Chapter 25 #2
And with all that information, we enforced where we wanted to. Now, though, my brothers wanted to pull back on that “You can’t just kill him. You’re getting fucking toxic with this app.”
I laughed. Yuri Walden had been the owner of the app before and he’d been the most toxic of them all. He’d allowed AI to practically relegate everyone on that app. That was toxic. I was responsible.
“Yuri admitted to using Oracle for his own devices, always. I’m doing better than that at least,” I growled but my frustration wasn’t with any of them.
I was trying to give Pink space and not be jealous while I did it.
I couldn’t kill the guy Pink was with, so I’d collected skull after skull in my office instead and I wanted more.
My outlets weren’t calming my rage though.
The violence in me kept building and building. “I want Yuri’s head on my shelf.”
“No. It was his app first and we’re doing the same damn thing. Plus, that fucker isn’t in our territory. He’s over on the East Coast.”
“So what?” I knew what. It meant we were meddling with syndicate and mob territories we didn’t own.
Yuri had too much money now to not be involved with them in some capacity.
The sale of the app was supposed to stay easy, but I couldn’t get over the admissions he’d made once I owned it especially when I found he was working on creating a new one.
“So, you know the cartel’s going to have a problem with it. And Jameson?”
“Knight, you can kiss my ass,” I grumbled because I’d take his head on a damn platter too.
“You’re itching for a fight,” Ezra said, but Jameson met my glare with a look of mischief.
“You want to go a round? I don’t mind giving a good beating.”
“I’m still waiting for you to give one to that man on the East Coast after he stole your wife.
” It was a low blow, but maybe a part of me hoped he would act on it.
Jameson was always a little too charming and a little too gracious when I wanted him to be vicious like the rest of us.
He had a damn syndicate in the Midwest to run, and he knew as well as I did that there came a time to be merciless rather than merciful.
Jameson sat back in one of the leather wing chairs, and I saw how a fury finally sparked in his gaze.
He sucked on his teeth before he responded quietly, “Careful, Bane. I won’t fight a man for a woman that’s not worth fighting for, but she’s still the mother of my child, and I’ll go to war for my child any fucking day. ”
Ezra interjected, “We know that, Jameson. Of course. We all love Franny.” He gave me a look, “What the fuck, man?”
“I never mean any harm to Franny,” I grumbled. “That’s a given, you asshole,” I told Jameson. Of course he had to take the fun out of our bickering by mentioning his daughter.
“Well, then. I think we move on from the topic of my dead ex-wife considering I don’t need Franny waltzing in here like she randomly does.”
“Her and Bianca both.” I slumped into my chair, frustrated I couldn’t take my bad mood out on anyone in particular.
“Does Pink like that you call her by her formal name still?” Jameson inquired.
“I don’t care if she does or doesn’t. It’s who she is to me.”
“Interesting. Bianca has a nice ring to it.”
“Do you get off on pissing me off?” I flexed my hand and my gaze flicked to the skulls on my shelf. His would fit nicely up there, I swear to God.
“Only sometimes.” He followed my gaze. “Your skull collection could really help med students if you donated it, you know?”
“Shut the fuck up.” Of course he wanted to bring up the fact that he was a surgeon on top of being a part of the syndicate.
“I’m just saying, it’s morbid in here. I’d rather a resident learn about cranial anatomy than have to stare at them every time I come here.”
“Don’t come here then,” I shot back.
“I figured I had to since your brothers seem to think you’re going to start a damn war over a blog post.”
“It’s actually an entry to our Oracles,” I corrected him like he was wrong. He wasn’t really. None of them were. I was going to start a war, but it wasn’t over the entry I was about to show them.
Instead, it was over an entry from Bianca on the night she slit her wrists.
I hadn’t forgotten what this idiot had done, how he’d crafted his app to succeed in dismantling others’ psyches, and I wasn’t going to let it go.
It took a little time to identify exactly what Yuri was doing with the app he sold me, but I’d been diligent.
He wasn’t just a startup company gone viral.
He scavenged the web for open-source AI, feeding it prompts and letting it interact with people on autopilot.
That’s how Bianca got caught in its trap—and how he systematically found women to prey on.
“Read the entry Yuri wrote and tell me what you want to do.” I turned the screen toward him.
Rafe sat next to Ezra giving me an inquisitive look. “You’re on edge.”
“And you’re not at all,” I said in an accusatory tone. “I don’t exactly have a cakewalk happening here with Dimitri and Olive and Jameson running the Midwest wing of the syndicate and stirring up problems with the Irish.”
“You know Father can handle it.”
“Like he’s handling anything right now?” I tilted my head and waited for Ezra and Rafe to agree that our father had checked out. “He’s been overseas for months. Probably drinking on a beach.”
“Wish I was doing that too.” Ezra chuckled.
“We would all like to do that, Ezra, but we have territories to oversee, business deals to manage, a resort empire to keep thriving. Quite frankly, I have to do that while I have your woman”—I pointed to Rafe—“running around acting like she can be as wild as she wants even after Kee had that stalker here last year.”
“Pink’s fine. She can handle herself.” Rafe waved off my concerns like he always did. “Our numbers with the Hardy resorts look good. Father’s happy with Black Oracles too. We’ve solidified partnership after partnership with its leverage.”
By leverage he meant us sifting through people’s confessions and holding them over their heads.
People signed their lives away to an app by not reading the fine print, and we hadn’t hesitated to use it.
In the last year, it’d become almost a damn religion to most of the country.
If you weren’t using it yourself, you knew someone who was, and they were happy to divulge information so that the Oracles could gossip with them or support them or just listen to them.
