Page 58 of Coff

Duke stalks up to him. “You will not disrespect my sister like that. If I hear you are stepping out on her again, I’ll—”

“Duke, stop,” I say as I stand up. “Nelson and I have an arrangement. It’s fine.”

Duke’s brows shoot up as he glances at me and then back at Nelson. “It’s fine that he’s not only stepping out on your marriage but apparently is brazen about it? How the hell is she going to get the respect of this community with you as her husband?”

Nelson crosses his arms. “I’m respectable, and no one cares what bed I’m in. All they care about is if this family upholds its promises. Which, by the way, you’re welcome.”

Duke’s eyes narrow. “You’re welcome for what?”

Nelson grins as he walks past Duke to the coffeemaker. He slowly pours himself a cup without answering. This is Nelson. He wants you to hang on his every word. Duke knows him well enough not to react. Likely that irritates Nelson even more.

Finally, the man turns around and takes a sip of coffee. He lowers the mug and grins at my brother. “We were having trouble with a supplier. I dealt with them.”

Duke closes his eyes. “What did you do?”

“You have insurance on the Miller warehouse, right?”

My brother rubs his temples as I watch this back-and-forth match. Nelson has taken matters into his own hands on many occasions, and Duke ends up cleaning up the mess. Every time Duke threatens him if he does it again, Nelson reminds him of who his family is and what will happen if even a hair is out of place on his body.

“Do we still have a warehouse?” Duke asks.

Nelson shrugs. “I didn’t stick around. Hopefully, the fire department saved some of it. But really, they should have contacted you by now.”

The warehouse isn’t in either of our names. It’s owned by a corporation that will be hard to track down because Duke made sure of it. We also don’t have any insurance on that building, and Nelson knows it. The last thing we needed was someone requesting an inspection at the wrong time.

Damn, I’m not sure what bothers me more, the fact I know all of this or the fact that I’m upset about losing the warehouse. I shouldn’t care. But even I know it’s the source of most of our revenue.

Revenue. More like dirty money, and while Duke opened an account for me years ago that has grown larger than I can even fathom, I don’t want it. I only take what I need to survive. I refuse to enjoy their drug money.

My stomach rolls the more I think about everything these two men and my father have done. If I could find a way out, I would run and never look back. I used to stay for my father. But once I found out what he really was, I was trapped because of Nelson.

One time I tried to talk to my mother. All she told me was that I couldn’t escape. But she did. A few days after my dad’s funeral, she flew off to Barcelona. And I haven’t heard from her since.

“You destroyed the warehouse?” Duke asks. He doesn’t try to hide the anger in his voice. “You know that’s where most of our business comes in.”

Nelson smiles. “Oh, is it? Oops.”

The vein in Duke’s forehead is popping out, and based on the smirk Nelson is wearing, that was his goal.

“I need to take care of a few things,” Duke says as he grabs his jacket and leaves.

Realizing I’m alone with Nelson and what happened the last time he was here, I focus my attention on my work.

“Hey,” he says.

I glance up.

“Thanks for saying what you did. The last thing I need is shit from your brother.”

I nod but say nothing. He finishes his coffee and sets his empty cup on my desk.

“I have business to deal with, too. See you later.” He walks out, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

With each passing day, it isn’t a matter of should I try to leave Nelson. It’s a matter of I have to.

An hour later, the door slams.

“Fuck!” Duke yells.

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