Chapter 4
Vincent da Silva
Lighting a cigarette, I pulled the nicotine into my lungs and tossed the zippo to the desk.
The smoke billowing from my nose, I scanned the monitors, every muscle tight with anxiety.
Where the hell was Jackyl? As always, he was one step ahead of everyone, giving that phone to Eddie.
Why? Why would he give it to him, and not Edwina? Why that precise moment?
He knew we were going to jet. He had called Dash and ordered him to eliminate Tyler and Violetta.
Had he left it with Tyler, everything would have been fine.
Because he added my sister, he had to know he would say something to me.
She and Dash were as close as blood brother and sister, he had to know he wouldn’t be okay with killing her.
Apparently, once he thought about it, he realized his mistake and covered his tracks. When we thought we’d been clever in sneaking out of town while he was at work, he had already been ahead of the game.
Now he was out there, somewhere. He was watching us, having an advantage since we didn’t know where he was.
This was so unlike him, he usually just swept in and conquered a situation he found threatening.
Hiding, plotting, scheming, spying…this was new.
It was calculated. It was so fucking unnerving.
How the hell was I supposed to predict his moves if he changed his tactics?
I glanced to the left at Dash’s back. He was standing rigid, his legs spread wide, arms crossed, fingers tapping his sides while staring out the window to the backyard.
The house built on the side of a mountain, there was nothing but trees to be seen, the moon barely visible through the limbs swaying in the breeze.
“You okay?”
He didn’t react.
“Hey. Dash!”
Twisting his waist, he glared, his lips thin. “Hm?”
My brows furrowing, I jutted my chin and took another drag. “What’s up with you, man? You’ve been quiet all day. You okay? Did something happen when you went to Walmart this morning?”
Heaving a long sigh, his attention returned to the window. “Did you know I got my nickname from high school?”
My eyelids thinned. Okay, this was weird. “Uh, no. I didn’t know that.”
His head was bobbing, the fingers tapping faster. “Yeah, I uh. Ahem. I got it from track.”
My brows shot upward, the cigarette pausing in front of my mouth. “Really?”
Huffing, he turned away from the window, snatched my smokes, and retrieved a cigarette, hastily lighting it.
Pulling a deep inhale, he sighed the smoke through his nose, his focus now on the monitors.
A muscle in his jaw flexed, a leg bouncing erratically.
His voice gruff, he said, “I was the fastest in Connecticut.”
Connecticut? I thought he was from Florida. How did I know so little about this man when he’d been by my side every single day for close to fifteen years?
“In 1990, Henry Neal ran the one hundred meter dash in ten point fifteen seconds. He set a national and state record. You know that record stood until May of this year? Some kid in Austin beat it with a ten point thirteen.”
I whistled, very impressed. The only way I could ever run that fast was if someone was chasing my ass. Even then, I’d have to trip someone slower to get away.
“My senior year of high school, I ran it in ten point eleven.”
I paused with the cigarette in front of my mouth a second time. Slow blinking, I tipped my head to peer at his profile. If he was that damn good, why the hell was he a Serpent? Why wasn’t he a professional athlete in the Olympics, or something?
His Adam’s apple bobbed, his nostrils flaring. “When I ran it that fast, it was just me and my coach, so it didn’t count. Our word against everyone else, type thing. So, we set it up to make it official with official people there and stuff.”
I took the drag and blew the smoke out the corner of my mouth, studying his hardened expression.
“Got too cocky,” he stated simply, his fingers curling around the butt, crushing the cigarette. “As soon as I shoved off, I pushed too hard and ruptured my Achilles tendon. I was out for the rest of the year.”
“Shit.” I shook my head and tapped off the ashes. Noticing he had completely forgotten about his, I leaned over, watching his features while carefully tearing off the cherry before it burned his fingers.
He didn’t even notice.
I tossed it in the ashtray but remained quiet.
“Dad no longer wanted anything to do with me since I wasn’t gonna go to college no more.
I was attending the most elite, private school in America.
The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut. Eighty thousand dollars a year so someone else could be responsible for me and my parents could do whatever the hell they wanted without the burden of a child. ”
His eyes were moving about, scanning the screens, but stopped on one in particular, the muscle in his jaw flexing.
I followed his line of sight and found Tyler limping to the refrigerator.
Swinging open the door, he grabbed a bottle of water, ripped off the cap, and chugged it, his face contorted in pain.
My stomach sinking, I had a feeling I knew where this was going.
My concentration returning to Dash, I found him sweating and swallowing repeatedly.
“He gave me fifty grand and a car and sent me on my way. It wasn’t even a new car, it was ten years old. I was headed to Tijuana because I heard a lot of crazy stories about going out there and getting drunk and pussy.”
I tried to hide my cringe and searched the monitor for my sister.
She was in the master bathroom, fresh from a shower, brushing her long hair.
I’d never had sex with a woman before, never had the urge.
A few days from being thirty-one years old, and I’d only ever been with Billy.
How did I know I was truly gay? Was there a chance I could like women?
“Stopped off in Mobile to get an oil change and rest a few days when I bumped into Jackyl. A few days later, he introduced me to you. Never left.”
My attention darted back to him, my own cigarette now forgotten.
