He runs a hand down his face, the gold signet on his finger reflecting the crackling fire. I wear the same one—a token of his acceptance.
“She wasn’t a child, Carter, she was eighteen.”
Eighteen is no age to start dating. Especially without telling me first so I could check the guy through and through. So I could drive to Columbus, take him out for a drink and threaten to cut his balls off if he failed to worship Aalyiah and the ground beneath her feet.
I swallow hard, flexing my fingers into tight fists and holding them back. Knocking Rhett out won’t accomplish anything. It won’t change the facts and it definitely won’t change his attitude toward me.
He never treated me like his son, always a soldier, never considered me and Aalyiah siblings even though we’re both biologically his.
We weren’t raised in the same house. I was sixteen, deadly, angry, and ruthless when I moved into Rhett’s mansion and met Aalyiah. She was eight... innocent, curious, so smart.
I could’ve been in the foulest of moods but one look at her fixed all my problems. I had unbelievable patience toward that girl and once Rhett ordered me to work with Dante in Chicago, we called and texted often.
Regardless of Rhett’s flaws and fucked-up world-view, keeping Aalyiah’s boyfriend, and now her death, away from my ears is a brand-new low.
He had no right.
He had no reason, but... hecouldso hedid.
And now she’s gone.
My favorite person in the world.Gone.
“Alex was an undercover cop.” Rhett drops another bomb.
He’s on a roll tonight.
Wasdoesn’t skip my attention but there’s more to unpack here. I’m not surprised Alex is no longer with us. Rhett probably hung the fucker upside down, slashed his stomach, and watched his intestines slowly unwind while he sat back, drinking bourbon and enjoying the show.
“A cop...” I clip, staring my father down. “How did thatnot come to light the moment he laid eyes on Aalyiah?”
Rhett grinds his molars, displeased that his security measures failed and pissed off I have the guts to point it out.
“Vaughn handpicked him without anyone’s knowledge or approval. You could say he went rogue.”
A stellar cop like Vaughn never struck me as a rule-breaker. He’s the lead investigator in my father’s case. Has been for a year, slowly gathering information and causing more trouble alone than the combined dozens before him ever could.
Most of the evidence is speculative, but Rhett’s not a careful man. Instead of easing off when Vaughn moved to Ohio and took a magnifying glass to his business, he’s been branching out under his nose. Not a clever move considering that Vaughn sure is a force to be reckoned with.
And Rhett knows that, though still underestimates the man at every turn. Last year, when Vaughn was assigned to Rhett’s case, he told me the two of them go way back. Years, to be precise. He was sparse with the details but, from the little he let on, I believe he killed Vaughn’s partner when Rhett had dealings in Florida.
My father acts untouchable, a king of his own castle, but he’snotuntouchable. He’s sloppier with age and an undercover cop infiltrating his family,ourfamily, proves that.
“The hard check we ran on Alex came up clean,” he continues, swirling the two fingers of bourbon in his glass. “Not one reference to the police force. Either Vaughn cleaned him out good, or he wasn’t a cop to start with.” He glows red, the nextsentence hard to voice given that he never openly admits his mistakes. “We should’ve dug deeper, I admit.”
I guess he feels at least a bit shit about keeping Aalyiah’s death from me if he’s throwing me this bone.
“Thatis on me,” he adds through clenched teeth.
Thatcost him his daughter. My sister. The one person in this fucked-up world I’d happily die for.
“Tell me what happened,” I urge, cracking my knuckles.
“Alex had a girl on the side. I don’t know how Aalyiah found out, but it broke her heart. She loved that scum.” He heaves a sigh, swallowing the last of his bourbon. “One evening, two lives and two years’ worth of memories lost.”
He finally goes into what few details he has.
“She left a note. Two sentences.He’s a cop, Daddy. He doesn’t love me...he loves her.” He pauses, closing his eyes briefly, every next word calculated. “I sent everyone after Alex. Babyface found him on the road with his girl in the car.”
