Chapter Nineteen

Tyler appears in the doorway before tossing some paperwork on my desk. Pulling my earbuds out, I scan the report as he gives me the CliffsNotes.

“Marie didn’t implicate us, even though Toby’s now in Ginger’s temporary custody. Marie took full responsibility for all of it and has to make state-mandated efforts to get him back.”

“I have zero fucking regrets,” I toss the paperwork aside.

“It was risky,” Tyler adds.

“Yeah, well, that’s our daily bread.”

“We need to get going.”

I nod, logging out of a few windows. We’re meeting at the warehouse to discuss what inventory we want to barter with before taking it to trade with other chapters at the Meetup.

“Any word from Miami?” I ask, clicking out of a dozen active windows on a few screens.

“Still haven’t paid dues since we denied them in on our big secret.”

The big secret being our new connection with birds infiltrating government agencies to help cover their asses in the future. We decided not to take the risk since they’ve always skated moral lines and have no intention of stopping.

“Fuck them.”

“My sentiments too, but something is definitely up.”

“They coming?” I ask, making a few more clicks.

“The invitation was sent, but they’ve missed the last two.”

“Might be time to send a few birds to fly south.”

He nods as I roll back in my chair and glances at my desktop. “What were you working on?”

He reads my hesitation and grins. “Now I have to know.”

Standing, I move the mouse to hover over my last open window before clicking it and turning up the volume. In the next second, Cecelia’s voice fills the air.

“If I’m being forced to pay, literally, for your oversights, then I will have my say with you. That woman told me over and over that I was your daughter, and I had no idea how to convey that meant nothing!”

Eyes widening, Tyler steps into the room and shuts the door.

“When did this go down?”

“About an hour ago.”

“Sean hear it yet?”

“No, but I’m sure he’s aware. This was brought on last night due to a confrontation at the plant. Cecelia’s been bullied.”

Tyler nods. “Sean mentioned it.”

“You didn’t tell me.”

“Didn’t think you would care . . . any visual with this?”

“No, this mic is in the dining room.”

“Damn.” Tyler crosses his arms, listening intently as Cecelia goes off on Roman. “. . . asked you for a single thing, aside from extending support to my mother, who worked herself stupid to make sure I had everything I needed, and you couldn’t be bothered to do that. I’m asking you to make this right, not for me, but for them. If you want to continue to dangle your fortune over my head, then do it, or better yet, take it away and give it back to them. Because if it’s their money I’m inheriting, I don’t want it.”

Tyler’s smile widens with every word. “She’s really laying into him. I would love to have seen his face.”

I stand and grab my boots, kicking into them at the foot of my bed as he turns to me. “You still aren’t sold on her.”

A statement—so I don’t bother with a reply. Tyler lets me off the hook where Sean wouldn’t.

“I get it, Dom. I don’t think I could separate it either if I were in your position, but she’s good people. And whip-smart.”

I don’t correct him that recently, I have been able to separate Cecelia from her father. Not just because of my attraction to her, which there’s no fucking denying. For that, I blame the gift of vision combined with my underutilized cock.

What I haven’t told Tyler is that even though this fight went down an hour ago, I’ve been listening to her berate Roman on repeat since it happened. My issues with Sean’s absence lessening as I did. He’s been utilizing his time with her wisely—not just dicking her—but teaching her what we collectively stand for, like any other recruit. Teachings she’s obviously taken to heart and ring clear in her stand with Roman.

“I don’t have to be right about her,” I tell him truthfully as Cecelia continues to criticize him for a lot more than being a shitty business owner. “It’s better if I’m not,” I grab my keys as her emotional baggage starts to shift her rant.

“I’m sure it’s a lot to deal with, but this one is close to you. It’s right under your nose.”

Lowering the volume at the doorway, I glance back at him. “But yeah, I’m still not sold for more reasons than one. She’s too fucking young.”

“But you’re considering it.” Another statement, but this time I speak up.

“I wouldn’t go that far.” I push past him where he lingers at the monitor. Her voice echoes down the hall as I take the stairs two at a time. Pushing out of the front door, Sean’s constant pleas with me to hear her out circle through my mind as I start up my Camaro and flip on the radio to drown the new noise out.

Cecelia shrieks next to me when I bank on the shoulder and speed back toward the gas station. She was just as confused as I was when I picked her up. I’m still unsure as to why I felt the need to leave the compound and drive straight to her house to collect her. The worst part was calling Sean when I was already sitting in Roman’s driveway. The ‘I told you’ in his tone cut short when I hung up on his smug ass.

Pulling into the gas station, I stop on a dime and glance over. “Need anything?”

She explodes on me, utilizing my new pet name. “You motherfucker!”

“Not in the mood for foreplay right now, but how about a Mountain Dew?”

She stares back at me, coiled up and ready to strike, no doubt due to my impromptu driving lesson. “I’ll take that as a no.”

Fighting my chuckle, I exit the Camaro and walk into the gas station. Glancing over the counter, I spot Zach in his invisible cage on the filthy fucking floor, books spread out, as he scribbles out his homework. Every bit of the high from sparring with Sean’s new girlfriend evaporates when I take in his attire.

Making my way over to the cooler, I open it to hear Cecelia asking for the key to the restroom at the head of the store. Thankful her little piss break will buy me some time, I walk up to the counter to stare into the eyes of the attendant, whose nervous gaze meets mine before he glances over his shoulder at his son.

Zach’s posture stiffens as he continues to work steadily on the floor as Tim’s alcohol-laced breath hits me when I set down my drink.

“Need wraps.”

He nods and turns to the display. “What flavor?”

“Cherry or pineapple.”

He glances back at me, brows drawn that I’m not asking for my usual. “I don’t have those.”

