Страница 331 из 349
Torian
I’m on my hands and knees, scrubbing the last vestiges of my father’s blood from the tile when the glass door slides open and my sister pulls aside the sheer curtain.
“Do my eyes deceive me?” she drawls. “Could my brother actually be cleaning?”
I sit back on my haunches and wipe the sweat from my brow with the back of my hand. “Macabre jokes aren’t your style. I guess that’s Decker’s influence rubbing off on you.”
“He’s not rubbing anything off on me.” She glances away, hiding the faint hint of tears in her eyes.
“I beg to differ.” Hunter walks in behind her. “There was definitely a lot of rubbing on the flight here.”
“It would’ve been a blessing if rubbing was all we had to witness.” Sarah follows after him, shooting me a wink. “Congrats, Cole. It seems like you got the job done.”
“I always get the job done.” I shove to my feet, my head throbbing from the after-effects of whatever shit Tobias stabbed into my leg. “Luther’s dead. His henchmen, too. Now all that’s left is to dismantle the fucking huge operation he has going.”
Keira nods, her attention turned toward the sterile kitchen. “Thank you.”
I don’t want her appreciation. Not when I should’ve done this a long time ago. And besides, she’s giving me a front, and I don’t appreciate the show.
She just lost her father after recently burying her uncle. Both of them betrayed her throughout her life. There’s no way she’s okay with any of this.
“Come here.” I step forward and drag her into my chest, wrapping my arms around her. “I could’ve fucking killed you when the pilot told me what you’d done.”
She leans into me, resting her head against my shoulder. “I know. The poor guy even tried to tell us we weren’t allowed to board, but he didn’t stand a chance.”
“Not when I shoved a gun in his face.” Hunter smiles, all teeth and no charm. “In his defense though, he did try to maintain a fake bravado for at least five seconds. He crumpled to shit after that.”
“You’ll haunt the guy’s nightmares for years to come. All for nothing.” Sarah glances around the crime scene, unperturbed by what’s happened. “It looks like we didn’t need to be here to help after all.”
“If I needed anything, I would’ve asked.” I place a kiss in Keira’s hair and step back. “Where’s Deck—”
“Right here.” He slips between the curtains and makes his way to the front of the crowd. “I’m told I have some secret present waiting for me, but I swear to God, if that bitch was referring to the bloodbath that needs to be cleaned up, I’m not going to be happy.”
“A present?” Keira frowns, glancing from me to Decker, then back again.
They all look at me. Silent. Even Luca stops cleaning his own blood off the wall to watch the show.
I shouldn’t be the one to tell Decker the life-changing news. I’m not subtle. I don’t have the patience or kindness to relay the information. It’s not my thing.
“Hey, Luc.” I jerk my chin at him. “Maybe you should explain the situation.”
“Oh, no. Fuck no. You’re on your own.” He returns to cleaning, turning his back on me.
Asshole.
“What’s the surprise?” Sarah cocks her hip against the sofa. “And do we all get one?”
“It isn’t a fucking surprise or a present,” I grate. “You all need to stop acting like this is all fun and games, because it’s not the time for it.”
“So the bitch was referring to the cleanup.” Decker scoffs. “I fucking hate her.”
“No, she wasn’t.”
Jesus Christ.
Any minute now Pe
“Are we meant to guess?” Hunt asks.
“Just shut up, okay?” I huff out a breath and search for understanding that doesn’t seem to exist.
“Oh, goodie.” Decker rubs his hands together. “What delights do you have in store for me?”
“You might want to tone down the sarcasm,” I grate. “This is serious.”
“No shit. It’s not like you get me presents on the daily. I’m kinda expecting to get shanked.”
And I’d seriously prefer that alternative. “Fine,” I huff. “I’m just going to spit it out.”
“Don’t worry. I tell Keira to do that all the time.” He shrugs. “Honestly, if you spit or swallow it doesn’t bother me either way.”
“Oh, shit.” Hunter snickers. “Blow job jokes with the boss man about his own sister. That’s likely to get you killed.”
Yeah. It fucking will.
I cock my fist and convince myself one swift uppercut will snap the sarcasm right out of him.
“Cole, just tell us.” Keira begs with her eyes. “What’s this all about?”
I throw my bloodstained cloth to the floor and look the sarcastic prick right in the eye. “Luther took me to his house yesterday.”
Decker stiffens, the humor leaving his features. About fucking time, asshole.
“And?” Keira steps closer.
“And Pe
The room erupts in chatter, multiple questions hurtled in every direction while Decker remains stone still.
“Are we talking about her remains?” Hunt asks. “What do you mean she was there?”
“I mean she was fucking there. Alive. Not necessarily well, because I’ve got no idea about her mental state, but she looked healthy enough.”
Decker turns white, looking like a ghost of the man he was moments earlier. He rubs a hand over his mouth and sucks in a breath. “Where is she now?”
I loosen the top buttons on my shirt, needing more room to breathe. “Before we talk about that, you need to know—”
“Where. The fuck. Is she?” He storms forward, getting in my face, his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths.
There’s nothing stopping me from putting a gun to his temple and telling him to back the fuck off. Not one damn thing after the shit I’ve gone through in the last twenty-four hours, but I’m smart enough to realize the next twenty-four he’ll go through will be just as tough.
“Cole, please.” Keira pushes between us, keeping her seething boyfriend at her back. “Where can we find her?”
“In one of the rooms down the hall. I don’t know which one.”
“She’s here?” Decker storms past me.
I don’t bother holding him back. He can work out his own way to deal with the reunion, but I latch onto Keira’s arm as she tries to follow. “Wait.”
She stops, tilts her head, and meets my gaze. “I need to go with him.”
“I know. But first you need to know she’s not alone.”
“What does that mean?”
“There’s a kid.”
“That son of a bitch,” Sarah hisses. “He knocked her up?”
“No. She hasn’t been gone long enough. But I know he’s ours.”
“Ours?” A shaky breath escapes Keira’s lips. “Meaning?”
“We have a half-brother. And to make matters worse, we just killed his father.”
She clamps a trembling hand over her mouth. From fearless to faint-hearted in the space of minutes.
Yep. That’s my sister.
She shakes her head, her eyes bleak with shock and confusion. “What do we do? Where’s his mother? Is he okay?
“First, I don’t know. Second, from what our father told me, the mother is dead. And third, he was anxious as all hell when Luther made him stab me in the leg with a fucking sedative. But now I’m not so sure.”
Her shock increases, the tremble in her hand turning to a full-blown shake.
“Just go to him.” Luca walks toward us. “Try to show him as much support as possible. I’ll come with you.” He leads her to the hall and both of them continue out of sight.
I should probably follow, but I can’t bring myself to face Tobias yet. Not until the evidence of our father’s murder has been cleaned up. Maybe then we can both pretend he never existed.