Chapter 10 – Greyson
It took Mari hours to settle, and even when she did, her sleep was fitful. It pissed me off more than anything, and every time she tossed and turned, I got angrier.
Cameron had been her closest confidant, other than me, after Antoni died. She’d gone to bat for him, giving him promotion after promotion, even when the capos didn’t agree. He had his own fucking territory and team, plus the ear of his don, and what had he done to earn it? Nothing.
Worse, he’d thrown it in her fucking face.
I just didn’t understand why.
Whythrow away a lifelong bond? Did he blame Mari for Rey’s death? Was he angry that she’d taken over the family when Antoni died? Did he think it should have gone to him?
If so, I was going to skin him alive because I knew the capos had asked him first. Granted, he wasn’t in a good place when Antoni died—his reckless spirit had always made him harder to contain, and for Joaquin, I was sure he’d been worried his son would embarrass him. Meanwhile, Mari had always been composed. Always the first to find a solution that no one else could.
Was all this because of power? I didn’t want to think ill of a man I’d known my whole life, someone I considered a friend, but what else could I do?
My thoughts drowned me, keeping me awake until I was sure I’d never sleep again, but I refused to leave Mari when she needed me. I was there for every soft whimper and agonizing cry she released in her dreams, but when I huffed and she let out a soft, annoyed sigh, I realized I wasn’t helping.
She slid closer to Nate as I slipped out of bed, the furrow of her brow smoothing as he stroked a sleepy hand down her back. It killed me to go, but I couldn’t always be everything to her. That was why there were three of us. Where one failed, the others succeeded.
Right now, she needed them and the rest they’d provide, and I needed to unleash my feelings before I lost my mind.
Instead of pacing outside the bedroom door like I wanted, I decided to go for a swim in the pool connected to our gym. After a quick stop in my room to change, I hauled ass over there.
The room was muggy, but the water was warm and clear. Exactly what I needed. I didn’t bother warming myself up, knowing my muscles were still loose from our play earlier.
Slipping under the surface brought everything to a halt. A moment of singular peace, the same kind of stillness I felt when Mari was in my arms or speared on my cock. Like everything was okay.
I lost myself in the slow, methodical strokes of my arms, forcing my speed to be as slow as possible. I wasn’t actually supposed to be doing this much activity so soon and my shoulder was screaming for me to stop, but I needed the repetition. Needed the physical action to set my brain to rights again. With every stroke, I worked through my thoughts.
What drove a person to betray their family, the people who had been there for him, regardless? Was it because of Aislynn? Did Cameron resent Mari because she’d commanded him to marry? If not that, then what?
Few things drove men like money, power, and sex. Was that it? Did he turn his back on his family for tangible yet fleeting things? Had he absolutely destroyed Mari for his own ambition? Or was it something else, something we weren’t considering?
I didn’t know, and there was the rub. The Cameron I’d grown up with would never have betrayed Mari. Then again, it was obvious that I didn’t know him anymore. Maybe he’d been lying our entire lives. If someone wanted to deceive you, they would. There was no way to stop it.
Eventually, my body forced my midnight swim to an end, though I was no closer to figuring out what went wrong. By the time I got back to the penthouse, a pool towel slung around my hips, I was ready to crash. I passed Mari’s room, heading for a shower and a change of clothes when Dominic crept out of the room with Nate close behind him.
“You okay?”
“Just needed a swim. Go back inside. I’ll be there in a second.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed. “How long were you gone?”
I shrugged, and they both frowned at me.
“Don’t fuck up your arm when we need it most.”
The laugh took me by surprise, but leave it to Dominic to make me feel like all he cared about was my fucking body.
“I’m fine. Go back in with Mari,” I repeated. “She shouldn’t be alone.”
“She’s resting, finally,” Nate said, giving me a sad smile before looking down at his bare feet. “I should have told you sooner.”
“Would it have changed anything?” I wondered. Would telling us have altered the destruction the news caused? Would it have ended Cameron’s relationship with Cash or given Mari the peace she now desperately needed? I had a feeling the answer to all of those questions would be no. “Cameron made his own decisions. Mari knows that, and so do we. This isn’t your fault.”
“But I?—”
Dominic cut him off. “There’s no point wondering what could have been. The truth is, Cameron did what he wanted for whatever selfish reasons he had. The only thing we can do is try to lessen the fallout.”
Nate seemed to waffle, wanting to berate himself more, but eventually, his resolve firmed. “What do we do?”
“Cameron’s involvement means we have contingencies to make.” Checking the door again, I jerked my head toward my room. I needed to rinse off the chlorine, and if they were insisting on having this conversation, they’d have to deal with my bare ass.
As expected, they each found a place to sit while I sorted myself out. “Not interested in watching me shower?”
