Page 87 of The Unravelings

“Which building?” Hux asks, cracking his knuckles.

And me? I stand there stunned that someone would have the balls to light one of our storage buildings on fire. I mean, they don’t hold much. Maybe a torture room here or there. Most of our buildings by the docks are for imports, anyway. Casino supplies. Alcohol deliveries. Things of that nature.

“What was in the building?” I finally ask after a beat of silence.

Franco’s jaw tics. “Casino supplies,” he grunts, balling his fingers into a damn fist and pounding it into the top of his desk, making his computer screen and pens jump with each hit. “Alcohol imports,” he grits out. “It went up like a fucking Christmas tree!” he shouts, tossing an arm out and emptying the top of his desk of its contents. “And now, all my businesses will be short within a week. Who the fuck wants to gamble without a drink?” he grunts the last part breathlessly, losing his composure.

JJ blinks several times, trying not to flinch from the violent outburst. “All our supplies, then?” he asks, tilting his head.

“I need you three to assess the damage. I don’t trust any other fuckers to do it. You understand?” he hisses, locking eyes with each of us. “Someone…” He trails off, gritting his teeth hard. “Those fucking Shades have to be behind that. They’re the only ones with a damn vendetta.”

Vendetta, huh? We don’t even know who the leader of the Shades is or why he’s been hunkered down for so long, with only two associates. Well, that we know of. We’ve always kept an eye on them, though. They are on our damn territory. Franco insisted we didn’t have to worry about them.

“Of course, sir,” JJ parrots back with a sharp nod. “We’ll leave now and head out to assess the damage to the building.”

Yesssss. Anything to leave this stuffy party and try to forget that our daddy-o is about to become the mayor of this godforsaken town. The people better say their prayers, or they’re going to wake up to a fucking hellscape like I do every day.

“Any leads on the Shades?” Hux asks, crossing his arms.

“The Shades were never a faction we had to be worried about,” Franco starts, shaking his head. His lip curls back. “They were a piddly little fuck ants who never held a candle to me!” he shouts, slamming his fist once again. “But it seems we need to keep a better eye on them. More than before. Watch Malic and Wilder.” His eyes glare straight through my damn soul when they land on me as he says my brother’s name. “Watch them fucking closely. I want to know when they fucking breathe, shit, and what they’re doing when they aren’t going to class.” A redness coats his face as he thinks of them. “I want them to pay,” he growls, reverberating through my damn bones.

“Sounds like a fucking plan.” A smirk pulls at my lips when I crack my knuckles in preparation.

Ah, I can’t wait to see my brother’s face when he finally faces the consequences of aligning himself with dickbag losers instead of being with me. Although that’s not a fucking prize either. Shit. We should all run away. Fuck the gangs of Greenwood.

Hux snorts. “Yeah, we’ll keep a steady eye on them. Follow them around and see what they’re up to. Discreetly,” Hux mumbles the last part, flashing me a look.

Asshole. I’m not that unstable. I can be discreet when I want to be.

“I’ll check the security footage,” JJ says with a nod.

“Good,” Franco retorts, blowing out a breath. “Of all the nights to fuck with me, they’ve gone and done it tonight.”

Yeah, how fucking suspicious of them. I mean, if it was them. It could be any of Franco’s enemies. All millions of them.

“And we’re positive it wasn’t the other crime families living in our town?” Hux asks, unaffected by the way Franco whips his gaze toward him and narrows his eyes. “We’ll investigate,” he continues, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. “But we’ll make sure we’re doling out the punishments to the right people.”

“Even if we hate their fucking guts,” I grumble, wrinkling my nose.

Franco huffs. “Go on then, you won’t be missing much here. But boys?” He stalls, getting to his feet and placing his palms on the desk. “Don’t fuck this up. I will be under a microscope now with this announcement. Someone in this town will try to air our dirty laundry. We can’t let them. Understood?” He narrows his beady eyes at us, like we’re the ones who made him run for office.

“Crystal clear,” I retort, saluting him with a grin.

“This remains on the downlow,” Franco grits out. “I want answers by tomorrow morning.”

Tomorrow morning? Well, fuck me. That means zero sleep before I’m forced to go to practice at six in the morning, then to class, and then to the bazillions of other things I have to do tomorrow to keep me busy and out of trouble.

All by Franco’s design. All because I got myself into a little too much trouble after Livy died. I mean, it wasn’t that serious. I blow out a breath at the memory knocking around in my mind. I grip my hair, roughly pulling at the roots to keep myself grounded in the bullshit now.

Precious Theodore was fine. My record, though? It was not. In the eyes of the law, I was a damn menace to society. A criminal, for fuck’s sake. I hung around my jail cell for three damn days before I went before a judge to plead my case. A judge! Franco didn’t spare me in the slightest. Except for paying Theo off so he’d run on and forget about the day Macklyn Owens owned his ass in a fight.

“You can count on us,” JJ smoothly says, gesturing for Hux and me to follow him toward the exit.

Once the doors to the party shut behind us and the noise of the elite simmers down, my shoulders relax.

Out of the damn fire and back into…er…an even bigger cluster fuck of a fire. Fuck.

“So, how should we terminate Malic and Wilder? Flamethrower? Toss them off the cliff?” I raise a brow when Hux shakes his head.