Page 79 of Brandishing Betrayals

I took a sip of my whisky as the room slowly quieted. “Kara has refused to let anyone kill Dax Hillcrest. She believes—and we agree—that if we kill him now, his guys in prison will retaliate against her father in prison before he can be sentenced. She needs control of the firm, before that happens, or everything she’s worked for all these years goes down the drain.”

Leo frowns. He takes a sip of his own whisky and stares contemplatively into the fire. “And the Knights can’t help with that?”

The moment I’ve been waiting for, “No. Apparently there’s tensions with the Bratva, because of the coke deal.”

A hiss sounded from someone in the room, and I braced myself for Leo’s impending wrath.

Leo shook his head slowly. “I should have known there would be more.”

“Johnny Taylor said you refused a sit down, so his hands are tied with the Bratva. He can’t get anyone inside to sway Carmichael, so Kara can’t get the verdict she needs. Without that verdict, I can’t kill Hillcrest.” I pressed on quickly before Leo could stop me. “My girl, Maya. She came back. She’s being threatened by Hillcrest. He’s stalking her.”

“So fucking kill him,” Leo snapped, glaring at me.

“I would, if I could. Kara’s like a little sister to me. She made me vow—all of us vow—that we wouldn’t kill him until the shit with her dad was finished. As she was the one that had been kidnapped by the piece of shit, we told her yes. That wasbeforeI found out the love of my life was being threatened by him. It’s why Maya left me in the first place ten years ago.”

I wasn’t sure if it was true or not, but all evidence that I had pointed that way. Leo didn’t need to know that Maya hadn’t confirmed any of it yet. We needed Leo to agree to have someone inside put pressure on Vince to accept the plea deal.

Leo stared at me, assessing me, as if seeing me clearly for the first time.

I could see his wheels turning, knowing Leo was wondering where my true loyalties lied. That was the thing, Leo would always puthisfamily first.

“Alright,” he agreed.

There was a shifting around the room as Leo’s brothers either disagreed or agreed, they kept their mouths shut at least. I was grateful for that. “Thank you.”

Leo shook his head slowly. “I will have someone reach out to our guys in the prison, but you have a list to work through. Twenty kills, Nicolai.” Leo’s voice was deep and authoritative; itheld no room for disagreement. “I don’t care if you enlist help from your biker buddies, but each name on the list must be killed. I want proof.”

I swallowed thickly. I nodded slowly. “Do they have to be killed before you’ll reach out to your guys?”

Leo’s eyes narrowed. “Better act quickly.”

Marcos

Iwalkedaroundtheemptyhouse in bit of a haze of disbelief. Everything was almost exactly the same as it had been when we moved out ten years ago, minus some odd color choices, but still almost the same.

I couldn’t believe we were able to get this house.

I couldn’t believe I owned a house.

The three of us had bought a home together.

Our home.

The last place we had all been together and truly happy.

I had been the first to leave—after Maya. I couldn’t bear the idea of being in the house without her here. Nico had been the last of the three of us to leave, holding on hope that she would return.

Now here we all were, moving back in, without Maya. Only this time, even I was slightly hopeful that Maya might return, though I’d never admit that out loud. I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I had only agreed to buying a house because I needed to for Luke, because if things went sideways, I would need a home for him.

Thankfully, Jason had handled everything we needed regarding the lawyer, the realtor, and the loan officer, because I hadn’t had a clue. Jason had scheduled everything and moved money around to make all of this work. All I had to do was show up to closing and sign my name.

Walking around the house now that it was officially ours felt completely surreal.

“Do you have specific paint colors you want?” Jason asked as I walked into the kitchen. He was standing at the counter with a legal pad in front of him, a list already in process.

“Nah.” I shook my head. “Neutral colors, earth tones maybe? I don’t fucking know, just get rid of this shit.” I twirled my finger around, pointing to the room at large.

Jason snorted a laugh and nodded. “Yep. I’m gonna hire someone to paint the whole house in one go, the kitchen cabinets included. I figure the cabinets are in good shape, we can upgrade the counters to granite.”

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