Chapter 5
Chapter Five
NOAH
Robert storms into my office in the morning, flinging the door open, not even sparing it a glance as the knob puts a new hole in my wall.
I just had the last one fucking patched.
Leaning forward, Robert slams his hands on my desk. "You want to tell me what the fuck you're doing, holding another Lynde hostage? You told me that you were going to be leaving Miami, and now I find out that you showed up with her yesterday afternoon?"
"You'll be surprised to know that she wasn't happy and tried to attack me shortly after we got here." Reaching forward, I grab the letter opener from the pen cup on the corner of my desk.
Robert's face turns a bright shade of red. "You don't know what game you're playing."
Slamming the blade into his hand, I drive the sharp point through to the table.
He screams, hissing as he draws the letter opener out of his hand and tosses it to the side.
I lean back in my chair, crossing my arms. "Now maybe next time you'll remember who the fuck you're talking to instead of disrespecting me like I'm another one of your little soldiers."
His face pales, the gears in his head turning. Then he sits down in the chair across from me, wrapping his hand in the end of his shirt. "What's the plan with her?"
"Oh, do you suddenly remember who you work for?"
Robert sighs, wincing when he jostles his hand the wrong way. "Look, the Lynde numbers are growing by the day, and ours keep dwindling. There's talk of one of the men rising against you, but I haven't been able to get a name out of them yet."
"It's not your job to question me, and you know it. As for what I'm doing with her, she's part of the plan." I roll my shoulder back, letting out some of the tension.
He leans back and crosses one leg over the other, glancing around the room like he's not sure someone isn't going to pop out and kill him. Though Robert's been more paranoid than normal, he's always been suspicious of me. It's the way we were raised.
I was the one good at everything. The one Dad wanted to run the family when he was gone. Robert was the product of an affair with a prostitute. Sure, Dad took him in and had him raised with me, but all our lives it's been clear that Robert's the spare. And with good reason.
He's never excelled in the more...gruesome aspects of our family business. Sure, he's okay with numbers, better at charming contractors than I am, but everything else about him is subpar.
And he knows it.
Our uncle never made a point of hiding it. Dad certainly didn't either.
Everything since we've been children has been a rivalry.
I eye him for a moment, torn about how much I can tell him. After my half-sisters turned against me, as well as their cousin, family isn't as loyal as I thought it once was.
Robert's stuck by my side for this long, though.
He scrubs his good hand down his face, the dark circles beneath his eyes only seeming to get darker as he sits there. "I think we should cut our losses with New York. Pick up and move to Chicago. Take your people with us and get the hell out of here before the Lyndes go nuclear."
"Scared of them?"
He scoffs and shakes his head, a hard look entering his eyes. "You know I'm not."
"Well, then, stop acting like a little bitch. We have business to handle, and if you're going to be my second, I can't have you running scared of the fucking Lyndes. They're nothing. They might have the numbers, but we're smarter than them, and we have better connections."
"We don't." Robert gives me a flat look. "We're working on getting better connections, but none of the other groups in the area want to touch us."
"You think the Lyndes are behind that?"
Robert gets up and pulls his shirt away from his hand, looking at the wound. As if to prove his point, he holds his hand up. "I think you're starting to look unstable."
That's not my being unstable, though. I've never felt more in control than I do right now. If he learned to watch his fucking mouth and stopped testing me all the time, he wouldn't have gotten the letter opener through his hand.
He's never going to open his eyes and see that, though.
Robert goes to the cabinet on the other side of the room and pulls out the first-aid kit.
He starts disinfecting his hand, looking at the stab wound like he still can't believe it happened.
"Chicago. I really think you should consider it, if nothing else than to humor the idea of expanding territory after you win New York. "
He's trying to manipulate me into seeing things his way.
Little does he know I've already been thinking about the possibilities of Chicago, and while I don't think it's a bad idea—after all, there are ports and major shipping routes that run through it—but there's the matter of both Ohio and Indiana in the way first.
What Robert wants is for me to just give up on New York completely, and I can't do that.
Robert stuffs some gauze in the wound, packing it to get the bleeding to stop until he can see the doctor. "Chicago would be good for us. It wouldn't be New York, of course, but you could build something better there."
"And what do you suggest I do with everything I've built here?" I lean forward and clasp my hands together on the desk.
He shrugs and sits back down. "Keep it, strike a deal, and let whoever survives the Lyndes have it."
