Chapter 44
Forty-Four
Brooks
“Tell me your source!” I punched the man tied to a chair in the face, hearing bones crack as pain tore through my knuckles.
I hadn’t even punched Cory that damn hard during his Initiation.
I dropped to one knee in front of Ajax.
He was the journalist who’d published both stories about me. His right eye was busted, thanks to a prior punch from me. His knockoff designer sweater was stained with blood.
Enzo stepped beside me, pulling on black leather gloves while murderously staring Ajax down.
“Tell us, and your source will die.” He flexed both hands before circling Ajax, grabbing a fistful of his blond hair, and dragging his head back.
“Don’t tell us? You will die. Your family will die.
Then we’ll still find the source, and they’ll die.
Have fewer people die by giving us a simple name. That’s it.”
Finding Ajax had been easy. He’d bylined both articles but insisted someone else fed him the information. I believed him. He was a nobody journalist who didn’t know stories about the Sons came with a death sentence.
We grabbed him outside his office in New York City after he finished bragging about his breaking story on some podcast. Legitimate news outlets knew better than to touch it.
We stuffed him into the trunk of a stolen sedan and brought him to one of the Marchetti warehouses. Emeri, Cassian, and my father stood behind us, watching the show.
I was surprised he’d risk coming, but he’d insisted the Elders wanted him present when Ajax gave us a name. That didn’t mean he’d get his hands dirty.
“Spit it out!” I screamed.
Enzo slapped Ajax on the cheek before moving away from him.
The second Enzo stepped aside, I drove my boot into Ajax’s face. The chair tipped backward.
Ajax yelped when the chair crashed onto the concrete. His head slammed against the floor with a crack. Before he could recover, I stomped my foot into his face again.
My life depended on me getting a name.
I needed one to declare my innocence. I knew the Elders were doubting my loyalty now. Most were older men who hadn’t worked alongside me as a Son. They only went by what they’d heard.
I grabbed the back of the chair and hauled it upright before fishing the brass knuckles from my pocket. I slid them on and raised my fist inches from his face.
“All right! All right!” Ajax screamed as fat tears fell down his cheeks. “I’ll tell you!”
I drew my arm back, just a few inches, but still close to his face in case he tried to play games with me. “Who?”
“First, you have to promise not to hurt my family,” he stammered, sounding weak and pathetic.
That earned him a satisfied smile from me. “Of course I won’t. I told you if you talked, then I’d only hurt whoever your source was.”
He blew out a nervous breath. “Fine, it was Sterling Beckett!” He squirmed in the chair. “Now, let me go!”
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” my father commented.
Ajax’s jaw loosened when I removed my brass knuckles and shoved them into my pocket.
I reached into my other pocket. Ajax’s face creased with panic when he noticed my Glock.
He whipped his head to each side and tried to raise his arms as I drew the Glock.
“Thanks, cunt,” I said before shooting him in the face.
Brain matter and blood spewed through the air, some hitting me in the face. I used my elbow to wipe it off. One of his eyes had sprung loose and sat beside my shoe. I stepped on it, crushing it under my foot.
Now, the fucker can’t even see a computer screen to write bullshit in the afterlife.
I turned to find everyone’s eyes on me.
We had a name. Now, I needed to hunt down Sterling.
I threw out my arms. “It seems the man whose marriage arrangement I fucked up is the one responsible for the story.” I gave each of my fellow Sons a heated glare. “Now you know it wasn’t me.”
“You know we never thought you betrayed us—” Enzo started, taking a step forward.
“Bullshit!” I roared, slamming my hand against my chest. “I told you all I’d never do that to us. For years, I’ve kept this society a priority. One fucker points a finger at me, and everyone wants me dead!”
They all went quiet.
Emeri stepped to my side, clasping his hand on my shoulder. “I’ll take care of the body.”
Enzo nodded toward me in apology. “Time to get Sterling.”
“Why would you fuck this up?” my father asked, sitting beside me in the back seat of the sedan.
“Sterling was my most generous donor. I spent a lot of time setting up that marriage contract.” He slammed his hand into the seat in front of him.
“You’d have been set up for life! He’d have fully funded your bid for the White House! ”
I finished my text to Enzo and dropped my phone into my lap.
Before giving me the chance to answer, he continued his rant. “I wasted my breath asking why you’d fuck it up. It was all for her.”
I stared out the window, working my jaw. People waved from their vehicles and the sidewalk as we passed them. My father forced a smile while waving back.
“You’re not even going to deny it?” he asked.
I cleared my throat and shifted in the seat. “There’s nothing to deny.”
“I should’ve never okayed you choosing her as your Fawn.”
I turned my head to fully face him. Any control I had snapped. “You really think that would’ve stopped me?”
My admission shocked him into silence for a moment. I’d spent years proclaiming to hate her, but it was nothing but lies. He just hadn’t expected me to finally be up front about the truth.
He relaxed in his seat, turning his neck to stretch it. “Fine, since we’re going there, let’s discuss you being seen with her. My office has been swarmed with requests for comment. We can deny it all we want, but there’s now speculation. You have no idea how stupid you’ve made me look.”
“What Daphne’s dad did wasn’t her fault.”
“You’re sticking up for her now?” he asked in disbelief. “What’s next? You love the girl?”
I went quiet.
“Goddamn it, Brooks!” he roared, causing the driver to glance back at us for the first time.
I stayed calm as I spoke. “Don’t you think it’ll look good on us?”
His eyes went so wide that I waited for them to pop out of his head. “Have you lost your mind?”
“It’ll make us look forgiving. People like that.”
He shoved his finger close to my face, but not enough that he knew it’d piss me off further. “Don’t you dare try to tell me what my people will like.” That finger went to his chest. “I’m the president, not you, buddy.”
“Trust me, you say that enough for me to know.”
“You’re ruining my image.”
I clenched my jaw.
Everything is always about his fucking image.
I hated it.
“We have to figure out a way to fix this.”
“There’s only one way. And listen before you fucking blow up on me when I tell you.”