Oran
“Oran.” My lip curled into a nasty snarl and my knee bounced furiously as my blood boiled, gorging my muscles until they threatened to burst from my skin. Yanking off my jacket, I rolled up my sleeves roughly, and my brother’s eyes narrowed on me shrewdly. “Oran.”
“Shut the fuck up, Carlyle.” The vicious snap echoed off the car windows and I shot my brother the most disgusted glare possible. His face was stone, his lips thin, eyes sharp, but he didn’t have to deal with the backlash of his egotistical control. Scoffing roughly, venom coated my tongue, and I licked my teeth in agitation. “I told you that anything you tried to do was going to fail, that May doesn’t play ball when it’s made of green. And you fucking ignored me, as usual, but you’re not the fucking one who has to try to fix this. God damnit, I practically begged you not to.”
“I admit that I underestimated her.” Punching the seat with a growl, I breathed fire through flared nostrils as Carlyle just looked on, unphased. My mind whirred too fast to be effective and I closed my eyes to inhale deeply, but it only fueled the flames engulfing my lungs. “Oran, I honestly thought you were exaggerating. I apologize.”
“You’re an idiot, Carlyle, seriously.” Rubbing my hands down my face, my palms sweaty and my fingers stiff, I slumped a little in my seat as I struggled to get control of myself. “Fuck, I told you, said itspecificallythat now wasn’t a good time. I haven’t talked to her about the offer. I haven’t even hinted at it. I can’t believe you said that about her family.”
“I do my due diligence. Did she seriously not even have the slightest suspicion?” Shaking my head as the car came to a permanent stop, I cracked open my eyes to glare at my brother, and he rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. “Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter right now. Let’s talk about Candice’s discovery.”
He popped open the door and climbed out, and I took a few calming breaths before following. The weather was slowly but surely starting to turn and the wind was a little nippy against my bare skin. The hairs on my arms and hands bristled as I adjusted my shirt, but I left my jacket in the car. It was just too restraining.
I wanted to fucking blow up, and I hissed is agitation as I gazed at the very fancy restaurant Carlyle had brought us to. Rolling my shoulders, I popped my neck and patted my pants pockets for my wallet and phone, and the root of distraction started to take hold.
“So, Candice was right all along— they’re really just stupid.” They weren’t questions, but my brother nodded firmly as we walked into the high-end place. The hostess smiled politely and I rubbed the back of my neck absently as I shook my head. “I don’t know. It’s been going on for a while. Too long, if you ask me.”
Diamon. Diamon.Diamon was the true definition of a grease monkey.The guy was just an idiot, and I actually felt bad for him. Quietly, my brother and I were led to our table, and I let my mind roam on the subject. Even when I was working under my father, Diamon had been a thorn in our sides. He never actually did anything of substance, but his nuisance factor had been intensifying.
The Italians were dying. Hell, all those old mobsters were dying. In this day and age, violence couldn’t get the job done. The threat of it wasn’t enough. Everything was now a business transaction, and the only thing that mattered now was the dirt that could be dug up on the other side.
The more noticeable a person was, the easier they fell under Carlyle’s heel.
Pedro Gonzalez was a great example of that. The guy was an oldie gangbanger, using an old system that just barely worked anymore. He was on everyone’s watch list from Canada to Germany. He couldn’t go anywhere without fear of being pinned down by SAS or SF.
Why? Because Pedro’s dumb ass decided to set fire to a village and kill a whole ton of civilians. Out and out violence like that just put unnecessary spotlights on him, and he was trapped like a rat.
Which was how Carlyle was able to terrify him into submission and take everything he had. Pedro was dead, supposedly, but there wasn’t anyone willing to take his place because of my brother.
Mexico was a hotbed and my brother kept one heel on their jugular.
“Oran . . . ” Blinking as Carlyle snapped me from my daze, I sat down across from him and nodded curtly. His eyes narrowed on me, and he propped his elbows on the table to hold his chin on laced fingers. “Do you want out?”
Alarm rang shrilly against my skull, and my eyes widened as the air was knocked from my lungs. I immediately shook my head, and Carlyle frowned darkly as I pursed my lips and clenched my jaw.
“Why would I want to do that?” The low, gravelly quality of my voice scraped against my ear drums and I cleared my throat roughly to shake my head more firmly. “No. I don’t. I like where I am right now.”
“Good. Good. I ask because I would appreciate you doing something for me. A favor.” His express drew serious, and I frowned under tightly knit brows as curiosity speared my chest. Holding my breath in anticipation, I clenched my hands under the table, and he cocked his head like a snake ready to strike. “I’m not here because of Candice, specifically. I heard you had a girlfriend and I wanted to meet her.”
“What does that have to do with whatever favor you want?” The question rolled thickly off my tongue, and Carlyle’s gaze hardened as his jaw ticked absently. A cold sweat broke out on my back, and he let the silence stretch as he held my gaze, staring me down, sizing me up.
“I would like to bring you and her, and Natasha and Erik, out to dinner. Valerie didn’t come with me, so I thought it’d be a good time to get together. Do something I haven’t done yet.” My brows rose, a harsh bark of laughter tearing from my throat, and I shook my head before Carlyle even finished speaking.
“No, no, you fucked it all up, Carlyle. I’m going to beluckyif she lets me grovel for forgiveness, and it’ll take a miracle if she accepts it. You have a lot of nerve asking me a favor like that when you just pissed her off.” For the first time, maybe ever, I realized Carlyle was even worse than me. For all the ‘due diligence’ he performed, he didn’t realize May wasn’t like Kara in the least. He didn’t have the slightest inkling that she wasn’t going to be pushed around. He thought our relationship was advanced enough to get through hisidiocy.
Which it wasn’t . . . and that was really, really sad.
“Carlyle, I don’t think you get it. If there wasoneperson not to flex on, it was May. You really can’t come back from that. She’snevergoing to let that go. Hell, she might even break up with me over it. You realize that, right?” May’s teary, angry face and the thick note of betrayal in her voice rang in my skull, and I shook my head sharply. “No, I’m not going to do it. My relationship isn’t something you can just butt in on when you feel like stirring the pot, Carlyle.”
“I went about trying to get to know her the wrong way, Oran. I admit that. I sincerely thought she knew about her parents and why they kicked her sister out. I mean, how the hell did she think she got through college with her parents’ massive debts, anyway?” My brows rose high at that, and Carlyle scowled darkly in return. “She doesn’t know about that, either, does she?”
“Carlyle, lies don’t show up on a search. Maybe, next time,ifthere’s a next time, try feeling a person out before you just assume what you know is concrete and air-dried.” The waitress flounced over to our table as the conversation stalled, and I sat back to wonder how, in Carlyle’s mind, he equated what he did to ‘trying to get to know her’. May barely had contact with her parents, and it was only with her mother, from what I knew.
When did Carlyle suddenly become such an asshole? Was this really what I spent so long trying to emulate?