I glance out the window at the sprawling grounds, several soldiers walking back and forth in front of the shimmering water in the distance. "I'm not going to let everything our family built go to shit. And to think that you would is just further proof that Dad was right to name me as the heir."
Robert stiffens, his glare becoming cold, just like I knew it would.
Dad is always a touchy subject when it comes to Robert, and if there's one way to set him on edge and get him to slip up, it's to bring up his inadequacies in the eyes of our father.
"We wouldn't have to worry about the trucks and state lines like we do here."
I roll my eyes. "The only reason we worry about them now is that anyone who was willing to ship to the ports here pulled out when the Lyndes took full control of all of them."
"Which is why we need to start thinking about what comes after this."
I eye him, wondering how idiotic he thinks I am. "Don't you think I've already taken that into consideration? Don't you think I thought about Chicago and what it looks like if I sent you there to take control?"
"Then why haven't you? We wouldn't have to worry about this war with the Lyndes if you were willing to expand into other states."
It's time to flatter him. He's off-guard and irritated now, thinking more about the issues between us and Dad than he is about me keeping him under my thumb.
"I can't have you over in Chicago. You're the only one I trust right now.
You're the one I need here to help me take New York.
" I get up and pace to the window, opening it up and letting in some of the fresh spring air.
"Your idea to go to Chicago has merit, and when we get through this, I'll allow you to be the one to establish the family there, after all you've done here. "
Robert grins, the greed in his eyes shining bright. "You mean it?"
"I couldn't do this without you." I lean back against the wall beside the window, crossing my arms. "Now, how's the auction coming?"
"Set for a couple of weeks from now. Shouldn't be too long. I'll have an exact date once the warehouse is acquired. Most of the women are already organized, though, and word of mouth is getting around like it always does."
Nodding, I glance back outside. If I could go out there and spend the rest of the day on the water, I would. I'd rather be on a boat in the middle of the ocean than dealing with this shit right now.
"The warehouse might need a little grease." Robert winces as he puts the first-aid kit away, banging his hand on the door a little.
It'd be wrong to say I get satisfaction out of his pain, but I do. He deserves it for making my life more complicated all the time.
Right now, we're in the fight for our lives, and he's thinking about picking up and moving elsewhere.
On top of the drama with the Lyndes, there's still business as usual: trafficking, drugs, arms. All of it still needs attention while he's trying to tuck his tail between his legs and run like hell for the hills.
I take out my knife and flick it open, picking out a spot of dirt from beneath my nail. "This auction needs to go off without a hitch. No attacks. Everything has to go smoothly if we want to prove to our allies that we still have power in New York."
Robert nods, heading for the door. "I know.
We've arranged for the liquor vendors, and there's going to be some world-famous chef doing the catering for the event.
It's going to be in a warehouse, but we're going to make sure this is a luxury event.
People are going to want to be there, and they're going to know you're the one who arranged it all. "
"Good." I watch him as he stands in the doorway, swallowing hard like there's something else he wants to say but is about to chicken out again.
I need to get a better second. One who isn't going to be shitting himself every time he has to tell me something I don't want to hear.
Jace was the perfect second when he was alive. He'd tell the truth and wouldn't mince words. He was what Robert should've strived to be, but Robert's never had the spine for this.
I sigh and stalk over to him. "You get sweaty and red when there's something you don't want to tell me. Maybe you should consider spitting it out before I have to hear it from someone else."
"We found a spy."
I swap the button-down for an old band tee. One that I don't mind getting covered in blood and maybe a little brain matter.
As I stand outside the door to the spy's cell, I consider abandoning him and going to toy with Summer more. She was so wet yesterday, her pussy soaking my fingers. God, how would it feel to sink myself into her? What would her pussy feel like milking my cock when she comes?
I could spend time buried in her before I put her to use. I could take videos of us together and send them to Aiden. Nothing would bother him quite like seeing his sister scream for the orgasms I could give her. Begging for them.
The door to the cell opens, a man bound to the chair in the middle.
He lifts his head, eyes bruised and nose crooked. When he swallows hard, there's a flicker of fear in his eyes.
"Hello, little spy. I hear you like to talk." I motion for the door to be shut behind me.
Summer is going to have to wait. The man in front of me is begging to be beaten until he's an inch from death.
And like the devil tormenting those he drags down below, I'm going to make this slow and painful. Those surrounding me are going to think twice about double-crossing me.
After I'm done, I might go get those screaming orgasms, but right now, the spy's screams as I cut off his finger are going to have to be enough.