“That’s Mari’s thing, not mine,” Dominic answered, tossing himself on my bed. Nate nodded, finding a chair at my desk. I waited for the warning bell to ring with him so close to our most private information, but it never came. We were family. I trusted him implicitly.
“Didn’t think playing hard to get was your thing, Dominic. You know you want me.” I made the most ridiculous pose I could think of, sliding the towel down my hips like I was going to flash him.
I got a pillow to the face for my trouble.
“Get cleaned up, asshole. We’ve got shit to sort out.”
At least he was laughing.
Leaving them in my space felt weird, but only because I’d never done it before. Previously, my room had been my sanctuary, but now that things with Mari were solid, her room had taken its place. This was a place I came to when I needed to be alone or to have space to think, but it wasn’t my home. She was, and she always would be.
My time in the shower was spent deciding how to word what I wanted to say, and by the time I was changed and back in my bedroom, I’d figured it out. “I want Mari alive at the end of this, even if it’s just her.”
Neither of them balked, and I expected they’d been thinking the same thing.
“She’s not going to like this,” Nate warned.
“No shit.” The laugh felt rusty and unused in my throat. But I was her husband, and it was my job—no, my right—to protect her.
This wasn’t how today was supposed to end. I was supposed to come home to my loving wife, eat good food, drink good booze, and take her to bed with my brothers at my side. This was supposed to be a reunion for us all, and while we’d connected, it wasn’t the way I’d imagined.
We’ll make it up to her when this is all over, I promised myself. A vacation somewhere far away from the Beckstrom bullshit plaguing our city.
Then again, maybe this was better. A reminder of my vows that, no matter what, I would always fight for her. I would always be hers. The boys may not have stood at the altar with her, but I knew they’d made commitments to her just the same. It was obvious in the way they drifted to her, like she was the thing they orbited around. The center of their universe.
We were Mari’s creatures of the night. And no one, not even her double-dipping cousin, was going to take her away from us.
“I have some people I can reach out to. But they should be last-ditch efforts,” Nate volunteered. I focused on him, fully seeing the burden he carried, and wondered if I’d missed something.
Dominic saw it too and narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms like he was protecting himself from another heavy blow. “You got something to tell us, Beckstrom?”
“It’s Black,” Nate corrected swiftly. There was a moment where I saw him consider keeping his secrets, but a look at Dominic—who still hadn’t fully forgiven him—made the decision for him. “My contact told me it would be best if I avoided using them. The last thing I want to do is end up back in the company’s clutches and away from Mari.”
Dominic huffed, but it seemed more performative than realistic. Was he softening toward Nate already? It wouldn’t surprise me. For all his faults, and there were many, Dominic loved his family. And whether he liked it or not, Nate was part of that family. He wouldn’t have it in him to hold out for too long.
“What about the rival cartel? Would they have any intel on them?” It was the nuclear option, but Cash was years ahead of us, so we had to consider every angle.
“I doubt it, but since I’m already reaching out, I’ll ask,” Nate promised. “Eagle can probably get us a name, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for any way to contact them. We’ll probably have to figure that out ourselves.”
It wasn’t much, but it was a place to start. “Do it.”
Nate nodded, pulled out his phone, and began tapping, though he talked while he did. “I don’t know what the price is, but I’ll see if I can’t get a rescue option for Mari sorted out.”
“Whatever it costs, we’ll pay it. We’ve got more than enough resources to get her out.” Dominic leaned against the wall.
“Not everything costs money.” Nate’s eyes darted to him and then back to his phone. He kept his focus on his message, but I saw the sag of his shoulders, the weight of everything he’d been dealing with.
“Are you okay?”
He looked up from his phone, surprised, and a sigh shuddered from his lips. “He’s unstable, and he’s only going to get worse.”
We weren’t talking about his friend or Cameron. This was his brother.
“We’ll take care of it.”
“I know we will. But at what cost?” He stared at his phone like it held everything he wanted and all the nightmares he ran from. “Will it be worth it at the end if all we have is a pile of rubble and memories?”
“We’ll have Mari,” Dominic said quietly. That was the only thing that mattered for us.
“Yeah, we will.” Nate’s lips quirked into a soft smile, and some of that torment blew away like dust on the wind. “Cash needs to go, subtlety be damned.”
“The Feds have given us an out, but who knows if it’ll hold up.” Dominic’s reminder was necessary. I’d nearly forgotten about Two-Bit’s little surprise.
“Is it safe to take it, though?” We turned to Nate since he was the only one of us who’d worked with the Feds before.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’m not sure it matters either way. We’ve been playing Cash’s game, hoping to minimize the casualties, but that ship has sailed. If we’re at war, we need to treat it like one.”
And I had no doubt he’d be the first general in line to lead our troops into battle. The fierceness in his eyes was a stark reminder that, like Dominic and me, Nate was in it for the long haul. He was Mari’s champion, too, and we would do whatever was necessary to make sure she survived.