“I’ve barely spoken to my parents since. Just a few words here or there for important things. They send money for Piera every month, but it’s just transferred. They ain’t never even seen her. Never even sent them a picture. They don’t care.”
His chin lowered, a hand covered his face. “I used to bet on bitch when he was in school. Never lost when he played.”
A brief silence fell over the room, his leg bouncing again.
“I dunno. When Jackyl told me to take him out.” His mouth clamped and he shook his head, his brows furrowing deep. “I wanted to hurt him so bad, Vin. I wanted to take away from him what had been taken from me. I was all too happy to make sure he never went pro.”
“Why? I mean, why him?”
His lips pursed, he shrugged, finally bringing his hand up with the cigarette. Taking a drag, he didn’t notice there was no cherry. “No reason. I saw me in him and I was jealous. That’s all.”
One side of my face lifted as I clucked my teeth, looking at the kitchen once more.
Tyler’s palms were on the island and he was leaning forward, his head low between his shoulders while he tapped his foot on the floor, trying to stretch out the muscles in his bad leg.
Apparently, the pain was lingering because he threw his head back, his teeth gleaming behind curled lips.
Bending over, he started rubbing the knee when Violetta strolled through the archway.
Hurrying over to him, she squatted and began massaging the area.
Even I couldn’t help but feel bad for the son of a bitch. More than once since being trapped in this house with him, I’d witnessed how much that injury still bothered him. He would never go another single day of his life without pain because of Jackyl.
A brow lifted, I cast a sideways glance to Dash.
And because of him. Apparently, he wasn’t just following orders, he was taking out his own frustrations on someone else.
This time last month, I wouldn’t have cared.
After being forced to get to know Tyler Warren on a personal level, yeah, I was kinda pissed.
“His parents did the same thing to him mine did to me. As soon as his athletic career was over, they didn’t give a shit about him. I ruined his life, Vin. How…” He coughed and looked away, pulling his nape. “How the fuck you apologize for something like that?”
I cleared my throat and sat up better, smashing out my cigarette. “I don’t think you can, brother.”
He cursed under his breath and turned away, going back to the window.
“Look, I know that ain’t what you wanna hear, but…but it’s Tyler, man,” I argued, swiping my hand toward the monitors. “You know he ain’t holding no grudges. He’ll get over it—”
“You think that makes me feel better?” he blasted, turning so I could see part of his angry profile.
“That only makes it worse, so much worse…knowing that he didn’t deserve it.
He’s a good dude, and I fucking destroyed him.
Because of what I did, what I helped do,” he blasted, spinning around to face me fully.
Tapping his chest, he was seething, his eyes bloodshot. “He and Tiny are permanently fucked.”
I heaved a sigh and swiped the cigarettes, plucking two and lighting them together. Extending my arm to offer him one, he did a doubletake, looking down at the ruined one between his fingers. Rolling his eyes, he tossed it to the desk and snatched it, puffing hard.
“I don’t really know what you want me to say, brother. At the time, you had no reason to doubt Jackyl. You did what you was told to do. Had you gone against him, you woulda been taken out, and we both know it.”
This seemed to ease some of his guilt, but not by much. Coming over to me, he motioned with his hand and said, “Get up. I wanna be alone.”
“Dash,” I argued, shrugging my arms out. “You can’t let this eat you up—”
“Vinny,” he barked, refusing to make eye contact. Lowering his tone, he muttered, “Please, just leave me alone for a while.”
I sighed, pushed the chair back, and stood. Deciding not to take the cigarettes, I strode across the room and let myself out, quietly closing the door behind me. At the top of the stairs, I strained my ears to listen.
“Is it better, baby?”
“Yeah,” Tyler grunted. “I think I can walk now. Sorry.”
“Don’t you dare apologize. This isn’t your fault. I blame Jack.”
“Yeah, well, he wasn’t alone. I think someone else was more involved than he was.”
“Are you going to hate Dash forever?” Violetta asked sadly.
“No,” he groaned, dragging the word out. “I don’t hate him, at all. He had orders. I can only imagine what Jackyl woulda done to him had he not gone through with it.”
“Come on, baby. Let’s go lie down. I’ll make you some ice cream, or something.”
“With caramel?” he teased.
My sister giggled. “Of course.”
Hearing their bare feet on the brick floor, I quickly lunged to the side, pressing my back against the wall so they couldn’t see me on the landing.
“You are sounding a lot like Edwina these days. My little girl is rubbing off on you.”
Their voices faded and the master bedroom door shut. I crept to the railing and looked downstairs, my stomach knotted with dread. Dash was right, both Tyler and Violetta had been robbed of the future they deserved, but most of the blame could be placed at Jackyl’s feet.
I crossed the landing to my bedroom and shut the door, throwing myself to the bed. Taking another drag, the ashes fell to my shirt, but I didn’t care. My mind was whirling, that little voice in my head whispering in my ear.
It was time they finally got what they always wanted.
If Jackyl refused to make the first move, I would go after him.
I know the plan was to wait for him to attack us inside the house, that way we wouldn’t get in trouble with the law or the Serpents, but enough was enough.
If sacrificing my freedom gave them their dreams, then so be it.
I’d gladly go back to jail for my sister.
If Jackyl didn’t put an end to this nightmare, I would.