“We’re going to sort this out, Saint. I promise.” Ghost sounds just as pissed as me.
Although Mason is my brother and we run this organization together, I still hated to disappoint him. And although he didn’tsay it, I know this disappointed him. It made it look as if I couldn’t control my shit. My job was to make sure I ran my part of the organization smoothly. Because even though I’m over the guns, we all eat off the same plate.
“We need to put all our efforts into finding the captain of that cargo ship. The fact that he’s in hiding tells me he knows something and is being protected by someone.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Roc volunteers. “I’ll find that muthafucker.”
I dip my chin.
“I’ll get with Maseo,” Ghost adds. “See if he can dig up some more stuff on the captain.”
Pulling out my phone to send a message to Rome, Kingston, and Thiago, I noticed I had an email. This is my Saint phone. The phone I use for my arms business. People who deal with Saint don’t usually send emails. Going to the message, my heart beats double time.
Hello again Nicholas,
I guess you’re wondering why I changed my communication methods. I just want to keep you on your toes.
You have so much going on around you. A marriage on the way to divorce, missing guns, water and fire damage at your hotels. I bet you and your brothers are busy trying to figure out where I will attack next.
Brotherhood is a funny thing, isn’t it, Nicholas? Especially when it’s not blood related. Tell me, which one of your brothers came up with the idea to leave William Bone’s and abandon those poor defenseless boys? Was it you? No, you were too weak for that, weren’t you, Nicholas?
My thoughts leave the back seat of the SUV. I’m transported back to hell. The dingy white walls of William Bone’s school for boys. The smell of bleach, sweat, and desperation clogs my nostrils.
My breath comes rapidly; my eyes are shut. My hands are balled so tight down by my side my knuckles hurt. Even though I’ve showered, my skin still feels as if it’s crawling. His scent seems to cling to my skin.
“I’m done,” Anthony says. I open my eyes to find him staring at me.
Anthony is older than us and has been at the school much longer. We weren’t sure how long he'd been here, but he’s been here for a while.
His face is gaunt, and his black hair is shaved low in a military-style haircut. Those steely blue eyes are narrow but stern.
“We're going to leave this place.”
“But…. how are we going to do that, Ant?” Sergio’s little baby voice asks. He’s the youngest of the group. From the moment they tossed him in the unit with us, we took him under our wings.
His dark brown hair was already growing out. His hair grew fast no matter how many times they cut it, it seemed to always spring back up.
“By any means necessary,” Lucas says.
His freshly busted lip causes him to talk with a slight lisp. His black eye was healing, but it was in the early stages. He was so skinny you could see the indent in his collarbones.
“But if we do this,” Anthony goes on to say. “We do it together. Just the four of us.”
“I’m in.” Lucas places his hand out in front of him, palm down.
Anthony places his hand on top of Lucas’ and looks at Sergio. Shorter than all of us, Sergio looks at all our faces, his large hazel eyes too big for his small face, glances around. He’s scared.
“What if we get caught?” he whispers.
“We won’t,” Anthony says with more confidence than I know he has. There’s a huge possibility we will get caught and end up in the white house.
None of us wanted to end up in the white house.
“Come on, Serg,” Lucas pleads. He was always Sergio’s protector. “Put your hand in. I’ll keep you safe.”
That was all the assurance Sergio needed. He immediately placed his hand on top of Anthony’s. Now it was my turn. Ant turns to me. I can see the moment he remembers what he walked in on today. His eyes flare with anger. The same look he had when he came back into the room.
My stomach rolls, and bile rises in my throat. The memory of his hot breath on the back of my neck and his hands on my shoulders makes me feel sick. I swallow it back down as my body grows hot. Molten lava fills my veins. I shut my eyes and breath trying to calm the storm brewing inside me.
