Page 32 of Brandishing Betrayals

The three men exchanged a look. “We’re not gonna lie here,” Blaze said. His dark black hair was covered by a backward ballcap and his green eyes shone bright in florescent light. “We have a personal interest in what happens with the snakes.”

“My little brother was killed by Dax Hillcrest twelve years ago,” Axel said. His gray eyes cutting to mine.

I cursed under my breath. I had known something had happened with Las Serpientes and Axel’s crew, back in the day. It was what made the three of them join up to begin with, but I had never known the full story.

“I’m sorry man,” I said.

Axel nodded curtly. “Yeah… I have a bit of a vested interest in Hillcrest and the snakes.”

I rubbed a hand over my buzzed head, thinking. “I get that, I do. They kidnapped my sister.” I shook my head. “My hands are tied on that for right now. You know we made a deal with the Knights to let the D.A. handle Carmichael right now. My sister thinks that if we go after Las Serpientes on the outside, they’ll retaliate on the inside and do something to fuck up the case against Carmichael. As of right now, my sister needs him alive.”

Axel narrowed his gaze at me. I could feel the anger behind that glare. “If things change—”

“If things change,” I interrupted him. “We will vote as a club as how to handle Hillcrest and Las Serpientes.”

Axel blew out a breath and looked away.

Marcos

Iwalkedintomysister’shouse late Monday night, after texting her to see if she was still awake. I was dreading the conversation I was about to have with her and prayed to God her men would give us space.

I let myself in through the backdoor, walking into the kitchen. I left my boots on, as I walked through the large kitchen in search of my sister. I found her curled up on the couch, nursing a glass of wine. There was a book propped up on a pillow in her lap, she looked comfy and cozy, and utterly relaxed.

I hated that I was about to piss her off, especially now that we had finally got into a good place in our relationship. “Hey lil Manita,” I greeted.

She looked up from her book and gave me a soft smile. “Hey Marquitos.” She unfurled herself from the couch and walked over to greet me with a hug. “Want something to drink?”

“I’ll take a Whisky,” I said, squeezing her tightly.

She hummed as she pulled away. “Important meeting, requiring whisky, late at night? What’s going on big brother?”

I sighed as I stepped away from her. I ran a hand over my buzzed head and paced away from her.

Kara was quiet as she poured me a glass of whisky. She slid it over on the counter toward me, before she walked back into the living room and grabbed her glass of wine. Once she was back in the kitchen, she took a seat at the large island and waited, watching me expectantly.

I sighed as I walked over to the island. I took a sip of my whisky and rubbed a hand over my scruffy jaw. “Look, I’m sorry okay.”

She frowned, “Marquitos—”

“Just let me get this out, OK?” I shot her a pleading look.

She pursed her lips together, her blue eyes narrowing on me, but she nodded once and let me continue.

“I hate to admit this, but I’m struggling a little bit financially, and well…” I rubbed a hand over my jaw again, hating that I wasn’t able to just spit out what I needed to say.This fucking vulnerability shit sucks.

“Marcos,” Kara said, pulling me out of my train of thought. “Whatever you need. You can have. How much money do you need?”

“It’s not like that.” I shook my head vehemently. “I just need to stop paying your student loans. If I don’t have those payments, I’d be OK.”

Kara gasped.

I couldn’t look at her. I could only imagine the pain in those blue eyes. I knew I was hurting her.This is such bullshit.

“What do you mean you’re paying my student loans?” She snapped. “Marcos! What the hell!”

I finally looked over at her. The anger was evident, but so was the pain.

“I thought my dad took care of my loans! I never would have expected you pay for them! Marcos! We said when I applied for those loans, that they would be my responsibly when I graduated! It only made sense! Why in the hell would you be paying them? My dad told me he took care of them for me! I thought he rolled my undergrad into the Harvard payments!”

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