Chapter Nineteen
Silence drowns the car on the way back to the compound.
All of us holding our tongues in front of Frank.
Aiden insisted he could drive the both of us back, tailing Frank and Dax, but Ben arrived while we were all still upstairs and took Aiden’s car back to the garages.
Dax’s determination to have me ‘home,’ as he put it, means escorting me himself.
Seems he isn’t foolish enough to believe I’ve entirely forgiven him for hurting me at the hotel.
If I have to guess, I think keeping me in sight is his way of ensuring I don’t cut him out.
“Straight back to the compound, then? You’re sure?” Frank grumbles.
“Do you have somewhere else you think we need to go first?” Aiden fires back.
“A train station?” Frank mumbles under his breath.
“Why? You going somewhere, Frank? We could drop you here if you want?” Dax snaps.
“Asshole.”
“Know-nothing bastard.”
The tension in the car is thick, and at this rate I’ll be lucky to get back to the compound at all.
Frank seems to be the bigger arsehole today, but he also knows more than he is saying.
Whether he’s protecting Dax or himself, he has a legitimate point to make.
My thinking is, if he makes it, maybe he’ll feel better or at the very least shut up.
I clear my throat and capture his gaze in the rear-view mirror as soon as he raises his eyes to look my way.
“Do you know what? Say what you want to say, Frank. Get it off your chest, but this time, say it to me. Dax has already told you where he stands. Aiden seems to feel the same way. So, say what you need to say and then no more of this bullshit. You’re supposed to be a team.
You have bigger problems out there, and you’re too busy biting at each other to see it.
I can’t face enemies on all fronts or be watching my back in a place I’m supposed to be safe. So, say it.”
He doesn’t hold back. “You’re not safe. You’ll never be safe while you stay in Harrison City. These idiots think they can protect you by hiding you away in a building that’s supposedly untouchable, but they’re wrong. You’re in a dinghy that’s sprung a leak.”
“I’m aware.”
“Then you know you’re also putting everyone else in danger. You’re drawing it all to us,” he continues, as brazen as ever.
“I’m aware of that, too. What do you suggest?”
“Hold up, Tiger!” Aiden interrupts.
“Don’t buy into this shit, little gem. He’s a self-serving prick,” Dax adds.
“I might be a self-serving prick, you little fucker, but I’m still standing. I was the one who picked you up after what happened to your mother and put you on your feet. You think you’d be where you are right now if not for me?”
I swear, these men just enjoy arguing. “What. Do. You. Suggest?” I snap.
Frank takes a deep breath and appears to think for a moment. I see Dax ready to intervene, but I shake my head, wanting to hear what Frank has to say in its entirety.
“Leave. Get free of Harrison. Keep your mouth shut. Get on with a normal life and hope no one slips up to give you away.” It makes sense. It’s nothing I haven’t already said to myself.
But what’s his reward in all this? “Where does that get you?”
My question catches him off guard. His brows cave in confusion. “What?”
“You just admitted you’re a self-serving prick. So, what does my leaving get you? For that matter, how does my staying affect you either?” I hear Aiden snort but ignore it.
“We go back to stalemate if you leave. We maintain the status quo. If you stay, you risk what I’ve built.”
“What you built?” Dax scoffs. “What exactly do you think you’ve built, Frank?”
“You know what I mean…” Frank argues, clearly taking some kind of accountability for Dax’s position in Trevainne. Dax must think so too because the next words out of his mouth say what I’m thinking.
“What do you have that won’t turn to dust if I leave Trevainne right now? Because if she goes, I go. How about that for your status quo?”
“Don’t be a fucking child, Dean!” Frank shouts, but the use of Dax’s real name only seems to spur him on.
“UACT is ready to take over this at any time, right, Aid?”
“Whenever you think you’re done,” Aiden agrees.
Frank hisses. “And the kids? What about your promise to Celeste? What happens to Sylvie or Tom if you up and leave?” Frank argues, shifting focus.
“Without my vendetta, Sylvie will have the chance at a life like anybody else,” Dax admits.
I can’t help but wonder why he insists on continuing then? Is Sylvie’s welfare less important than a vendetta? What are Dax’s priorities?
“You mean you’d take everything from her?” Frank continues arguing.
“Sylvie is taken care of. You know that as well as I do.”
I’m very aware I am not privy to what they are discussing, but it doesn’t take a genius to realise we’ll keep going round in circles unless I finish what I started. So, I interrupt with, “What’s your endgame, Frank?”
