Chapter 41
The air in my father’s study smelled of stale cigars and resentment. He sat behind his massive mahogany desk, which reflected light from the single lamp. I stood before him, my fists clenched at my sides. I was still treading carefully considering how pissed he was at me.
“This is insane, Father,” I began, my voice low but firm.
“I recognize the drug route is a major benefit to us. That we need the pipeline to increase profits. I just told you what intel I got last night, and you are still willing to marry Rhea to that . . . that destroyer? It’s a betrayal to our family. ”
He leaned back, steepling his fingers. “Betrayal? Gavriel, you speak of family loyalty as if it’s some precious notion.”
“It is the foundation of everything we are!” I retorted, my voice rising slightly. “Rhea deserves more than to be a pawn in some power play. Even more so after the man she loved died.”
A cold smile played on his lips. “A pawn? She’s securing our future, solidifying our position, as is her duty in this family.
Joel's death was necessary. He violated the trust we had put in him, defiled your sister, and you stand there and defend him? The Juarez alliance is invaluable. Sentimentality is a luxury we cannot afford.”
“But you heard him yourself during our meeting with him. He plans on breaking her!” I took a deep breath.
I had to keep it together so that he wouldn’t kill me on the spot.
If I were dead, I couldn’t keep her safe.
I’d seen the fear in her eyes, the way she’d flinched at the mention of his name.
“You're throwing her to the wolves! The cartel will shred her to pieces. Do you care for her so little?”
He waved a dismissive hand. "She'll learn. She’ll adapt. This family demands sacrifice.”
“Sacrifice? You call this a sacrifice? Sacrifice is letting the FBI have a shipment because you are bringing a larger one in somewhere else. This is your fucking daughter. You’re obliterating her happiness, her very soul, all for your ambition!
” The words felt like venom as I spat each syllable, heavy with accusation.
His eyes hardened. “This isn’t some romantic novel, Gavriel. This is business. The Juarez family controls over half of the drug trade through the California border. This marriage is a strategic move, a safeguard against our rivals. You understand this, don't you?”
“I understand the brutality of this world, Father. I’ve dealt it firsthand.
But I also understand compassion. And you’re devoid of it.
” I knew I was pushing boundaries, gambling my own position within the family.
But the image of Rhea with Juarez was a reality I was trying to stop.
“I also understand as Don Azzaro, there may not be a need for it; however, when it comes to Rhea, your own daugh—”
He slammed his fist on the desk, the sound echoing in the silent room. “You dare question my decisions? You, who are barely trusted to run a single club? You, who have fumbled so many shipments and movements lately? My heir?”
“I still believe in something beyond power grabs and bloody alliances!” I retorted, my voice unwavering. I tried not to flinch at the words, balling my fists tighter, my nails digging into my palms. “I believe in loyalty, yes, but loyalty to family also means protecting them, not exploiting them.”
He stared at me, his gaze intense, a storm brewing behind his eyes. The weight of his silence was crushing. Finally, he spoke, his voice low and dangerous. “This isn't a game.”
I met his gaze, unflinching. "No. It's your daughter's life."
His jaw worked back and forth before he lifted his chin. "You disappoint me, Gavriel."
"How so?" I kept my voice neutral, though I knew exactly what was coming.
He turned, his grey eyes cold as steel. "Your weakness is becoming a liability. You’re distracted."
"She's not a weakness."
"Everything you care about is a weakness." He moved to his desk, opening a drawer to withdraw a file. "I've tolerated your . . . dalliance because it kept you occupied. Even if you fucked up shipments. It’s gone too far now, talon. It threatens our arrangement with Juarez."
He tossed the file onto the desk. I didn't need to open it to know what it contained—surveillance photos of Elin and me, details of our relationship, perhaps even transcripts of conversations. My father's reach was extensive.
"End it," he said simply. "Or I will."
The threat hung in the air between us, heavy with history. I thought of Joel, of my father's gun against his head, of the heart I'd been forced to cut from his chest. The fact that my father, the man before me, had agreed and sanctioned the attack against Rhea just a few days ago . . .
My attention stayed on the folder on the desk. "No."
The word dropped like a stone into still water.
"What did you say?" My father's voice was dangerously soft.
