Page 167 of Unwritten Rules

“First,” he said, holding up a finger and sitting down in the chair across from me, “I need to tell you that this is big.Huge, even. The Fitzgerald family, the Whitmore family, and others are wanting to steal the spotlight. A group effort has been launched to attack families like mine who don’t pick sides, and my father is awaiting a prison sentence because of it.”

What did I care about his family? There were takedowns on a regular basis in our world and his family wasn’t anything special.

“You’re not in our circles, so what the fuck could you know? You were the one cozying up to her to get in the good graces of the inner circles for your family.” I poured myself a drink, kicking my feet up on the table.

God, it felt good to act in charge. I could get used to it.

He scoffed. “Believe what you will, but I’m out here fucking hiding from everyone. I’m sticking my damn neck out here for the sake ofher.”

The Bradford family had been grasping for straws in recent years, unwilling to play by the unwritten rules of the inner circle. The look on his face told me he was serious, but he could have been playing well.

“Hiding? Wonderful. If no one knows you’re here, I can bury you in my garden and no one would be the wiser. I suggest getting to the point of your visit.” I tipped the glass back, drinking up all the whiskey from my glass. Being in front of the man who almost had everything I wanted was testing my patience.

“Fine.” He crossed his arms and glared at me. “Fitzgerald wants Montgomery. As inFallonMontgomery. Whitmore decided she wanted to meddle to get back at you.”

“Tell me something I don’t already fucking know, Bradford.Tick tock.” Pressing a button on the keypad in my office, I paged for Dave to sit in on my little meeting.

He shifted in his seat, looking at the keypad warily. “Fallon is to be ousted from her company.”

“As I said, I already fuckingknow.” Standing, I placed my hands on the desk, leaning over to tempt him with my anger issues. Everyone knew I had them, not many were stupid enough to try me. “I am running the Vaughn family, and I know everything about everyone. Tell. Me. Something. I. Don’t. Know.”

He breathed out. “She’s to be contracted to the Fitzgerald company as hiswifefor her company to be spearheaded by some other person who has the authority to do so.”

“Well now, you’re going to tell me exactly how you got this information and who said it. And if I don’t believe you...” I looked over to Dave coming into the office space to stand guard at the door. “You don’t get to leave. Don’t forget what I’m doing for your family.”

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“Give me the statusof Wilder.”

Reaper sat in typical fashion with some demon mask on today. He adjusted his over the ear headphones as he took a swig from the bottle of rum he brought in with him.

He burped. “Ah, the troublemaker. I followed that girl around and she’s been a real headache. Her daddy is sending her out to collect intel to use for blackmail. On whom? Don’t ask me.”

I rubbed the back of my head, hoping to stir up some thoughts. “Her family takes people out. Collecting intel, are you sure?”

“About as sure as I am that I have a huge dick.”

Gross.

“Anyone else drop dead in the last few days? Casualties have been stacking up and we are close to all the answers on how to handle it and make our moves. The Dictator just got back from Eastern Europe making some agreements and acquiring some deals for Montgomery Group; he’s expecting some answers from us.”

Fallon has been pretending things have been normal with her roommate missing. Well, as normal as she could be with beefed up security going to classes like nothing is wrong. Going to the obligatory parties and gatherings and minding herp’sandq’swhile observing—learning.

Our job was planning and doing our best to prevent any event that would stop her from her takeover as CEO. Things were running smoothly with strategic efforts from a couple of families running counter plans to the split off group.

The insider’s circle had a large fissure down the middle. We knew the goal was to implement new leadership, kicking us out of the top.

Crabs in buckets.

“No one of importance to spook the news crews. Out in New York there has been an uptick, and here in Willow Bay, we have the initial group of college kids that got nixed. That Wilder girl was responsible for that kid bouncing on concrete and the staged suicide last week.”

I needed another drink. Fallon had been living with the enemy this whole time while others were concerned about her ex-boyfriend.

A thought occurred to me. “What about that guy Wilder was seeing earlier in the semester? That drug dealer?”

“No idea.”

Nothing had been said when her boyfriend was suddenly dead. I made a mental note to investigate it later. We had more pressing matters than a missing frenemy.

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