Charli stood there with a shotgun in her hands.“The Benittini family didn’t just turn their backs on me fifteen years ago.They disowned me the moment my parents were killed and Uncle Jullian took over.They never wanted me around and the only time they let me near them was the summer they allowed me to stay for two weeks.That was when Mario showed me how to use the knives.I don’t owe them a thing.The money they said they sent to me never reached me and I’m not sure they ever paid it to begin with.”She turned to her cousin.“Mario, if your father comes here demanding I obey some stupid tradition, he’s gonna get a butt loaded with birdshot.So will the Council.I have no reason to even listen to their demands and they have no right to demand anything from me.They’re the ones who left town fourteen years ago, not me.I’ve been living here since I was five years old.Now they have no cause to even step on my property and they might learn that the hard way.Neither does Ray, I could shoot him for trespassing and I wouldn’t even go to jail.”She looked over at her brother-in-laws and told them, “Maybe one or more of you guys could get around him and take him down before he can get a bead on anyone in the house.Then he would be waiting and ready for Shay when he gets here.I can tell you how to get behind him, if you like.”
“You can?"Joker asked.“How?”
Charli smirked but she still looked a little angry.“I grew up on this farm.I’ve walked every inch of it with Ben.He showed me all the paths and taught me how to track the animals that live around here.You guys were military.So you know how to move in enemy territory.Or have you forgotten what Uncle Sam taught you?”
Joker gave her a tight smile and shook his head.“No, none of us has forgotten anything.We just need to know what you want us to do here.”
“Might as well get ahead of the game,” Ace agreed.“We’re running out of time here.”
Deuce agreed.“Yeah, and we don’t really know when this Jullian and council will be here but we can get Ray under wraps before then.”
Jack nodded.“I’m game.”
Joker turned to look at Charli again.“Ok, tell us how to go around and come up behind him.”
So she did.Over the next twenty minutes, she told them about a secret path to the woods behind Ray and what to look for as she had marked the trees for different paths.Then she showed them the trails on a map.They had a few questions and she had the answers.
Joker nodded and glanced at Jack.“I want you with me.Let’s do this.”
Jack nodded.Then he looked at Ace.“You, King and Deuce stay here and protect the ole homestead.”He raised his hands up at Charli.“And I know you girls can defend yourselves but you may need some help.And please stay away from the windows.Ray might not be the only rat scurrying around out there.Joker and I can move quickly and quietly.We’ll bring Ray back the same way, so be ready for us.”
“Be careful out there,” Mario warned.“Ray is always prepared for any situation.And he always carries blades with him.He can toss ‘em at you with perfect accuracy.Like they do in circus acts, only he never seems to miss.He can use a gun too but he prefers the blades he makes himself and he is deadly with them.”
“Why are you warning us against your uncle?”Deuce asked.
“Man, I’ve been trying to tell you this for two days now,” Mario insisted.“I never agreed with any of this in the first place.I tried to tell my dad that and he wouldn’t even listen to a word I said.In fact, he insisted that Charli would have no other choice but to do her part in the festival.I wanted to tell the council too but Dad shut it down before they could say a word.For all anyone knows they might agree with me but they are too afraid of my dad to say anything.”He paused then said, “I think my dad has some secret he’s been hiding and I’m not sure I like that.”
“What kind of secret?”Charli stared at him.
Mario shrugged.“I don’t know but I do know he’s been keeping secrets for a long time now.He grabbed the power almost before Michael was buried.Said it was to keep the lineage going but something tells me that’s not his only thing, you know?Too many trips to other places and too many secrets.That just doesn’t seem right.He’s hiding something much bigger and no one knows what that might be and that makes everyone a little skittish, you know?”
Charli shook her head now.“Do you think he might know more about what Ray’s been doing all these years?”
Mario let out a sigh.“I don’t know but I hope not.He’s my dad.He’s the one who taught me how to ride a bike, how to pound out the blades from a chunk of steel.He taught me right from wrong.I just can’t believe he’d do something like this.I mean he knows the tribe would turn their backs on him and spit in his face if he's broken the laws we live by.The laws are there for a reason, aren’t they?They have to be upheld.My father is our leader and he has to follow the same rules we do.”
Charli crossed the few steps between them and hugged him close.When she released him she said, “We’ll keep believing that until we can’t anymore.I hope he isn’t in on Ray’s schemes.Because Uncle Ray is going to go down.I know the Warlords and Shay.Ray will be prosecuted for the things he’s done.I don’t want your father to be guilty, no matter what he has decreed for me.I’m already married and there is no way Uncle Jullian can change that.So Ace better not change his mind either or we’re gonna have words.”She glanced over at him and grinned.
Ace just raised his brow at her.He snorted and said, “I’m not changing my mind, woman.You’re mine today and every day until I die.That ain’t gonna change because someone else says it is.You and Benny are my family and while I’ve got brothers, you are part of my family too.”He grabbed her and hauled her into his arms.“You belong to me as much as I belong to you.”Then he kissed her long and deep.
Mario looked a bit shocked as he then looked around at everyone except for the kissing couple.
Wearing a smirk, Deuce had to clear his throat to remind Ace where he was.
Joker, King and Jack were smiling.
Joker cleared his throat and said in a dry tone, “We’ll just go and get Ray then, shall we?”He looked over at Mario and nodded.“Thanks for the warning about the flying blades, that will make all the difference in the takedown.I’ve already been stabbed repeatedly by someone else, so I’m not looking to get stabbed again.It stings a bit,” he joked.
Deuce now looked over at Mario and asked, “Did you really teach Charli all those tricks with the blades?I mean I watched her once and she was unfuckingbelievable with them.I was fucking gobsmacked when she used them against someone.She could command those blades as if they were an extension of her hands.”
Mario smiled for the first time since he walked into the room.“Si, I taught her.Our family is still very good with any kind of blade and that goes double for Ray.Only Ray always carries more than one.”
“Well, we carry more than one way to take a man down, knives or not,” Jack stated.
He and Joker turned and grabbed a few weapons along with their packs.They disappeared out the back door and into the woods.
