Page 40 of Entangled
Once I made my way out the front door, Isaac was already waiting patiently, ready to follow me there.
“Isaac, stay here tonight and keep an eye on Soren. I’ll be fine on my own,” I ordered.
If she was going to be here on her own, the least I could do was make sure she was surrounded by the best protection I had to offer. Let someone fuck with me all they wanted, but I’ll be damned if someone tried to mess with her while I wasn’t around.
“Kade,”Finn said, nodding to me as I made my way into the meeting room where everyone was already seated at the table and waiting for me. I wasn’t late by any means, but here they all were acting as if I still was.
I guess I technically was if I was always the last one to show up to places, and to meetings. Sometimes I questioned if my brother texted me last and forced me to be late on purpose. Sounds like something he would do just to torment me in his typical, older brother fashion.
Maybe I wouldn’t be so concerned about being late if it didn’t feel like part of my job, and not a family duty.
It wasn’t like we went out to do anything as a family. It was just focused on the business. We could never be a normal family.We couldn’t go out and play mini golf or go bowling. We had money to bring in and an empire to keep.
I walked over to the table that held the bottles of liquor, pouring myself a bourbon before making my way to a chair. I didn’t know what this meeting was about, but I knew a stiff drink never hurt.
I took a sip, letting it burn as it went down my throat, numbing my frayed nerves thinking about Soren being in my big, empty house by herself. I’d crush a man’s windpipe with my bare hands if anything happened to her.
She made me want to burn down the world just so she could be safe.
I’d never felt like this before for any woman, only my family.
So this buzzing under my skin felt foreign. Something I couldn’t name.
“Kade,” my father said, irritation attached to his words, and I knew I had spaced out before the meeting had even begun, and that wasn’t something you wanted to do in my father’s presence. He didn’t have to say anything else. Just one look from him and I snapped my attention to him, not letting it waver again.
“As I was saying, Lilah will be here shortly, and hopefully we can finish this measly battle once and for all,” Matthias went on, his own glass of liquor in his hand, a cigar in the other.
My gut twisted at hearing Lilah’s name, out of both anger and fear. The woman herself didn’t scare me. Her ability to take Soren back home to her piece of shit husband did.
And it also meant I was running out of time.
Before he could continue on, the double doors to the meeting room opened, and the Wicked Witch of Boston herself walked in. As if she knew we were discussing her, and wouldn’t have anyone speaking about her without her present.
“Good evening gentlemen,” she greeted, unfazed by the kidnapping of her stepdaughter. But we all knew that she was aware who had taken her. It wasn’t a surprise.
“Lilah,” my father greeted nonchalantly, waiting for Lilah to be seated before he began speaking again.
“I was just telling my boys that you were coming by so we could put an end to this useless turf war,” my father said, using his hands to speak and gesturing to where we sat at the table.
“I had hoped you’d say that, Matthias, and I’d love nothing more than to squash this misunderstanding, and bring my Soren back home,” Lilah replied.
I could have thrown up from the fake niceness she had in her voice, the way she pretended to care about Soren and her well-being.
I chuckled under my breath, and quickly realized my fuck up when Matthias glared at me.
“Yes? Did you have something to say?” Lilah asked sweetly, giving me her full attention. From the look in her eyes, it was like she knew I was the one who currently had Soren in my care.
“Not at all. We just all know how much she means to you,” I replied sarcastically, hoping she could read the ‘fuck you’ between the lines.
“What did you have in mind?” My father asked, ignoring my smart remark and turning his attention back to Lilah.
“I thought we could meet at a warehouse I have near the dock in three days. I present you with a contract stating the land is yours, and you give me back my daughter,” Lilah said simply, as if it was that easy.
“I don’t understand why we couldn’t do that in the first place,” Maverick grumbled, proving I clearly wasn’t the only one annoyed with the entire situation.
“Mind your tongue boy,” my father snapped, shutting Maverick up instantly.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
