“I want to understand why he did it. If I can explain it to her…” My voice trails off. No words I spout at Nora regarding family loyalty or protection will mean anything with her husband’s blood on my hands.
“Do you think there is justification for what he did?” Pops’ voice reminds me of a junkyard dog’s snarl. “He betrayed us, Nataniele. The whys are irrelevant.”
“I missed something, didn’t I? I mean, you vetted him before they were married, and he was clean. Was only interested in the legit side of the business. Good with numbers, too. We thought he might even replace Kate in the accounting area, but now? Now he betrays us? I need to know why.”
“If you want to waste your time, go ahead.” Pops shakes his finger at me. “When you find out he did it for the one reason anyone ever dares betray us, you’ll only be disappointed.”
“Money.” I clench my teeth together and flex my foot against the accelerator.
“Always. Jack grew up poor and hungry, and all of a sudden, he’s living in a fancy house with maids and cooks. People who come from nothing and are suddenly given everything always want more. Greedy fuckers.”
I turn off the road and head up a long, gravel drive and past the dilapidated farmhouse. When I crest the hill, I see the barn looming in the distance and park near the other vehicles.
“It’s about family integrity,” Pops says. “It has always been about family integrity. If we can’t trust those in our own family to be loyal, we can’t trust anyone.”
“When you find a rat, you kill it.”
“No mercy.”
I step out of the car and head to the run-down barn, painted black and sporting a faded old chewing tobacco advertisement on the side. Long ago, the area was filled with tobacco farms, and all the barns were painted black to help speed the process of drying. The slat-board door is ajar, and I maneuver through it.
The dry, dusty air tickles my nose with the smell of old manure and rotted hay. Sunlight peeks through the cracks in the wooden walls, spreading patches of bright light in some places and dark shadows in others. A few, unused livestock stalls line one side of the barn, and a rusted tractor sits against the back wall. For a long, drawn-out moment, it’s the only sound in the large, open space. The next moment, the building is filled with screams.
“No! No! Please!”
I glance at Pops, but he stays next to the barn door, leaning against the rotting wood wall with his arms crossed in front of him. It’s clear he expects me to do this myself. I need to be the one who ends my brother-in-law, not Antony and not Threes. It has to be me.
I casually walk to the figure tied to a chair in the middle of the open space. Threes stands in front of him with his fist raised. The figure in the chair cringes, but the blows come anyway.
“I thought I told you to take him to the warehouse,” I say to Antony as I approach.
“The barn was closer,” he says with a shrug. “I wasn’t sure how long we’d be here, and the warehouse is getting a shipment later tonight. I didn’t want any interruptions.”
I smile and raise an eyebrow at Antony before pulling him aside and whispering low.
“Next time, you discuss changes with me before you do it, not after. This is your one and only warning, cousin. If it happens again, you’ll be in that chair. Am I clear?”
“Yeah, boss.” Antony swallows hard. “You’re clear.”
“Glorious.”
Threes stops punching and takes a step back. Beside him is a folding table with a variety of nasty-looking metal objects displayed on top. Antony moves around to the back of the chair, and Jack stares at me in panic as I approach the table.
“You’ve kinda fucked thing up here, haven’t you, Jack?”
“I didn’t plan on it,” Jack says, his voice cracking. “They said they wanted me for negotiations—changes to the treaty—and that the family would benefit! I didn’t go in there planning to betray you!”
“But you did, didn’t you?” I reach out and grasp his bloodied face in my hands. “You did betray me. You took their money and gave them information.”
“It was for your sister, Nate. I just wanted to make sure I could give her everything she—”
I rear back and punch him in the temple.
“Don’t you even consider putting this on my sister.” I keep my voice soft and calm as I step back from him, circling the chair. “If she knew what you were doing, she’d rip your balls off herself.”
“Nate! Nate, please!” Jack twists his head around, trying to get a better look at me as I come around the front and click my tongue.
“It’s a bit late for that, don’t you think?” Taking a step forward, I grab the top of Jack’s head and dig my fingers into his curly black hair. I yank hard, forcing his head backward and exposing his throat. My voice is slow and calm. “You wouldn’t need to beg for your life if you had just made better choices. It’s not like you didn’t realize what you were doing. No one tricked you. No one blackmailed you. They just played on your own greed, and you gave into it.”
“Against the family.” Antony leans over Jack, looking down at his wide eyes from behind the chair where Jack is bound.
“Against the family that took you in,” Threes says, “the family that accepted you like their own blood.”
I hear a sharp crack just before Jack screams again. Antony smiles as he breaks another finger.
“I sure hope he ain’t a piano player, boss,” Threes says with a snicker.
“He isn’t one anymore, that’s for sure.”
“Please…please stop.” Tears stream down Jack’s face. “I’ll do anything you want, Orso! Anything!”
“You should have thought about that before.”
Another crack. Another scream followed by the sharp, distinct smell of urine.
“Gross,” Threes mutters. “Seriously, dude, have some dignity.”
“Please!” Jack cries again.
“Aw, does that hurt?” I ask as I slowly slide a set of brass knuckles up my fingers. “Let me take the pain away.”
I pull my arm back and slam my weaponized knuckles into the back of his head. Jack screams and cringes as he pulls at the bonds around his wrists and ankles. He cries out again.
“Oh, sorry.” I shake my head. “That didn’t work so well.”
“Was that supposed to knock him out?” Antony chuckles.
“Yeah.” I shrug.
“You suck at this.”
I glare at Antony. I know it’s a friendly dig, but he sounds a little too much like my father though Pops is still leaning against the door to the barn, not participating in what he would normally consider fun. He wants me to do it on my own. I huff out a breath, mentally forgiving my cousin. I’m being too sensitive.
“It was never my strong point,” I mutter. I crouch in front of Jack and look him in the eyes. “You know you fucked up. You also know how we deal with fuckups.”
“It was a mistake.” His eyes plead along with his words. “I swear. It will never happen again!”
“Well, he’s got that right.” Antony grins.
“A mistake is fiddling with the radio controls and then hitting the car in front of you,” I tell him. “Going to my enemies with information isn’t a mistake—it’s a betrayal.”