26. Julian

Edward moves in the stillness of the night like a panther on the prowl. We"re hunting big game together as we wait in the cover of darkness at the Mahogany Tuscan Country Club. There are dozens of luxury cars in the parking lot and the woman we sent inside should be coming out with our target in a few seconds.

I lock eyes with Edward as a bubbly brunette has her arms around Charleston"s torso, nuzzling and kissing his neck while he has his hand plastered to her ass. He squeezes it as he leads her to his car. He"s not even trying to wait as he slides her dress up to fuck her against the thing.

I shake my head as I approach him from behind. He flinches once he catches a glimpse of my masked face in the reflection of the window behind him. A quick smash of his head against the frame of his Rolls has him unconscious in an instant. Edward comes up to drag Charleston away, and I turn toward the girl.

"Thanks, Rachel. Here you go and there"s a few grand extra for the hazard pay of him touching you," I tell her.

She smiles and tips the wad of cash at me. "You always sent great clients my way, Julian. I would have done this for free, you know."

"I know, and that"s why I paid you. If you"re good at something, never do it for free," I joke as she laughs and walks away with ten thousand dollars in her small purse.

Edward has Charleston in the back of a van and I go inside the country club without my mask on to get the keys to his car. A Rolls Royce without a driver seems like a slap in the face to lifestyle Charleston"s trying to maintain his image with, but it sure makes kidnapping him a lot easier. Let"s see how he likes it.

When my father finally comes to, he"s sitting in a chair beside the tortured remains of the man Bonnie left alive for me and Edward. Charleston"s eyes blink at a furious pace as he stumbles over his words.

"What am I doing here?" he asks.

"Why did you torture that little girl?" I ask him about Danny.

"What little girl? I didn"t torture her. She asked me to do that stuff to her," Charleston spits out.

Edward and I glance at each other as I close my fist and punch him in the face, busting his lip open. "The fact that it"s reactionary says you do it to so many women you can"t even keep track anymore. Why Danielle Edelman, why Claire?"

"Julian, please, all of this was your mother"s plan. She said I owed her. She had dirt on me from killing that girl last year, and I didn"t have a choice. She told me to just keep Claire busy until we got you to agree to run for office."

Again, Edward and I exchange bewildering looks. Edward cocks his head to the side. "How many people have you killed, Charleston?"

The asshole looks like he's trying to remember, to count them. "Three, that"s it, just the three that I know of. There may have been someone I hit on the side of the road, but that was probably a deer or something."

"Claire, Bonnie, and Danny would have made six. I should keep you in this meat packing plant for six months just for that alone."

Charleston sobs. "No, that"s not fair. I was just following orders. You know how these things work, Julian. If I didn"t do what your mother said, Armande would have used me for chum. She had this plan. She was going blame Scarpella for Claire and Armande"s deaths."

"What?" My eyes widen as I turn to Edward. "Get Armande on the phone now." I turn back to the bag of shit who spawned me. "Tell me everything, old man, right now."

Charleston continues. "Bianca told me to have Claire kidnapped. We"d use the ransom money to fund your campaign. After she got the money, she was supposed to bring Claire"s body to the house where you"d find Claire and your Uncle dead. The other two would decompose in the trash heap. You'd blame Scarpella and kill him. Bianca would take over the family while you ran for political office. I"d get back into my inner circle, and we"d be a family again, according to her."

I look at Edward who shakes his head. "He"s not answering, Julian. Neither is Vinnie."

"Get someone over there to break down that door if you have to. Right now." My anger unfurls over the man who took out his frustrations against a young Julian who wasn"t strong enough to defend himself. This fight isn"t fair, but fuck it. Life ain"t fair.

The crushing blows of my fist to different parts of my father"s body bring me a small amount of satisfaction, but once the skin splits over my knuckles, I force myself to stop. His face is barely recognizable.

When my phone rings, an unsaved international number pops up on the screen and I answer it, thankful to hear my Uncle"s voice.

"What"s the matter man, Jules? I got like a thousand missed calls in the last ten minutes from Eddie. What happened?"

"Thank god. Ma was planning to kill you. I just beat it out of Charleston," I nudge him with my foot. He whimpers, barely able to put his broken arm up to protect himself. I spit at him and continue with my call.

Armande laughs. "I think you got your answers and then went to town on him, but hey, you were always an ask questions first kind of guy. We shouldn"t be talking about this over the phone. We"ll have dinner when I get back from this business trip. I had to get out of town for a while after our little fishing trip. Capiche?"

"Yeah, I"m just happy you"re alive and well. Call me when you get back, we"ll do a real fishing trip," I tell him and end the call. I turn to Edward. "Do whatever you do and get every piece of evidence you can on this asshole. Throw it in the back of the Rolls and make it look like he was leaving town when he got into a mysterious car accident. Pay everyone to make that story stick and send this asshole to prison. No trial."

Edward nods and I look at the defeated monster of my childhood knowing that I"d finally be able to sleep at night.