“Enter,” Andre calls out.
Nerves settle over me as I turn the doorknob and step into the room. His eyes instantly go from hard Don to soft Andre as soon as he sees it’s me standing there. Kingston turns my way, looking older and more tired than I ever remember him being.
Andre stands and then comes to me. “Are you okay, Tesoro?”
“I just needed to see you,” I tell him nervously.
“All you have to do is ask,” he tells me, pulling me into his chest.
I let out a long breath and relax into him. Andre bends down and sweeps me up into his arms, carrying me over to the chair across from Kingston, where he sits with me in his lap. My brother watches us with a thoughtful look on his face.
“Does he make you happy?” Kingston finally asks.
“We’ve got a lot to talk about and figure out, but I think I’m exactly where I want and need to be,” I answer honestly.
“What does your grandfather think about this? The Kardoni and Reeves families haven’t been friendly for a very long time,” Kingston states, leaning back on the couch with his glass hanging from his fingers.
“Luckily, my grandfather has taken a liking to her, and she is one of the few people he recognizes when his mind slips. Meaning the Kardoni’s are good to go. What will the great Reeves family have to say about it?”
“Considering I’m one of the only true Reeves left, I would say you’re cleared on our side as long as you treat her right and take care of her like she deserves,” Kingston answers him.
Andre just gives him a nod, rubbing his hand up and down the outside of my thigh. “Tesoro, we’ve finished our deal, and now that the families will be related by blood, there is no changing it. You asked to speak with your brother before he left. Would you still like to do so?”
Sitting up, I turn to him. “King, why did you and father turn such a blind eye to Otis?”
Kings sits forward, his elbows on his knees. “Father didn’t know most of what Otis did or was doing.”
Sitting on Andre’s lap, my soul fills with anger. “I told him. I told him about the nights he would sneak into my room while I was showering and changing. I told him every time Otis stalked my every move and climbed into bed with me at night. That’s bullshit, King. He fucking knew and chose to continue to let it happen.”
A bone-deep wariness seems to wrap its arms around Kingston’s shoulders. “I need you to listen to what I’m about to tell you, Tins. I need you to not interrupt or say anything until I’m done. Can you do that?”
I give him a deadpan look. “We both know I’m impulsive and rarely can stop the words before they pop out of my mouth, but I will do my best to just listen.”
Andre pulls me so that my back is against his chest and slides his hand under my shirt to lazily run his fingers along my lower belly.
“Father was never truly the leader of the Reeves family.” Kingston’s words ring out like a bomb thrown into the city center, blowing my entire belief system out of the water.
When I don’t say anything at his confession he continues, “Father had three brothers, one older and one younger than him. The older brother ran the family until he was killed. You see, our family, much like the Italians, is very traditional. When the leader of a family can no longer run the family, it is passed to the eldest son. If there isn’t an eldest son, it passes to the next brother in line. So, father's oldest brother Marcus was running the family when father had me, and then because our grandfather was an asshole, he had another son about two years younger than me.”
I shake my head because this man isn’t making any sense at all. “King, you’re not making sense. I don’t understand.”
King sighs, leaning back on the couch, throwing his drink back before he tries again. “Ruler of the family, Grandfather Reeves. He had three sons: Marcus, Kingston, and Otis.”
“Are you telling me that Otis wasn’t our fucking brother but our uncle?” I’m shouting.
King nods. “Grandfather started losing his mind. Marcus was able to get him to step down and turn the family over to himself. Father didn’t care anything about running the family because he and Momma had just gotten married. They had me, and about two years later a young woman showed up holding a crying childand claiming it was Grandfather's and that she wasn’t ready to be a mother. Marcus, who was making very stupid and risky deals, made one with undercover feds, and they locked him up.”
He stands and goes to fix himself a drink. After drinking that one in one swallow, he pours another. “That left Father to care for Otis. It was decided he would raise him as his own. Marcus was in prison, but he could still run the family from there, so Father was just the acting leader so that we had a face on the family. Five years later, here came our perfect doll. You were the best baby and Momma and Daddy’s obsession. Father was getting ready to step away from the family, wanting to protect us children. Marcus refused and instead had Father train Marcus’s son that he had at the ripe age of seventeen.”
“That’s the moment the Kardonis decided that working with the Reeves’ was not a good idea,” Silas says as he comes through the door looking thoughtful.
“Deciding not to work with a family shouldn’t turn into the years-long cold war it did,” I mumble, my mind still reeling from the information that King has given us.
“That happened because on the night that your parents passed, they were coming to see me as I was going to help them get the information they needed to skip town with you and your brother.” Grandfather shakes his head sadly.
“You said brother, not brothers, so they were not going to bring Otis with them?” I ask, my brain running a thousand miles a minute.
“Yes. Brother,” Grandpa states firmly. “By the time they decided to leave, they knew exactly who and what Otis was. Your parents loved you so much and were doing everything they could to protect you.”
