Treachery Prequel

A week after my meeting with Luca, I was leaning against a wall, gripping my fingers around a thin pool cue.

The billiards room was packed by the eight men I’d always known, the afternoon quiet while we played a few rounds of pool waiting for the party that would begin in a few hours.

It was the same shit, different day, the guys laughing about whatever fights they started in random bars, or comparing notes on the women they’d fucked over the past few days.

Meanwhile, I was clenching my damn teeth, frustration riding me because of one particular woman who was proving to be a headache-inducing pain in the ass.

My father was on the way to the mansion, our phone call less than an hour ago filled with his bullshit warnings that if Luca Bailey wasn’t handled, he was going to make all of our lives a living hell. I didn’t know why she needed to be handled, just that we needed her under our thumb. Every time one of us asked, we were brushed off, told to do as we were told without worrying about the specifics.

What the asshat didn’t know was that Luca wasn’t as easy as the rest. She was the first woman I’d run across that didn’t quickly fall into the traps we’d set for her.

It pissed me off, but I caught myself smiling to think about how she’d told me off, to remember the muscle tick above her eye as she narrowed that cute as fuck stare on my face and told me where I could shove the deal I offered her.

It had been a week since our argument and rather than crawling back as I’d assumed she would do, she’d changed her entire routine at school, managing to dodge Gabriel’s attempts at finding her alone while refusing to come back to me for help with her project.

Stubborn as fuck, that girl.

And for some damn reason, that only made me want her more.

Balls clacked together, the sound forcing my eyes open to find Shane leaning over the table with a joint hanging between his lips, his mouth curled at the corner as Damon bragged about their efforts to rearrange some idiot’s face a few days ago for the fun of it.

It irritated me how the twins were begi

The fucker was on his way here with my father. Yet, while Shane laughed as Damon described the bar fight, Ezra sat back with a dark shadow in his gaze.

“So after we left the son of bitch in a pile on the floor, the chick he was with asked for my number,” Damon said as he stood to grab the pool cue from Shane and take his shot. “I fucked her out back while her boyfriend cleaned the blood and piss from his pants in the bathroom.”

All of the guys laughed at Damon’s comment, all but me, at least. I was too busy eyeing Ezra, watching intently as he laughed along with everyone else with a tight expression. Something was wearing on him and I wanted to know what.

Unfortunately, my question was answered as soon as another voice rolled through the room, one I hoped every damn day would be permanently silenced.

“It’s good to know you boys are spending your days fucking around on bullshit rather than doing something far more constructive with your time.”

All heads snapped to the door at the sound of my father’s voice. Again, all but mine. I would rather spend as little time looking at his face as possible.

I didn’t fail to notice that Ezra’s expression darkened at the sound of my father’s voice, but only because I knew Ezra’s father was most likely standing in the doorway next to him.

“It’s good to see you again, boys.”

My father paused, no doubt giving me a fucking stare-down for refusing to look his direction.

“I assume the feeling is not mutual for all of you.”

Gabriel elbowed me, my eyes cutting right to meet his gaze. He cocked a brow, his mouth pulling into a tight line because, although he knew I’d rather see my father face down in a puddle of his own blood, it was a better bet to appease the assholes who still controlled our purse strings, at least for another five to six years.

Understanding his silent warning, the back of my head rolled over the wall as I turned to look at my father, our eyes locking immediately.

I’d inherited the blank expression from the man who now stared me down, but even though Daddy Dearest wanted to pretend my silence didn’t bother him, the cutting blade of his stare told me differently.

“Hello, father. How nice of you to drop by.”

He gri

Frustration speared my spine, their biweekly field trips with the twins irritating me more and more with each passing month.

“And where would you be taking them?”

He didn’t answer me, not that I thought he would. Nobody talked about what was happening with Ezra and Damon, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t figure it out eventually.

Behind my father, the twins’ dad stood quietly, his gaze locked on his sons where they sat behind the pool table. He didn’t look pleased to see they both had a nice buzz going from the beer they’d been drinking all afternoon.

“Come with me, son.”

Expecting me to follow like the trained puppy I was, my father walked off into another room, the heels of his expensive leather shoes clicking on the stone floors. I breathed out a heavy sigh and pushed away from the wall. The sooner I talked to the bastard, the sooner he’d go away.

I walked from the room, making sure to knock shoulders with the twins’ father on my way past, his head turning just slightly to catch my gaze before I rounded the corner and followed my dad down a hall and into the media room.

He shut the door as soon as I passed through.

“Your attitude problems are starting to piss me off,” he warned.

“Yeah,” I huffed out a bark of laughter on the word as I turned to lean against one of the black leather theater seats that faced the full wall screen on the opposite side of the room.

Crossing my arms over my chest, I lifted my head, my eyes pi

“Well, that makes two of us because I’m a little sick and tired of all the secrets you seem to be keeping these days.”

“Don’t talk back to me like you have a leg to stand on, Ta

I shook my head. “I have a degree from Yale. I doubt I’d be working anywhere for pe

“A Bachelor’s won’t get you anywhere. At least not anywhere that matters. It definitely won’t get you the respect you’ll need if you hope to take over my businesses someday. As it stands now, I’d rather hand them over to Gabriel, or one of your other friends who know how to follow orders.”

Gritting my teeth, I choked back the knee jerk reaction to tell him where he could shove his businesses.

“Why are you here?”

He leaned against the door, his designer suit perfectly tailored, his tie perfectly straight, his fucking Rolex glimmering beneath the low light of the room. Not even a hair was out of place on the asshole’s head, his perfection at odds with the black T-shirt I wore with low-slung jeans.