, putting my hand to his throat. Declan’s eyes grow wide when I apply pressure. “Do not touch my fucking husband.”
The hurt that flashes in his eyes sends a fissure through me, but Kai is my world. Declan needs to control himself.
My brother pushes me off, rubbing at his throat, leaving a mark of blood behind. “You’re taking his side over mine?”
“I’m taking the side of what the fucking evidence says,” I counter. “You’re a fucking hot head, ready to kill at the drop of a hat.”
“And it’s saved your fucking life more times than I can count!” he shouts. By now, we’ve gathered a crowd, some listening to the drama, others cleaning up the body in the middle of the floor.
Declan shakes his head, gliding a bloodied hand through his hair. “You know what? Fuck you, Carter. And fuck you too, Kai. I’m not wrong. I just hope neither of you is in a fucking pine box when you figure it out.” With that, he brushes past me and Kai and heads to the door. Everyone gives him a wide berth, knowing Declan will kill them if they tried to stop him.
I curse, tugging at the ends of my hair. Declan and I have our issues, but we’ve never had a blow up like that. I know he’s going to be pissed at me for a while since I took Kai’s side over his.
But come on, did he really expect me to let him push my husband around? Kai can more than take care of himself, but I know he wouldn’t have because of me. Declan was dead ass wrong, and he knows it.
“Fucking disperse,” Kai says to those still standing around, gawking. “The fucking show is over.” He snaps his fingers, stopping two men. “Get a bucket and fucking clean this shit up,” he says, pointing to the blood on the floor.
Not wanting to be around anyone right now, I turn on my heels and storm outside to the back patio. I draw in a deep breath as soon as I step outside, the chilly air filling my lungs. The cool autumn breeze drifts over me, ruffling my hair.
I put my hands on my hips and look up at the sky. Declan is a hot head, and he knows it, but he’s gotten better. After that shit he pulled with the Reyes family, he hasn’t been off the rails. Even the kill when Kai and I announced our new standings in our families was necessary, not something done on a whim. What happened this time? Was it because of the shit with the Fensters? The stress of it all?
No, that can’t be it. Declan doesn’t get stressed. When he has to be, he’s calm under pressure. What triggered this shit today?
Even though I’m pissed at Declan and the shit he just pulled, I smile at the presence at my back.
Kai’s warm hand lands on the small of my back, the weight settling my thoughts. “You okay?”
“I will be. You?”
He steps in front of me, an eyebrow raised. “You know I can take care of myself, right?”
I nod. “I know. I’m sorry. I just…I don’t like anyone touching you.”
“That’s how I feel about you. But next time, let me handle it. I wouldn’t have hit him,” he says quickly, “but I could have handled it.”
Again, I say, “I know. It won’t happen again.”
Kai runs a trembling hand through his hair. It’s only then that I focus on the dark circles under his eyes and the tiredness swimming in his gaze. He’s fucking beat. I thumb at the purple bruises, a pang going through my chest as I look upon his face. He needs me. I need to take care of him.
Kicking myself for not paying him the attention he needs, I entwine our fingers and walk backward with him. “Let’s go home and watch a movie. You need to relax. Security is heightened, so you don’t have to worry that we’re not safe.”
“Thanks, babe.” Even his words sound exhausted.
“Anything for you, pretty baby.”