15. Chapter 15
Chapter 15
Hazen
M y fingers tighten around the balcony railing of Freya’s new bedroom.
The last ray of sunlight bounces off the water, reflecting into my eyes.
After a few days of negotiations, the old tenants moved out of this place—and now it’s mine.
I feel free here, away from my father’s house, his hold over me, and the place that holds so many unsettling memories for me and my brothers.
Having my own place is a step in the right direction—it means more independence away from him.
A space for me, Gage, Lucas, and Freya.
It’s still on the same street as Lucas’s, and Gage’s place is just down the road.
All I ever wanted was my father’s approval, for him to be proud of me, and now I don’t know that I’ll ever have that.
But do I still really want it?
Ever since Dad left the meeting the other night, guilt has churned in my gut.
He messaged me, telling me he was disappointed, and that there was still time to turn things around.
But we want different things.
He says the councilors will never help us with our new plans for Daringhood.
What if he’s right?
What if the way we’re doing things is destined to fail?
All we can do is try.
Thinking of Freya, the life she’s led, reminds me of that.
We’ve been training our whole lives for this, when we’d be in power, and now we’re lining up our own connections for allies outside of Daring.
Dominic always had his favorites and the people he worked with, but we want to expand, change things up.
I hate that I still want him to be proud of me.
I don’t want to be the son that waits for his father’s approval, to be told I’ve been a good boy.
Although I don’t want to believe my father is a threat, I know him; he won’t give up that easily, and I won’t wait to be stabbed in the back.
I want to be one step ahead of him.
I’ve got Brax watching Dominic, keeping eyes on him around town, but Dad hasn’t made any moves yet.
The meeting is approaching, and I still have no idea if this is going to work.
Half of The Brotherhood is on board with an attempt at more equality and less bloodshed, but the other half—those who are more loyal to my father than us—aren’t in favor of change or loosening the power hold.
I get it.
It would be hard to get behind young blood coming in and taking over under these circumstances, but they should know better than to question us and our authority.
They might need reminding of that.
My phone vibrates from the table behind me.
I grab it and find a text from Freya, saying she’ll be a little late to the meeting, but she doesn’t give a reason.
I reply with a simple okay and shove the phone into my pants pocket.
I have no idea why she still insists on staying at her mother’s place when she’s welcome to stay on this side of the tracks.
I won’t push her because I know she won’t listen.
She has to want to do it herself, which I respect.
Her room’s almost ready here, and I can’t wait to show her.
I’ve just picked out her bathtub, and some soldiers are here installing it.
A car door slams shut, followed by voices carrying through the air.
I lean over the balcony as the last of the sun sets over the ocean.
Lucas and Gage are head to head, yelling at each other.
Gage shoves Lucas, and he falls back into his car.
Oh shit.
Not waiting for them to beat the shit out of each other, I head back through Freya’s bedroom, then down the hallway and stairs.
Fists are getting thrown.
I come to a stop between them, my hands on both their chests.
Lucas has blood dripping from his lip, and Gage is glaring at him with so much anger.
“What the fuck?” I ask, staring at Gage with an eyebrow raised.
Lucas pushes against my hand on his chest, and I hold him in place.
“I just saw him with Mia, looking a bit too cozy.” Gage’s eyes narrow and Lucas scoffs.
“Where?” I ask.
“It wasn’t even like that.”
“Well, what was it like, then? Because if I hear you’re fucking her—” I shake my head with a look of disgust, and he rolls his eyes.
“The sooner you’re done fucking yourself up, the better.” Gage takes a step back.
“We have a job to do, in case you didn’t notice.”
“I’ll be done when I’m good and ready. You don’t know what it’s like. I’m dealing in the only way I know how.”
“What, by turning your back on the one girl you’ve ever given your heart to?” Gage huffs out a derisive laugh, and Lucas breathes loudly through his nose.
His eyes glass over slightly before he blinks and they harden once more.
“She broke my fucking heart the second she took my parents from me,” Lucas says so quietly, I think I might have imagined it.