It seemed the world was a lonely place, and people needed another Alexa or Siri in their life.
Except the Oracles were regulated in a way that most everyone appreciated.
Or maybe it was that I had Pink’s opinion half the time and shifted the focus of the app when needed.
She provided insight that had been invaluable, like when she told me I needed to get influencers to talk about it.
I’d let her have at it, and she’d increased numbers within a week.
Jameson sighed and blue eyes met mine finally after scanning the screen. I saw the way his mouth curled. “I want his skull on a damn shelf next to your others. What do you need?”
Rafe glanced at the phone and didn’t bother reading it. “You both know the West and Midwest syndicate arms will feel disrespected.”
“Who runs the syndicates at this point anyway?” It should have been Bianca’s father, but he’d long since given us control, and Jameson worked closely enough with everyone he felt was important enough to say, “It’ll be fine if your father’s on board.”
“Father’s practically retired.”
“And yet he still wants us creating alliances and protecting territories we don’t need.” Ezra spun his helmet on the table.
“Speaking of, he wants the wedding moved up with Bianca.” Rafe dropped the statement like it was just another part of the meeting.
He let the words fall from his mouth like they were nothing, but he looked up to hold my gaze as if looking for a crack in my demeanor.
I didn’t give him one.
We’d started hosting an annual Summit of the Oracles within the resort—a gathering designed to project influence, maintain strategic alliances, and consolidate power among the Diamonds, the Black family, and the other business empires we managed.
It was as much about diplomacy as it was about control, a way to settle disagreements without ever leaving the grandeur of the ballroom.
If blood was spilled, we did it in style.
He smiled at me as if this were a damn game, as if he was moving chess pieces around, waiting for me to make the wrong move. “You sure you want me to tell her? She’s closest to you. Always was.”
“And yet you’re marrying her, Rafe,” I reminded him.
“Fair. Maybe I should have her on my arm tonight then.”
I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want Bianca on anyone’s arm but mine. Yet, this was for the family. “Good luck. She’s been messing around with some other guy.”
“Interesting. So I got a chance?” Jameson’s gaze ping-ponged between us.
“You’ve got a chance for no one. You’re down a nanny and need to focus on that,” I said just so he would shut up.
He eyed the doorway. “You’re actually right. I do need a nanny. You think Bianca would be interested?”
“Fuck off.”
Rafe cleared his throat and stood. “It’s settled then. Tonight, you go easy on Yuri, Bane. I don’t want a big scene … and let’s switch things up. I’ll bring Bianca.”
“What?” The question sliced out of me fast.
“Wedding’s approaching anyway, isn’t it?” He waited for me to say something, but I didn’t nor did anyone else. “And what about you all?”
“What about us?” Ezra grumbled.
“You bringing anyone? Father will be there, and we all know he’ll be analyzing connections.”
Ezra groaned but swiped up his helmet. “I’ll go find someone.”
I knew exactly who I could bring but I also knew the ramifications of bringing her. I wouldn’t get Bianca tonight if I brought a date. I’d get Pink.
“Don’t worry about me.”
“Sure I shouldn’t?” He chuckled and then reached over and swiped my phone before he punched a button on it.
He smirked before handing it back to me and said, “Interesting photo you have of her.”
I looked down and saw who was being called.
It read Pink. With her in a bra blowing a kiss at me.
“She did that,” I said immediately. Bianca had taken my phone one day and, well, she did what she wanted with it even if I told her not to.
“Did what?” Jameson leaned over and then whistled. I shoved him back now, and he was lucky I didn’t just straight up pull my gun on him. “What? Like I can’t look at a photo of her. Goddamn.”
“You need to go look for your daughter and get out of my penthouse.”
Rafe pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m leaving. Tell Bianca I’ll pick her up at eight tonight and I’ll send a dress.”
“You’re joking, right?” Her voice cut through the phone.
Rafe winked at me and said, “Good luck, brother,” before he walked out.
Goddamn it. Fuck him.
“Bane?”
“And Jameson,” he added, still standing there like he had nothing better to do.
“Why don’t you leave?”
He didn’t even attempt to move toward the door. “Because I’m waiting for Bianca and my daughter to come back.”
Bianca pushed the FaceTime button, and I saw they were in the casino. “She’s a delight, Jameson. Truly. You made my whole week bringing her here. We’re playing the slots … because she’s very mature.” Bianca winked into the phone and Jameson laughed.
The bastard didn’t even correct her for having Franny in an illegal area. “If she’s being that sweet, it means she likes you. She gives most of us hell.”
“Do not, Daddy,” Franny singsonged, with her back to us while she looked at pictures whirring by on a screen.
“Well, I’m taking her word and keeping her. I want a little girl just like her as my sidekick forever and ever.”
Jameson was leaning over my damn phone now like he was the one who called her. “Happy to give you that in more ways than one.”
Bianca giggled, actually giggled, and I interrupted it to bark into the phone, “Get Franny back here so Jameson can leave and you can get ready.”
Her smile dropped off. “For a date with your brother?”
“I’m not discussing this with you right now, Pink.”
“Fine. Jameson, do you think I should go on a date with his brother or with …” She dragged out the word.
Franny chirped up at that point. “My dad really needs a girlfriend.”
Jesus Christ.
“Yeah, I really need a girlfriend.” Jameson chuckled.
“Get the hell out of my office,” I grumbled low so only he could hear.
“Or what?”
“Or your head will end up on the shelf like the rest of them.”
Bianca squealed. “I knew it would sound good.”
It was official. I’d lost my mind.