“I thought there was nothing to talk about?” I answer the phone with Jase across from me. He’s slow to take his seat in the chair but quiet as he does it. There’s not a sound in the room other than my own heart beating until Marcus answers.
“I forgot I wanted to mention something,” he tells me over the phone. “Are your brothers with you?” he asks me and then adds, “They may be interested to hear this as well.”
“I’ve just messaged them,” Jase answers and sets his phone down on the table. It vibrates with a response and then another.
“I’m glad you’re here, Jase,” Marcus says and I can hear the smile that must be plastered on his face. His voice carries through the space and over to the door as it opens, bringing Daniel into the office. He’s still catching his breath and slowing his pace after taking quick steps into the room.
“And which one is that?” Marcus asks as Declan comes in next, his tablet in hand. “Is it the one attempting to track me?” Marcus asks and instinctively I move my gaze to Declan. He merely stares at the phone on my desk, not answering.
“Of course we’re trying to track you,” I answer Marcus, slowly taking my seat and ignoring my own phone going off. “It’s only fair, and you know it.” He gives a low chuckle, but says nothing.
“What is it you want to tell us?” I ask him and glance at the monitor to see Sebastian’s car parked in the street. I know he was talking to her. The nagging voice in my head is only concerned with Aria, but she’s not even back yet. This call is going to be quick. First I’ll handle this, and then I’ll deal with Aria.
Soon. Soon I’ll have her back, and I’ll take Jase’s advice.
“I have more information regarding the first time the lines were drawn in the sand,” Marcus says. “Lines you failed to see.”
“No more riddles.” I cut Marcus off and grit my teeth before telling him, “I’m tired of games. Tell us who tried to take Addison and Aria.” I harden my voice as I add, “I want names.”
It’s quiet for a second and then another, but Marcus eventually speaks.
“Jase, do you remember the articles I sent you?” Marcus asks and Jase’s gaze narrows as he stares at the phone, not with anger, but with recollection. And we all look to him.
“About Tyler?” Jase asks and instantly my blood turns to ice. “The articles about the woman who hit him?” Jase clarifies and my mind races.
Lines drawn in the sand.
The first hit our family took.
“Tyler’s death was an accident,” Daniel speaks up and then visibly swallows, walking closer to the edge of the desk and daring the voice on the phone to deny that truth.
It was five years ago. Almost six now.
Tyler’s death was before all this. Years ago. After I went against Talvery, once I started making a name for myself, yes. But I was no one. It’s only in the last few years that my name has become synonymous with fear. Jase and I had barely gained ground, let alone anything worth the attention of hurting Tyler.
“His death was an accident,” I say steadily, repeating Daniel’s words.
Still, the coldness doesn’t leave me. Slowly the memories come back of my youngest brother. He was the only good soul of the five of us. If ever a death was cruel, cutting his life short was just that.
“What were the articles?” I ask Jase, but Marcus answers instead.
“About her addictions…” Marcus’s voice drawls until he says, “About her sudden death while waiting for her sentencing.”
Daniel’s face is pale and his eyes are glazed over. He saw it happen. He was there when Tyler was struck by her vehicle.
“What are you getting at?” I question Marcus, keeping my voice even and not letting the emotion get to me.
“She died in her sleep,” Jase speaks over me and Marcus responds without hesitation, to say, “She was murdered.”
“A name, Marcus,” I remind him. “You wanted to tell us something, so tell us all of it. A woman being murdered in jail means nothing.”
“No, but the name of the contract hit she was given, does. A hit I denied. The name was Jase Cross.” Overwhelming nausea rises inside of me as Marcus weaves a tale and paints the picture of my past differently than I’ve ever seen it. “A small-town thug from Crescent Hills. A boy who was getting in the way and needed to be taken care of before he and his brothers gained too much ground. But she knew too much and had to die once she did her bidding.”
“What?” Jase’s voice carries disbelief as a growing numbness covers my skin with goosebumps.
“A hit?” Declan questions. Incredulity is written on his face.
I can’t move. There’s so much tension in every part of my body.
“Tony Romano came to me first.” Hearing Romano’s name sparks the need for vengeance, but I won’t act quickly. I’ll listen first, and assess. But imagining my youngest brother, only sixteen years old and dead in the street, proves that task to be futile. “He said either of the two would do, but settled on Jase.” Marcus continues to tell his story while I wonder if it’s possible. If it’s true.
If Tyler was murdered all those years ago. If he took the place of Jase.
“The article I sent to Jase in particular was the biggest clue of all. His picture was there. What was he wearing, Jase?” Marcus leads Jase with the question, and it’s only then that Jase’s face crumples with torment. “Your hoodie.” Marcus answers his own question, and I can hear Jase swallow.
“It was meant to be Jase, and she saw a boy who looked like him, on a rainy night in the same sweatshirt she was looking for. She wasn’t a drunk driver, she was an alcoholic and drug addict hired by Romano because I refused.”
“That’s why you were there?” Daniel speaks up, his voice loud enough for Marcus to hear over the speaker. “You knew it was going to happen?”
“I thought it was going to be you. I wanted to save you. I had other plans for you.” My throat’s tight as I listen to Marcus, finding it harder and harder to disagree with his version of what happened. No matter how much I want to deny these revelations coming to light, years later.
“He wanted to end you, but instead he delivered a death that fueled both of you to conquer without remorse.”
“Romano?” Declan questions, and we share a knowing look.
“Romano,” Marcus confirms.
He’s dead. He’s fucking dead.
“Why now?” Daniel asks, not hiding the emotion in his voice. “You were there. You knew all this time and you didn’t tell me back then, you didn’t warn me… but now?”
“Why tell us this now?” Declan repeats Daniel’s question.
“For one, you asked who tried to take Addison and Aria. I’m giving you an answer. But the other reason, the much bigger reason, is because I knew Carter would listen. I knew I’d have his attention.” Marcus’s voice lacks the same depth it had during his tale. Like he’s snapped back to the present and he’s no longer interested.
“You would’ve had my attention whenever you wanted it, Marcus,” I tell him honestly.
“Yes,” he answers, “but I didn’t want it back then. I wanted it now.” And with that, the line goes dead.
None of my brothers speak after the click fills the room.
He didn’t want it back then?
Another riddle. I let the words sink in, but they hardly mean anything. Marcus has never lied. Romano had my brother killed. Romano has taken his last free breath.
“He’s a dead man,” I speak out loud although none of my brothers react.
Jase hasn’t moved. He’s as still as he can be, and Declan keeps looking between him and Daniel.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Daniel offers Jase, but Jase only shakes his head.
Mourning the loss of a loved one is the worst feeling in the world. There’s no drug that can take that pain away, because there’s no drug that can bring them back. They’re simply gone forever.
But to learn the truth of a tragedy, to learn that there was more to the story, more than what you were told before and to still have no control, it adds salt to the wound.
And for Jase… he’s in fucking agony, knowing it was supposed to be him.
The vibrations from my phone are a muted distraction. I don’t even know how long it’s been going off – Jase’s is going off too – and I’m eager to pick it up, only to realize what Marcus meant.
He didn’t want my attention back then. He wanted it now, because he didn’t want my attention elsewhere.
Anger ignites inside me like never before as I read the message out loud. “Aria’s gone.”
I’ll kill them all.