My hand drops from his chest and I step back, giving him space.
“You know as well as I do that she didn’t mean to kill your mother. She protected herself, and your mother killed your father,” I say, and Lucas remains silent.
His gaze is stuck to the ground.
“Yeah, well, whatever. It still fucking hurts,” he finally says.
Gage releases a heavy breath.
“I’m sorry. I just hate seeing you like this. You look like shit, and we’re supposed to be leading our brothers with pride, not pity.”
Lucas wipes his bottom lip with his thumb, taking away the blood.
“I know.”
Gage doesn’t respond, and it’s clear that whatever just happened between them needed to, so we can start fresh.
Maybe this is the turning point for Lucas.
Maybe this is what he needs to start moving on.
Gage is right.
We can’t afford to fall apart now, when so much is weighing on our shoulders.
If we fall, then the whole Brotherhood falls alongside us.
I won’t let that happen, not when it’s our time to shine—with or without my father’s backing.
“Let’s go. We’ve got a meeting to hold,” I say, moving toward the garage and checking over my shoulder to make sure Lucas follows.
Though he’s fucked up, we need him; we need to show united leadership.
One of the guards opens the door as Gage and Lucas follow closely behind me.
The lights automatically switch on, and the hair on the back of my neck stands on end.
Something isn’t right.
I scan the room, but nothing seems out of place, except the tires of all my cars are slashed with large holes.
I grab my gun from its holder on my hip and look back at Gage and Lucas.
Gage already has his pointed at the nearest Beamer.
but Lucas runs his hands over his legs, then shrugs, coming up empty-handed.
Ignoring his incompetence, I move silently through the garage, checking every corner, and once we’ve done a full sweep, it’s clear there’s no one else in here.
I shove my gun back into its holster and check over each car.
The tires are slashed, but nothing else.
“What the fuck?” Lucas spits out, running his fingers over the cut on my newest car, a Bugatti Tourbillon.
Anger boils deep inside me.
“Blake!” I scream, and one of the soldiers comes running in.
“Yes, boss?”
“Find out who the fuck broke into my garage. Check the cameras,” I yell and reach into my pocket for my phone.
It’s ten past seven, and we are now fucking late.
I hit the call button on Zeke’s name.
“We’re going to be a few minutes behind schedule. Hold the fort until we’re there.” I hang up, not giving him a second to reply.
“You’re driving,” I say to Gage and walk out of the garage, heading straight for Gage’s car.
I slam the passenger door shut once I’m in my seat.
“Who the fuck would do that?” Lucas asks.
“No fucking idea, but we’ll find out soon enough.”
“Where’s your father?” Lucas asks.
“Tires slashed—could it have been him?”
I shake my head.
“Not his style. Wouldn’t wanna break a sweat. Plus, Brax has been following him. He would have known.”
My father wants revenge.
He wants his Brotherhood back, but slashing tires would be below him.
If he didn’t want us to attend the meeting, he’d be the type to shoot first, not slash tires.
“The list of people that it could be is a mile long,” Gage says.
“From those who support Dominic to Dominic himself, and of course the fucking hood rats we’re trying to fucking help right now.”
“But would they be stupid enough to do it?” Lucas asks as we pull to a stop in front of town hall, and he jumps out of the back seat.
Gage and I follow him.
The parking lot is packed with a mixture of cars, some shiny and some old bombs, and it’s not hard to see that the majority are from our side of the tracks.
Samson, Zeke, and a couple of other Brotherhood members are standing in front of the hall, waiting for us.
I move in to step beside Lucas and Gage and spot Freya walking toward us from across the parking lot.
My stomach drops and my shoulders tense.
Her face is full of emotion and she’s looking down at her feet, a million miles away.
Without warning, a thunderous boom cuts through the stillness.
What the fuck?
The scent of burning wood fills the air as the town hall is consumed by flames.
Freya disappears, and in the chaos, I’m flung backward, crashing onto the hard ground, pain shooting through my back.
My ears ring so loud before everything goes up in smoke.