A lullaby that I will soon silence.
This is why Lachlan Park was built.
A façade to hide our real business.
The narcotics and weapons we smuggle in and out.
The money laundering.
Our various clubs and estates around the East Coast.
A front my family created and rules, while the rest of the universe is oblivious.
While themed music from the rides and the cheers and joyful screams of guests drift down from above, they mask the vile noises that originate from underneath. Masking the kinds of shouts and cries that a human can make before their lungsdeflate for a final time and they become nothing but flesh and bones.
Sometimes I scare even myself, knowing the things that I’m capable of.
We are magicians, carefully conducting our tricks behind closed doors, so what takes place on the outside is the reputation we earn. Lachlan Harbor and Lachlan Park are what we are known by to ordinary people. If only they knew what a few rollercoasters, lobster boats, and vibrant shops on a scenic stretch could hide.
Rowan’s breath is ragged as he sucks in air through gritted teeth.
Fresh and dried blood paints my hands and gray suit jacket as I crouch down, getting eye level with the man. My tone is dangerous. Deadly. “I viewed the navigation route. I’m going to ask again, and I highly suggest you tell me what I want to hear if you want me to let you keep your pathetic life another day. Why did you make an unplanned stop in New York?”
His rotted mouth opens, giving me a whiff of his vile breath. “It was for a quick fuck! A man has needs that need to be fulfilled.”
Fulfilled by his wife.
I arch a brow. “You disregarded my orders for pussy? What would your wife say about that?”
“Tight, young pussy. You can only use a toy so many times before it breaks, and you have to buy another one.”
Acid bubbles in my stomach.
“And when you were off fucking, who was guarding the boat?Myproduct? Was it Cathal?”
His posture stiffens.
Interesting.
His focus rapidly shifts from my eyes to the wall, where a window offers a view of the room from one of the hundreds ofmaze-like hallways, winding underground through the park. I’ve memorized every single one—where they go, what rooms they navigate to, doors that lead to the secret exits that nobody knows exist besides members.
It’s only him and me.
There’s nobody here to save him, because like the men we have patrolling these hallways, they listen to me.
“Help!” That one word spewed from his mouth causes my brows to furrow in surprise. “Help me!”
Who is he calling for?
I turn my head, prepared for him to be at that level of excruciating pain where he’s hallucinating and reaching full-blown hysterics. But what I find blasts me in the chest to knock the air from my lungs.
A young woman stands on the other side, as solid as a statue in one of our uniforms. Even through the tint and the glare from the fluorescent lights in the room, her features paint a memory in my mind. A memory of a crisp, sunny morning when I discovered a stranger relaxing at the end of our private dock like they had a death wish.
I was prepared to drag their ass off until long, wavy locks of hair that appeared like liquid gold stopped me on the spot. Then, she turned—a gorgeous woman brighter than the sun that licked my skin despite the lies that spewed from her mouth like wildfire.
Now, her eyes are blown so wide that they could burst from any more pressure and splatter the glass. Those puffy blush lips I stared at for far too long the other day, part in shock.
Well, shit.
