Page 91 of Wings
Duke's eyes found mine across the room. A small gesture—follow me—and he was already moving toward the back office. Thor caught the signal too, abandoning his arm-wrestling bracket to fall in behind.
"Stay here," I told Kiara, but she was already shaking her head.
"Where you go, I go." Not a question, not a request. A statement of fact delivered with steel underneath.
No time to argue. We followed Duke through the crowd, smiles still plastered on for anyone watching. But once we hit the hallway, the pretense dropped. Duke's stride ate up distance like a man heading to war.
"We have a visitor," he said once his office door closed behind us. "Claims it's life or death."
The side door—the one that led to the alley, used for deliveries and quiet exits—opened before anyone could respond. Two prospects entered first, hands on weapons, eyes scanning for threats even here in the heart of our territory.
Between them, Alex stumbled into the light.
My brother looked like death had already started claiming him. Clothes that might have been expensive once hung off a frame that had eaten itself from the inside. Three days of stubblecouldn't hide the hollows in his cheeks, and his eyes—fuck, his eyes were those of a hunted animal. Wild, desperate, seeing threats in every shadow.
His hands shook as he raised them, showing empty palms. The tremor could have been withdrawal, fear, exhaustion. Probably all three fighting for dominance in a body that was running on fumes and whatever cocktail of stimulants kept him upright.
"Congratulations on the patch, brother." The words came out cracked, his attempt at a smile looking more like a wound. "Sorry to crash the party, but I'm out of time."
Every muscle in my body locked down, training and instinct screaming different commands. Brother, threat, family, enemy—all tangled together in the wreckage standing before me. Kiara pressed closer to my side, and I felt her hand find the small of my back. Not hiding, not fearful. Supporting.
"You shouldn't be here." The words came out flat, emotionless.
"I know." His hands dropped slowly, carefully, telegraphing every movement. "But in about six hours, the Serpents are going to figure out their books don't match their reality. That phone data you lifted? They'll trace it back eventually. I'm already dead—just wanted to choose how I go out."
The phone. The evidence we'd held back, giving him time I couldn't explain even to myself. Of course he'd figured out we had it. Paranoia was the only thing keeping him alive at this point.
Duke's hand had drifted to his weapon, casual as breathing. "And you came here why?"
"Because I have something you want. Information worth more than my skimming ever was." Alex's desperate eyes found mine, and for a second I saw the kid who'd shared my room, my toys, my blood. Then it was gone, replaced by the stranger he'd become. "One last deal. I help you hurt the Serpents, you help me disappear. After that, I'm a ghost. You never see me again."
Thor scoffed from his position by the door. "Pretty big talk from a dead man walking."
"That's exactly what I am," Alex agreed, swaying slightly on his feet. "Dead man with nothing left to lose and one last card to play. Question is whether you want to hear it or just hand me over gift-wrapped."
"Talk," Duke commanded, but his eyes were on me, reading my reaction.
"Thursday night," Alex started, the words tumbling out like he'd rehearsed them. "Major shipment coming up from Houston. Quarter million in cash, payment for three months of product already distributed. They'll stop at the Stanton warehouse to divide it up for the runners. Security's light because who's stupid enough to hit a Serpent convoy?"
"Someone with a death wish," Thor supplied.
"Someone with inside knowledge of routes, schedules, and security positions," Alex corrected. He reached slowly into his jacket, everyone tensing until he produced folded papers. "Everything I know. Guard positions, vehicle descriptions, the works."
Duke didn't reach for the papers. "Your price?"
"Sixty grand. Enough to clear my debts and start over somewhere the Serpents won't look. You keep the rest—almost two hundred thousand pure profit."
The math was seductive. Hurt our biggest rival, fund operations for months, and make my brother someone else's problem. All for the price of believing a junkie thief with every reason to lie.
"Even if this intel is good," I heard myself say, "why should I trust you? After the threats, the stalking, what you did to Kiara?"
His composure finally cracked at her name. "Because I fucked up, okay? Lost my goddamn mind. The drugs, the pressure,seeing her happy with you—it all got twisted in my head until I couldn't see straight."
He looked directly at Kiara for the first time since entering. She didn't flinch, didn't hide. Just stood there like a queen surveying a peasant, waiting to see if he'd grovel properly.
"I'm sorry." The words fell into silence like stones into deep water. "Not asking for forgiveness. Not trying to make it right. Just . . . acknowledging that I know what I did was fucked. That I became something I don't even recognize."
Kiara's grip on my back tightened, but her voice came out steady as steel. "Acknowledgment received. Doesn't change anything."