“What’s yours, Joslyn?”
I won’t deny my real name hits like a slap to the face. I try not to show it, but my tone is colder than ever. “You first.”
“Same as Dean’s. Take down Franz. Take down Hanson. Make Harrison what it should be.”
“Really? Because you’ve not seemed invested for a while now,” Dax fires back.
“Fuck you. I’m more invested than you two love-struck dipshits running around after a fucking target, like she’s got a fucking candy pussy. No offence, kid.”
“Some taken,” I fire back at the jumped-up prick before calming enough to answer his question about what I want.
“I want to graduate. I want a future. I want family…in whatever form that takes. I want my home to be a safe space for my siblings. I don’t care about Hanson or Franz or UACT or you.
Still, I don’t want to bring harm to others either.
So, I’ll take what you’ve said into consideration.
That’s the best I can offer you, Frank.”
“It’s better than nothing,” he accepts.
“True. Now, you all need to get back on the same page and stop fighting each other. I’m not here to cause problems. I’m hoping for solutions.”
“Short of killing Franz and his deputies…” Dax grumbles, shooting a glance at Aiden, who rolls his eyes.
“Yeah, I had the same thoughts,” I admit, surprising them both if their wide eyes are any sign.
“Which reminds me, Koko said if you’re planning on hitting Franz, ‘Hit the enforcers first, then the generals. They’re a hydra…
you need to behead them all at once,’” I inform them, recalling Koko’s message word for word.
“Koko? I guess you can’t get better than advice from Franz’s best ex-enforcer,” Aiden acknowledges, his brows furrowing before he turns to glance out the window. If I had to guess, I’d say he was at least considering Koko’s advice.
“Koko?” Frank asks.
“Used to go by Mal,” Dax clarifies, like he didn’t once ask Aiden the same question.
Frank’s face falls. He shoots me a glare in the rear-view mirror. “How the fuck do you know Mal?”
“He’s family,” I tell him, and realise that’s true. He’s more family than Eric or even Carlo.
“He’s still here? In the city?” Frank presses. There’s a tone of incredulity in his words that piques my interest.
“Yeah, why?”
Frank stares back toward the road. “Nothing…I thought he gave it up. Disappeared.”
I don’t buy his dismissive tone. I give him a little more information just to see his reaction. “He did, well, not the disappearing part. He has a butcher’s shop in the Vale.” Frank’s eyes widen then narrow as he flicks an assessing look my way.
“How do you know him?” I ask Frank outright.
“I don’t, but like most people, I know of him. Last I heard, he had betrayed some big names. Stepped down as enforcer and took off with a woman that wasn’t his to take.”
“That’s about right,” I agree, ignoring the cold way Frank delivers the last part. I’d heard this condensed version of Koko’s past only recently from Charlie.
Frank sucks in a breath. “He’s still…is he still with her?”
“Charlie? Yeah. She runs the bakery. Koko handles the butchers,” I tell him.
Dax snorts. “God knows how they got the FSA and Enviro teams to agree on that.”
“Two separate kitchens, is how,” I bite back, probably a little too defensive of my friends. “The two sides don’t meet, not even at the front. It’s like two separate shops, but they removed the wall between them. No different from stalls side by side at a market.
“Charlie…” Frank whispers. Then clears his throat and shoots me a look in the rear-view. “They’re family, huh? A knife-wielding murderer and a bread maker?” His derision rankles.
“They are. So, fucking mind your manners when you speak about them.”
There’s a flicker of a smile on Frank’s face, but it vanishes as soon as it appears.
I stare out the window as we cross the bridge into the city district.
The traffic is busy but flowing like lifeblood into the heart of Harrison.
Behind us, I can just make out the Ferris wheel as it turns lazily.
Across from that stand the two sentinels of the Vale.
Olive Tower on the left and Ivy to the right.
The colossal concrete giants shrink to nothing with each mile we travel closer to the Heights.
They fade into insignificance as asphalt and brick transform into hedgerows and woodland.
“We’re almost there,” Frank warns, dropping the entire issue like we’ve been riding in silence this entire time.
Dax clears his throat. “Aiden, you have a team waiting for a debrief. Jules, you’re with me. We’ll head in through the business entrance today. I have a few things to sort out with you before we go back to the apartment,” he instructs.
“Sure,” I agree.
“Got it.” Aiden nods.
Frank pulls up, and we all move at once. Doors open and close in a cacophony of clanks and clunks, then Frank pulls away toward the garage.