CHAPTER 1
DECLAN
Iwait impatiently as my men drag the traitor, Cliff, out of the trunk of my car, his head lolling to the side before it thuds heavily on the ground when they drop him.
After I pistol-whipped him, Cliff passed out, not giving me a chance to tell him what would happen to him after we discovered the crimes against my family.
Well, crimes against the St. Clair family. My brother’sfamily by marriage.
My brother, Carter, and his enemy for more years than I can count, Kaison St. Clair, were forced into a marriage to build up an alliance between our families. Those sons of bitches actually fell in love.
I still hate that we have to work with those motherfuckers, but my brother loves his husband and actually welcomed our families’ merger.
Which means when I get rid of our enemies, I’m getting rid of the St. Clair family’s enemies too.
Cliff thought it would be a great idea to branch out and try to start another organization that rivaled the original St.Clair family. After our war with the Fensters six months ago, we’re still weak, and Cliff and his men wanted to capitalize on that.
What he didn’t count on was a mole who told Carter and Kai exactly what Cliff was planning.
I already killed the other ten men that thought to betray us—all St. Clair men, I was happy to point out—in front of Cliff, but I wanted to save the best for last.
While my men drag Cliff to the boat, I go to the trunk and retrieve the length of rope I had stashed there. I’ve always wanted to be like a cliché mafia family and have someone swim with the fishes, but Dad and Carter never let me. Since I became head of our security operations—for both our legal and illegal activities—I’ve been able to do what I want.
Within reason, unfortunately.
Carter and Dad don’t know I’m doing this. They think I’m just disposing of Cliff and his men like we usually do—taking them to The Fox Club, where there are barrels of acid to get rid of every trace of a body. But if anyone deserves to have cement shoes, it’s Cliff’s bitch ass.
They sent Carter’s bodyguard, Gavin, with me to curtail my more violent urges, but he can’t stop me from doing what I want. He’s been around long enough to know that what he says will go in one ear and out the other anyway, so he hasn’t bothered.
Gavin and I hop on the boat after the other Whitlock men I handpicked, and we set off to the middle of the ocean.
In a voice dripping with regret, Cliff shouts over the engine, “I have three million…three million that I lifted from Charlie’s house after his funeral. No one knows. I can give it to you. Just…drop me off on the coast and I’ll disappear.”
I don’t answer him as we get further out to sea. Gavin gives me a look, then shakes his head before he glances awaywith a slight smirk. I’m sure he’s thinking what I’m thinking: fucking St. Clair men can’t be fucking trusted.
I tried to tell Carter that before he got all gung ho about us merging with a rival family that we grew up distrusting, but he seems to think that because he and Kai are married, that our integration with the St. Clairs would be seamless.
Yeah, right. What our family has worked hard for will be fucking ruined by the St. Clairs.
An hour and a half later, we’re miles off the coast and I figure we’re far enough away that our deeds won’t be discovered. I tap Gavin, giving him the signal.
Gavin turns the boat in a large circle so we’re facing back in the direction of Jersey before he kills the engine and drops anchor. Cliff trembles from head to toe, pulling on the bindings that encircle his ankles and wrists.
“I have money!” he shouts. “Please!”
I kneel in front of Cliff, using a handkerchief to clean the blood from the knot at his temple. He jerks back, hissing in pain. I press on the wound again, making him cry out. “Where is it?” I ask.
He eyes me skeptically but gives over the location of the cash. “Listen, I learned my lesson, okay?” he pleads. “My men are dead and you have my money. I have nothing left. Tell Kai I’m sorry. It was all business, nothing personal.”
Chuckling, I stand and knee him in the face. Cliff groans and falls to the side, spitting out blood and a piece of a tooth.
Snapping my fingers, I tell my guys, “Put the cinder blocks around his ankles.”
Cliff tries to squirm away, crying in frantic bursts that rent the silent air. “Please! Just kill me! Just kill me!”
“You’ll die,” I say, stepping on his cheek, pressing his face to the floor of the boat. “While you’re drowning, I want you to think about why you’re down there. I want you to thinkabout the fucked-up choice you made when you thought to take down my family.”
Cliff cries and begs, but it does no good. After the bricks are tied around his ankles and a few looped around his torso, two Whitlock men take him under the arms and behind the calves and toss him overboard. One final scream leaves him before a large splash resounds across the wide ocean.