"I said no." I straightened, meeting his gaze without flinching. "I won't end things with Elin. And Rhea won't marry Juarez."
My father's laugh was cold and brittle. "You think you have a choice? That either of you do?"
"I'm making a choice now." I stepped closer to his desk, slamming my hands flat. "You've controlled us, manipulated us, sacrificed us for your ambitions. No more."
He recoiled just the slightest bit as he stammered, "Y-you ungrateful—"
"You killed Joel all because he loved Rhea and she loved him.
Because he interfered with your plans for her.
You made me cut out his heart to traumatize her into submission.
" My voice remained steady even as rage coursed through me.
" You pressed a gun to my temple and swore you'd paint the walls with my brains if another shipment vanished.
Well, every single one has arrived intact.
Even the ones where you switched drivers at the last minute.
Even the ones where you gave me warehouse locations crawling with DEA.
Even the ones where your own men were ordered to hijack the cargo.
I delivered. Every. Fucking. Time. All while still maintaining my relationship with Elin Perkins.
" I leaned my palms against his desk, bringing us face-to-face.
"I'm done having you try to control my private life as well.”
For a moment, we were locked in a power struggle that had been decades in the making. Then his eyes narrowed as he calculated. "You would choose that whore over your own blood?"
The words were designed to wound, to provoke me into making a mistake. Instead, they crystallized my resolve.
"I choose love over fear. Something you never understood." I stepped back. "Rhea won't marry Juarez. Elin won't be harmed. And if you try to force either of those outcomes . . ."
I let the threat hang unfinished. We both knew what I was capable of.
My father’s expression shifted from rage to something more dangerous—cold scheming.
"You think you can defy me and walk away?" He moved around the desk, circling me like the predator he'd always been. "You think your little rebellion means anything? I built this empire with blood and bone. I won't let my own son destroy it."
I stepped closer, my voice dropping to a whisper that could cut glass. "Then we have a fucking problem, Father. One that ends with someone bleeding out on this floor."
My father closed the distance, close enough that I could see the flecks of gold in his dark eyes—eyes I'd inherited, though I hoped not the cruelty behind them. “You are my talon, and you will come to heel, Gavriel Azzaro.”
“Not on this.”
He took two steps back, pulling his gun and pointing it right at my chest. I stood there unmoving, chin held high as I stared him down.
Something told me that he wouldn’t pull the trigger.
Maybe it was the death grip he was trying to have on me or the fact I was his sole heir to the family.
I didn’t know. The longer I stared him down, the more I saw questioning in his eyes.
My Goddess will take care and protect Rhea if this goes wrong.
Taking a step toward him, I pressed the barrel of the gun to my chest. My father flinched, as I gave him a hard stare and lifted my eyebrow at him in question.
Pull it, fucker. I dare you.
Instead, he lowered the gun, and I let a slow breath out.
His gaze met mine and there was a flash of confusion and fear before he locked it down, regaining his bravado.
His voice was hard as he commanded, “You will come to heel. You will be at every meeting with Juarez until after the wedding. Is that clear?”
“I’ll think about it.” Turning on my heel, I strode out of his office, needing to get out of this place before I actually got shot.
I pushed through the front doors into the afternoon sunlight, breathing deeply of air that suddenly tasted like freedom.
After sliding in behind the wheel of my car, I pulled out my phone and dialed Harley.
"Time’s up," I said when he answered. "Gather the men we can trust. We're going to need them."
"How bad is it?" I could hear the worry in his voice, but also the dedication that he had to me and not my father.
"Bad enough. And Harley?"
“Yeah?”
"I'm finally done being afraid of him."
As I roared down the driveway away from the villa, I thought of Elin waiting for me, of Rhea, of all the people my father would sacrifice for his ambitions.
The Owl’s Talon was becoming something else entirely.
And God help anyone who stood in my way.
The dead never talked, but Ricky Mendez was willing to make an exception for me.
It might have helped that I had him tied to a chair and had already attached a car battery to his nipples and drenched his chest with water.
Little fucker had been trying to sell their bottom-grade shrooms in our territory.
Juarez’s people had been here just a few days and they were already trying to act like this was all theirs.