“Then why don’t you check your little stock room,” my reply more an order than suggestion. Moving around the counter, Tim again looks back at his son, who doesn’t lift his eyes. As soon as Tim is out of earshot, Zach pops up from the floor while I stare at his threadbare shoes.

“Hey, Dom,” he greets, head lowered. Shame and embarrassment. Two things I’ve lived with for too many years and could recognize in anyone.

Redirecting my inspection, my anger flares further when I see the same tattered backpack next to his books.

“The fuck happened to the shoes and backpack?”

Zach keeps his chin tucked into his chest. “Uh, the shoes were the wrong size.”

“Doesn’t explain why you aren’t wearing the right one. And the backpack?”

“Dom—”

“Look at me,” his eyes lift, but his neck remains lowered. “Lift your chin, Zach,” I grit out.

When he does, I get a clear view of the finger-sized bruises on his throat. They’re faint but damning. Turning, I walk down the aisle and pin Tim to an endcap just as he walks out of the stockroom.

“Get out,” he wheezes.

“So, daddy finally found the money I’ve been tucking into his son’s backpack for years.”

“My son is none of your bus—” I squeeze harder, interrupting his rant until he’s ripping at my hand for air. The only sound in the store coming from the lotto machines. Neither man playing has bothered to look back. Good on them.

Time is ticking, and I know I need to back away, but one look in Zach’s direction—of the fear in his eyes—has me finishing what I started.

“You robbed your own goddamn son, Tim, and for what?”

“It’s none—”

Squeezing tighter, I cut him off. “We’re over that, far past formal introductions and pleasantries. I know you used to run with my brother, and that you know I know that. So, at one point, you had potential, but we both know how you wasted it and have no one to blame but yourself.”

“Dom, you know it’s been hard for me since his mother left—”

“Who the fuck could blame her? Have you seen your fucking reflection lately?” I tighten my grip on his throat to make sure I don’t get a response. Releasing him, he remains where he stands, neck marred, which brings me little satisfaction.

“I’m going to make this easy since you seem like a pretty simple man. The money I’m about to give Zach to replace the shoes and backpack you stole and anything extra belongs to him. For needs you can’t meet because you’re a worthless, selfish fucking drunk. Anything else I decide to gift your son better fucking remain in his possession.”

Not so playfully tapping his jaw, I walk over to where Zach stands, his own profile ghastly white, and hand him one of my burner phones after programming my cell in. A now-shaking Tim keeps himself busy restocking the endcap I destroyed.

“Memorize this number and call me. Every goddamn day. If he touches you when I leave, call me—if you have to, come to the garage. Do you know where it is?”

Zach nods, eyes soaked in fear as I pull out a wad of bills and place them in his shaking palm, rage seeping into me at the fear that’s been instilled in him.

“This isn’t how it’s supposed to be,” I relay as twin tears he’s been fighting finally spill over his cheeks.

At the sight of them, it takes every ounce of my strength to speak instead of act. “Zach, look at me.”

He does, and I fight within myself to keep what’s threatening to unleash locked down. “This is not your fault. It’s his fucking failure.” Zach swallows. “Do you hear me?” I stare into the eyes of a terrified boy who’s been living impoverished and seemingly punished for merely existing in a drunk’s selfish world—no doubt feeling like an unwanted burden, an obligation. A boy I’ve watched grow up over the years and was forced to abandon when I went to Boston. A boy who’s habitually abused by the adult he’s been forced to call his father. “It was his decision to become who he is, and it’s going to be your choice not to be anything like him. One you’ll make every day. Understand?”

Zach gives me another nod, his tears flowing freely. Tears that tell me he’s suffered horribly, which pushes me to my limit. I snatch my drink from the counter and know I have to bail when a sob escapes him.

“Get me a wrap, okay?” I slap a twenty on the counter. It’s when I see the bruised fingerprints on the back of Zach’s neck that I step back over to Tim, who refuses to meet my eyes. Forcing my way into his personal space, they fearfully snap up. “If you abuse him again in any way, I will fucking kill you.”

Tim gapes at me as Zach turns and pauses, gauging his father’s expression when I stalk back over to grab the papers.

“Thanks,” I collect them and see my hand is visibly shaking, “be good.”

“I will.” Zach nods, and I can tell he wants to say more but doesn’t. Knowing that fear will have him in a chokehold until he believes any part of what I told him.

He’s eleven, so it won’t be too much longer until the resentment kicks in and the anger follows. What scares me is who he’ll become when he gets angry about the venomous hand he’s been dealt in a world that’s fucked him. Dressed in rags, surrounded by bigots who continually shame him for doing nothing but breathing in and out and trying to survive another fucking day with a growling stomach.

Will he start to retaliate against it? Will there be a fucking soul there to hold him back? A person aware of the war that will rage between his heart and mind to help him understand the way my brother—who’s still trying to reel in my resentment for Delphine—helps me?

Exiting the station with worry for the future of the replica of a younger me on the other side of the glass, I’m stopped short when I see Cecelia hemmed up at my hood, being harassed by one of the regulars at the machines.

“No, the car isn’t mine,” she replies politely, “excuse me.”

When he blocks her path, I feel the anger I just tempered flare again as the asshole speaks up, stalling her with small talk, his posture predatory, “I used to race back in the day. Just wanted to—”

Wrapping my fingers around his neck, I use the leverage to swat him out of the way. Cecelia’s eyes widen when he smacks into the side of the building before landing on his ass. She gapes at me as I snatch the bathroom key from her grip with my order—my patience thinned out. “Get in the car.” Lifting my gaze back to the store, I meet Tim’s eyes through the window before making my way back inside. Tim makes himself busy as I hand Zach the keys, elevating my voice. “See you both soon.”