Page 66 of The Arianna Arrangement

“Holy fuck. That school sure has gone downhill since I left there.” Percy chuckled. “Guess that’s what happens when you put a mafia princess in it.”

Ari flipped him off, but couldn’t stop the grin that covered her lips.

“Why did you have a gun at school?” My dad asked the same question I had.

She rolled her eyes. “Because my knife throwing skills aren’t as accurate as my shooting skills.”

My dad kept a neutral face, but Apollo and Percy apparently thought this was hilarious and burst out laughing. Atlas just looked like he didn’t know how to feel. His oldest son had been threatened at school and protected by my wife, who had taken a weapon onto school grounds.

Dad ran a hand down his face. “Let’s start at the beginning. Why did Leyla start a rumor that Bradley has an STI?”

Ari leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. “She didn’t. Shawna did.” When my dad raised an eyebrow at her, she rolled her eyes and continued. “He went on a date with Shawna while everyone was in New York for my wedding. One of Leyla’s minions broke into Shawna’s gym locker and rubbed poison ivy in her panties. Shawna got an itchy rash and told everyone it was from Bradley.”

Percy chuckled. “It’s quite genius if you think about it. She brought about his downfall without lifting a finger herself. If it were something that went to court, she’d be innocent.”

Dad cut his eyes at his brother. “If there wasn’t more to the story, Bradley wouldn’t have gone after Potter.”

Potter’s jaw ticked, making his dad sigh. “Out with it, son.”

“I may or may not have faked medical records confirming Shawna’s story and leaked them online. I also may or may not have faked clean medical records for Ley and crafted a social media post with them to make sure he was dead and buried. Socially, at least.”

Percy chuckled again as he looked at his phone, then handed it over to Apollo, who laughed and passed it on. “That was fucking epic.”

Dad’s jaw clenched in an effort to hold back a smile. “You showed your hand with the whole poon and balloon comment. Leyla never would have said that. Though, I can’t be too mad. If he’d come after Leyla, this would be a whole different kind of meeting.”

He was right. Ari wouldn’t have given the little shit the opportunity to say a word if she’d found him with my sister against the wall, knife to her throat. This meeting would be about making sure that the secret of his murder went to the grave.

Potter’s face turned serious again. “I know. He was completely unhinged and I don’t think any of us are safe until he’s dealt with. Tucker wants him in prison. Ari wants him dead. We called for you guys because we needed a plan and were getting nowhere with just the three of us.”

Atlas tilted his head to the side as he looked at his son. “What was your opinion?”

Pott shrugged. “I’m caught between a saint and a blood thirsty mafia princess. I agree with Ari that we’ll struggle to get him behind bars because of who his dad is. But I also want to back Tuck, and he’s firmly against murder.”

“Backing him doesn’t mean you have to agree with him.” My dad was the head of our family, but his brothers frequently disagreed with him. “You can say what you really think so he has options to consider.”

“I don’t know what to think.” Potter ran his hands through his hair. “I’m a fucking senior in high school. I should be concerned with getting guys and enjoying the last year of freedom before the real world is forced upon me. I should be ruling the school with Leyla and plotting our revenge for the guys that fuck us over. Not trying to find actual solutions to real problems.”

“If only we came from a family where that was possible.” Dad looked at his brothers, sadness over his face. “We wanted something different for you guys, but apparently that wasn’t in the cards. My senior year, I almost failed out of school because I was having to run the family business because my father had been diagnosed with cancer and all the treatments that were meant to save his life, and did save him, made him incapable of keeping up with the workload.”

“Our senior year, the family was starting to drown in debt from Zeph trying to expand the business.” Atlas looked at my dad, then his son. “It wasn’t his fault he didn’t know how to run the business or expand one at twenty. But I ended up having to step in to help and Ap ended up in New York trying to get us favors so we didn’t lose it all.”

I hadn’t known any of that. I mean, I knew that Apollo had gone to New York and did some shady things to help the family, but I didn’t know the rest of it.

Percy didn’t tell us about his senior year. We’d all been old enough to remember it. He’d spent the first half of his senior year fighting for a marriage contract with Sterling, and the second half in hiding.

“So, what does everyone think?” Dad posed the question to the room.

Ari was first to answer. “I vote we kill him.”

Percy nodded. “I second that.”

“He’s definitely become a bigger threat than we expected. I’m voting to kill him.” Apollo's eyes met mine. “Sorry, Tuck.”

Atlas’ eyes found mine. “He needs to die.” What the fuck? He was the one that was supposed to be on my side. “You didn’t see Silver when I found her after she sent that SOS to me. And while you might have seen some of the fallout after her kidnapping, we shielded most of it from you kids.” He scrubbed a hand down his face. “We wanted things to be different for you all than it was for us. We might not be able to do that in all aspects, but maybe that difference starts here. Removing the threat before it causes irreparable damage.”

“Okay, but can we all at least agree that doing things differently doesn’t necessarily mean murder? You all never attempted to take Caspian down.” I wasn’t faulting them because who would have thought things would end up the way they did? But I also think that situation was making them a little trigger happy today.

Apollo looked at me with so much sympathy in his eyes. It seriously pissed me off. “No, but going after him wouldn’t have done anything. Hamilton had resources and connections, much like Bradley Sr. I don’t think there’s any crime under the sun that Bradley can commit that would put his ass behind bars.”