I briefly replay the moment now—sitting in his office with a glass of scotch, the way we always end the night. But instead of focusing on him, I was too busy plotting my first move for when I finally get my revengeful hands on whoever gave Kate those scars.
It’s knifework. It’s only fair that’s how they suffer. Let them watch me with one eye while I gouge out the other with the blunt end of my blade.
Guilt rushes through me, remembering when I ghosted my knife over the scar on Kate’s neck. No wonder she was in hysterics seeing me with that blade.
Which gives me an idea.
I make a mental note to go shopping later today.
“For fucks sake, Preston,” my dad grits out. He taps a stern pointer finger on the table enough that I think he’ll put a dent in the furnished wood. “I need your head here.”
Carter gives me a sympathetic look before instructing, “Keep going, Brody.”
“Yeah,” Brody clears his throat. “It looks like whoever it was hit at just the right moment. Our estate’s IP address was recorded in a series of secure messages that happened three months ago between Arden and the Virginia location. That was when you two were in New York for a week,” he gestures to my father and me. “The same week that shipment came in with missing product for the first time.” All three of us peer at Brody, listening intently. “Whoever hacked into those messages from the estate knew the exact date that we would be transferring the biggest shipment of the year to Virginia. They knew how many men we were taking, and then the ambush happened, which we all know was expertly planned and not impulsive. You get the idea.”
The vein in my forehead throbs and pulses in time with my chaotic heartbeat as I focus on the details.
Our biggest shipment of the year, lost to the Calco Cartel in Virginia, arrived at the harbor the same morning I found Kate. But the messages between Arden and the Virginia location had been hacked months earlier from inside the estate—the same week the first shipment went missing, back when we were in New York.
It couldn’t have been Kate, unless she is working with someone on the inside.
I squash that thought. Maybe it’s reckless and will come back to bite me in the ass or kill me, but I’m starting to believe she isn’t involved.
My father pinches the bridge of his nose. “You were here the week Preston and I were in New York, Carter. Do you have a recollection of any suspicious activity or anyone who was in the estate at that time that may be worth interrogating?”
Carter pulls his fingers through his dark hair. “I’d have to think about it. I was only at the estate for a few days. I was supposed to go to New York with you, but you had me stay back to collect the shipment that arrived early. And then my mom was in that car accident, and I had to rush back to Chicago.”
Arden nods, sighing defeatedly. “That’s right.”
“But if I remember correctly,” Carter adds, “We had a fresh wave of recruits training the week you were in New York. The estate was crawling with them.”
I fold and brace my arms on the table. “Brody, we are going to need a list of all recruits who were initiated that week.” This time, he meets my eye. “If that was when that first shipment went missing, this is a good place to start. Specifically, ones that were granted access to any computers with the estate’s IP address.”
Brody sharply nods. “Done.”
When I glance back at Arden, his eyes are narrowed on me. He blinks, whatever was swirling there dissipating just as quickly before I can catch it.
He slams his fist against the table, the vibration solidifying our spines. “I want to take this fucker out and have his organs in a chum bucket by the end of the month. He’s taken enough from us. I don’t care if it's a fucking bloodbath, this Italian pussy is going to get everything he deserves.” He scrubs a hand over his jaw. “Now get to work. It’s not a war if we’re sitting here on our asses willingly taking the punishment for something that wasn’t our fault to begin with.”
Five years ago, it was the 90th-anniversary party at Lachlan Park. The party we threw at the park had the biggest attendancewe’ve ever had. After closing, my family ended the night, as we usually do on anniversaries, by taking the Ferris wheel around a few times. I’m not sure when that tradition began for the boss and his family, but Arden remembered doing it every year on the anniversary as a child and kept it going.
My father and I never made it on the Ferris wheel that night, but Mom and Tayla did.
They got in their car first. By the time my father and I were ready to board, gunshots pierced the night air from inside the park. Pops that still ring in my ears today as a reminder of how easily it can be to create a distraction.
A diversion that we fell for.
My father left his right-hand man and three other guys with my mom and sister, ordering them to keep them on the Ferris wheel through whatever atrocity was about to take place.
We thought they were safe up there.
We rushed to the edge of the park with a few of our men and Carter, where the old rollercoaster used to be. We encountered Luciano, his son Nico, and six of his soldiers. I’ll never rid his smoke-stained, malicious grin from my mind.
Once upon a time, the Megalley Syndicate was looking to form a business deal with the Calco Cartel when it was in the hands of the late Don, Marco Giovanni, Luciano’s older brother. We found him respectable. Smart. Well, as decent as a man in our world can be. A deal that would’ve left us, together, dominating most of the East Coast and southern states.
A business deal that ended with Marco foaming at the mouth and face down in a pile of his own vomit on the conference room table at their sex club in Miami.
Luciano placed the blame on us for plotting and murdering his brother. They believed we had schemed to create chaos, allowing us to expand our borders into their territory while the mob operated without a Don.
