Page 36 of Fractured Loyalties
She grins. “That’s how you know it was a proper Woods event.” She pops one of her carrots, chews it, and then lowers her voice. “I heard Kade got into a fight after. But I don’t know much more. I’m a social outlier in this place—and Kade isn’t one to fight with.” Her smile falters.
The words tick in my brain for a second before I can formulate a response. “Who did he fight with?”
She pauses, frowning. “No one really knows,” she says, but her tone is laced with skepticism. “Someone said he left the party early and was super drunk, ranting all about Roman Woods being an asshole. Again, no one fucks with Kade.”
“Oh.” My throat grows dry, and I feel like I should press, but I can’t.
She laughs. “It totally tracks, though. I’m pretty sure the whole world thinks Roman Woods is an asshole.” She pauses, her eyes widening. “Butyouprobably know that way better than anyone else. He’s your brother.”
My brother, who fucked me at the party.
I have to swallow the shame. But somehow, I still manage to smile through it.
Fifteen
ROMAN
“Getyour ass to the docks and then meet me at our usual place for lunch,” my father snaps over the phone when I call him back. “You can’t leave your dirty work to Edward and expect me not to find out. Yousincerelyoverstepped your bounds.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I had a feeling that’s what he was talking about when he called me on the way to drop Ivy off, but now, I’m sure he knows—and that’s not good.
I force myself to take deep breaths and keep driving, while I focus on anything other than what I’ll have to deal with when I get home. I leave the school behind quickly, as well as the soft suburbs and everything that holds some semblance of goodness.
By the time I reach the docks, the sun is in the middle of the sky, and I know I don’t have a lot of time. The complex of warehouses and shipping yards lining the bay gives me the creeps. This is the kind of place you only come to if you’re picking something up or putting something down.
And unfortunately, I’ve done both.
The lot is empty, except for one sedan parked by the first dock. I know it’s Edward. I pull up next to him and kill theengine. I’m not even out of the car before he slides out of the driver’s seat, hiding behind a pair of gaudy Ray Bans.
“You know you don’t have to look like a secret service agent, right?” I shoot at him as he approaches me, his lips set in a grim line.
“You know you don’t have to kill every boy that looks at Ivy, right? Especially when they’re your father’s favorite.” Edward hits right back, and honestly, I realize he’s the closest thing I have to a friend.
I glance around to see what we have to deal with, but Edward just chuckles. The dock itself is a gangplank of splinters and rusted nails. After dark here, the only light would come from a single flood lamp that’s set at the edge, and it would turn everything beneath it into a punchline of shadows.
We won’t be here that long, though, but I notice it as something to think about if others come looking.
“In the back,” Edward motions to the hatch of his car. “I’m not a fan of taking risks like this.”
I ignore him and pop the trunk. “Yeah, but we both know you could’ve said no.”
“Touché,” he mumbles. “But um… One thing you should probably know, Roman…”
My eyes run across the kid in the back, already suspecting what Edward is going to say. I spin around to face him. “He’s not fuckindead.You hadonejob, Eddy. One. Fucking. Job.”
My butler and henchman just stare at me through the dark lenses. “I think we both know who stopped that from happening.”
I let out a painful sigh, running a hand over my face. “Robert. Guess he wants me to change my mind.”
“No, he just said you need to do it yourself, and betray him like a man.” Edward raises his hands in a low gesture of surrender when I glare at him. “It’s not personal, you know that.You know you’re my friend, but it’s really fucking hard to keep your dad from finding things out when there are cameras all over the place. Kind of hard to hide a whole-ass person.”
I nod, closing my eyes and then turning my attention back to the trunk. Kade is out cold, gagged, and his wrists and ankles are cinched together with zip ties, duct tape, and something that looks suspiciously like rebar wire. There’s a concrete block strapped to his knees and another to his ankles; the kind you buy in bulk at Home Depot if you’re pouring a patio—or drowning a person, I guess.
“So, you did all the prep work, but decided not to put the imbecile out of his misery?” I turn back to Edward.
“I tried to make it as easy for you as I could,” he replies. “You know, the boss said I couldn’t kill him, but he didn’t say I couldn’t get him ready—or that you couldn’t.”
