Chapter 88

The One Where Evil Rears Its Ugly Head

E Z R A

Ten Minutes After the Events of 85 — The One With Daisies

Staring down at the papers before me, I study Vex’s face—the thick black hair, the scar beneath his brown eye, the tattoo of a cross on his neck. His mugshot isn’t becoming of him, but whose is?

I glean over his record again. Of the multiple arrests and fines for petty crimes—several for street racing, illegal mods on his car, a robbery or two—none of it is as serious as what I’ve asked of him, but I have faith that he’ll pull through. He seems ambitious. Loyal. Intelligent. It’s obvious to me that he’d like to move up the ranks within my hierarchy of men and Langley seems to trust him, which is always a good sign.

“Today’s the day, yeah?” Speaking of, Langley’s voice interrupts my thoughts and I barely lift my head to nod quickly at him in response, flipping the page to remind myself of where Vex originated.

“It should be any moment now,” I assure him. “If it hasn’t already been done.”

Las Vegas.

“Did you make your decision?”

I decide that’s enough, stacking the papers together to push them aside. Leaning back in my chair, I meet Langley’s eyes as he seats himself across the desk from me. “Hm?” I hum in a question, a bit lost in my own thoughts.

My inner demon is way too thrilled to know that Nate Carter will be out of my life. Out of Arielle’s. That nuisance will be gone forever and it’s a fucking burden off my shoulders. That child has been a pain in my ass from the moment he met her.

Even though he’s a damn good driver, he outlived his resourcefulness. Perhaps if he hadn’t sent me to prison, he’d still be working for me. Perhaps I would’ve forgiven him for his other transgressions and welcomed him into the family with open arms.

Probably not, though. Arielle deserves better than a pathetic criminal.

“Arielle or Nate —did you make a choice?”

“Nate,” I answer with a nod. I’ll be honest, I debated both, but it ultimately felt better to have him killed over her.

I’m not done with her yet.

“You don’t think he could’ve paid off the debt? You could’ve had him making runs for the rest of his life. Isn’t that better for us than his cop friends sniffing around?”

I quirk an eyebrow, amused with his attempt at questioning my authority. I’ll admit, it doesn’t happen often. Seeing as how he’s my son, he’s the only one other than Vivien allowed to do so without meeting the barrel of my pistol.

A sly smile spreads across my mouth, proud to see him have a fucking backbone. He’s not afraid of anyone, of anything, and it’s something I’ve strongly instilled in him. You can’t be in this business if you’re going to bend to other people’s will. Nobody will respect that shit.

You have to be ruthless. You have be intelligent. Always one step ahead. Emotionless. Loyal. Brutal, at times. But most important? Someone goes against you or your family, you end them. Simple as that. There is no debating that shit. There isn’t any fucking mercy. You do whatever the fuck it is you need to do to seek out your vengeance.

However, you must make sure that your vengeance is worse than their initial strike on you. If they killed your sister, you murder all of their fucking siblings. It’s always a one-up or you look weak. It looks like someone can fuck with you and walk away scot-free. That’s the last thing you want.

“He never would’ve paid off the debt. You and I both know that.” I shrug, “Besides, he fucked with me. If I didn’t retaliate, we’d be a laughingstock. As for his cop buddies? They’re easily bought. Fuck, I own half the damn force. We’re good, don’t worry about it.”

As always, he goes quiet as he thinks it over. He knows I’m right. He knows how far to go when questioning my decisions. He’s smart. Knows how to dance around my anger.

His phone begins ringing and within two rings, he’s answered it and placed it to his ear. “Yeah?”

There’s a muffled voice on the other end and he holds out the phone in my direction. I take it, placing it up to my ear to greet, “Sullivan, here.”

“Vex,” he introduces himself. “It’s done.”

There was once a time when those words had some sort of negative effect on me. I think my brain used to be able to register the fact that a human life was lost. However, now when I hear those two words, it’s relief. It means a problem has been dealt with. It means that shit will be easier for my business dealings. It means that I’m still on fucking top. I remain the king.

“Good,” I answer. “Come to my office in four days. We’ll chat.”

“See you then, Boss.”

Four Days Later

I swirl the whiskey in my glass just as Langley is stepping into my office. I toss the liquor back as he approaches, seating himself across from me as he cradles a file folder close. My curiosity piques at the sight of it, wondering what lies inside.

I know what the papers vaguely hold, but I’m hopefully about to learn the specifics.

Ever since Nate ‘s death, I’ve had Langley do his digging. I sent him on a goose chase to check death records, what they’ve done with Nate ‘s body, and if there’s any sort of proof that he’s really dead.

I’m not new to this shit. I’ve been duped before, so Langley knows what to look for when it comes to this. If he’s managed to flee the country, we’ll fucking know.

Langley’s also been checking in on what Arielle’s been up to. If he’s really and truly gone, her reaction to the news will tell us a lot. She’s never been a very good actress.

Langley and I don’t greet one another as he settles into the chair and begins rifling through his folder until he finds the file he’d like to begin with.

“We found record of a death certificate,” he slides a piece of photocopied paper down onto my desk and I read it over. The details are correct and I nod my head, pleased. “We also found paperwork from his parents requesting he be cremated. It’ll happen tomorrow.”

While I’m listening, I nod my head, placing the empty glass down on my desk. “What about a funeral? Are they having one?”

Langley lightly shakes his head. “I don’t think so. I’m guessing it’ll be a small celebration of life thing, since he’s not being buried, by the sound of it.”