5. Ellie #2
"Rosman's last three campaign cycles were funded in large part by contributions from Beakman Holdings, East Bay Finance Group, and Iron City Associates.
" He pauses, letting the names sink in even though none of them ring a bell.
At least not to me. "All three are shell companies with different registered agents and states of incorporation.
And all three trace back to the same beneficial owner," he continues.
The web of connections collapses inward on the screen, a chaotic cluster of red lines converging on a single node at the center.
Okay, so this is still the same hopelessly nerdy Cyrus I remember. He just has abs of steel now. And a dick piercing.
But what really catches my eye is the picture at that central node.
It's… Todd.
My heart drops through the floorboards.
"Our old friend Todd has been busy," Cyrus says flatly. "Not only running his own campaign, but dipping his greedy little fingers into the DA's business, too. A cynical man might think these two were connected."
"And if the DA is running interference for Southside," Jinx chimes in, "that means…"
"Ellie's Daddy is a crook," Kade finishes, gray eyes boring right into me. He smirks and it's a mean, vicious thing. "How interesting."
I bristle at the name. Todd is not my father. He's made it abundantly clear over the years I'm just a prop to him, the same as my mother. But I know Kade is just trying to get under my skin and I won't give him the satisfaction of showing that he succeeded.
"Looks that way," Cyrus agrees. "Todd funds Rosman. Rosman clears Southside's legal problems. And Southside moves product through the corridor without any lasting interference."
"But why?" I demand. "Why would Todd pay off the DA just to help a bunch of criminals?"
He's always been shady, but in a fucking around on his taxes and accepting donations from completely shady asshats way. Gangs, drug trafficking, it's all the kind of thing a man like Todd thinks is beneath him.
Kade laughs bitterly. "Because he is a criminal, Princess. Fuck, I know you're sheltered, but you really have been living so far inside that rich girl bubble, you've forgotten what it's like out here in the real world, haven't you?"
I narrow my eyes, but I manage somehow to swallow the words on the tip of my tongue.
I'm not afraid of Kade. But he's a walking powder keg looking for an excuse to blow.
And I refuse to be the one who lights the match.
"We knew Southside had connections somewhere high up," Jinx murmurs thoughtfully. "We just didn't think it was your stepfather."
"I didn't know," I say quickly, realizing from the way Kade is watching me he already thinks the same thing. "I thought he was probably doing some weird stuff with his campaign funds, but not this."
"Still pretty convenient, don't you think?
" Kade challenges. "The Senator's stepdaughter suddenly waltzes into our lair asking for help?
Right as we've got a fucking turf war on our hands and it just so happens to turn out that the assholes moving in on our territory are being bankrolled by the guy you want us to kill? "
"Kade," Jinx warns.
Tank gives a low growl that's wordless but far more effective. Not that Kade gives a shit.
"That's bullshit!" I hiss. "Todd doesn't tell me fucking anything. You seriously think I came here and humiliated myself just to what, trap you?"
"I think you like all the shiny toys your new Daddy's money has bought you," Kade answers without missing a beat. "Maybe you'd do whatever he asked of you to keep them. You sure gave us up quick enough."
Pain sears into me, but it doesn't run as deep as the guilt.
He's wrong. But… not about everything.
I never traded them for any of this. I never wanted it. But did I really fight hard enough? I told myself I was protecting Mom by going along with what Todd told us. Wearing the dresses, going to a good college, attending the events, smiling for the cameras.
But where has playing along ever gotten me?
I knew Todd was evil. I knew the depths of it in my aching bones, in all the bruises he left behind, and most of all, I knew it in the hollowed-out look in my mother's eyes.
But this…
A criminal empire hidden behind all his bullshit family values speeches. An entire network that depends on him staying alive and in power.
I'm gonna puke.
I don't even realize Tank stepped closer, putting himself between me and Kade, until I feel his hand brush against mine and jolt. Jinx and Cyrus are there, too. They're standing casually, but they've definitely moved to block me from Kade.
If you didn't know better, you'd think it was accidental.
Kade knows better.
He looks at his brothers in arms, and his actual brother, and I don't miss the sting of betrayal in that expression. Like he knows exactly which side they'd chose, and it pisses him the fuck off.
My phone buzzes in my pocket. Texts to my old number still come through, even if they're routed through Cyrus first. No one in my old life gets suspicious that way. I pull the phone out and glance at the screen.
It's a message from Todd.
TODD
Thursday, 7pm. Dinner at the house. Your mother misses you. Don't be late.
He can try to sound warm all he likes. I know better than anyone what's underneath.
A leash yanking tight.
Kade snatches the phone out of my hand and that cruel smile spreads across his lips. "Speak of the fucking devil. Our Princess is being summoned for family dinner. Isn't that quaint?"
Every head in the room turns.
I swallow the lump in my throat. "If I don't show, he'll know something's off. He tracks my patterns. He'll call, and if I don't answer, he'll come find me. And if he comes here—"
I don't finish the sentence because I don't need to.
Kade's expression doesn't change. He just looks at me with those flat gray eyes, the lighter dangling motionless between his tattooed fingers.
I'm already learning to read his non-responses just as well as his words. Kade's anger may be loud, but his scheming is dead silent.
That's far more dangerous.
"Cyrus," he says finally, not looking away from me. "You'll tail her."
Cyrus nods without a word.
I stare at Cyrus and try to imagine him anywhere near Todd's gated mansion without every security camera and private guard within a mile radius lighting up like Christmas. He may be the most professional looking member of the Kings, but that's not saying much.
How the hell is he going to do that?