It’s been a long time since I’ve been to the farm, but it doesn’t feel like long enough as I climb out of the black SUV and follow after my uncles toward the main house. This is the first time women are being delivered straight here, usually they arrive on ships at the docks, and that’s where the handover occurs, but not this time.
Every security guard we passed, I committed them to memory. Every locked door is cataloged, and every turn we make as we wind through the house is memorized. We can’t afford for any of this to go wrong.
The plan, although changed, is a perfectly timed, perfectly plotted series of events, and if even one thing goes wrong, I could end up dead and my uncles will have a chance at seizing control of Chicago like they’ve always wanted.
“Where’s Elijah?” I ask. He’s the wildcard in all this. He’s loyal to his father and uncles to a certain point, but he’s always looked after number one. Himself. If shit goes sideways, he’ll either pull a gun on me, or he’ll get the fuck out of dodge to save his own ass. That’s why he was so good at Uncle Angelo’s favorite game. It’s why I ended up beaten and bloody more often than not. Elijah’s survival instincts are stronger than anyone I’ve ever met.
“He’s out on an errand,” Paul answers, pushing the door open to the room I remember as being Angelo’s office. I spent a lot of time in here when I was young, more time than I should have. This room is where I saw my first dead body, where I took my first life, where my uncle tried to force me to lose my virginity. That’s the worst memory I have of this room. A girl, no older than sixteen, her scared eyes as she silently pleaded with me not to do it. I was too young to fully understand why she was there, or even who she was, but even then, I knew it was wrong. I begged Angelo not to force this girl on me, telling him I wasn’t ready. That just earned me a beating. But the girl was taken away. I wish I could have protected her, I wish I could have taken her away from this hell and set her free the way I did myself when the Saint James family took me in.
I nod and take a seat on the old leather lounge that has been here for at least my whole life, longer if I had to guess. The things the old piece of furniture has seen over the years would give even the strongest man nightmares for the rest of their lives.
“So, Everett. Tell us what they have planned,” Paul says as he takes the seat across from me while Angelo moves behind the large wooden desk, his hands clasped in his lap as he waits for the story I’m about to spin. Tony flops into the seat beside me and all three of them turn their attention to me.
I’ve rehearsed this lie so many times it should be ingrained in my memory, I should have been saying it in my sleep, but now I’m sitting here with the coldest men in the city, it takes me a moment to get it straight in my mind. “They’re planning on hitting a bunch of your properties tonight,” I lie. “They aren’t going to attack Aces because they don’t think you would be stupid enough to hide out there after taking Emerson and how easily they were able to infiltrate the building and area.”
Angelo chuckles. “Looks like we’re heading to the club tonight, gentlemen. I want our men at all our locations ready to take those fuckers out. It’s time this ends once and for all.”
Even though we’re setting a trap for my uncles, the idea they think they could take my real family out makes my heart stop in my chest.
“What about the women?” Paul asks.
Always the women. He stopped being able to get legit pussy a long time ago, because if there’s one thing he never quite grasped, it’s that women talk, and if you beat them within an inch of their life when they don’t suck your cock right, the next woman probably isn’t going to be interested.
“When they are captured, I want them brought here. No one is to touch them until I’ve had the chance to survey them. I believe I will still take Emerson, Everett will likely lay claim to Wynter, although I meant what I said about wanting a piece of her, and Snow—” He shrugs. “She’s anyone’s game.”
“She might make a good wife for Elijah. It would be better if he and Everett can start having heirs sooner rather than later, and she might be our best chance at getting him a good woman given his… tastes,” Tony suggests.
My stomach rolls as they speak about the women I consider family in such a vile manner. With such little regard for the fact they are human and should have their own choices, their own free will. Am I hypocrite because I helped Rayne hold Emerson against her will in the beginning? Does that make me a monster just like the blood running through my veins? No. Because Rayne never would have hurt her, he would have done anything to protect her, he did everything to protect her. And even before she admitted it to herself, underneath all her fight, she wanted to be there.
“We’ll see if he likes her when he gets back from retrieving them,” Angelo agrees.
“Retrieving them?” The words fall from my lips before I have the chance to stop them. Tommy and Rayne would have already left to head here. The Legion should already be scoping out the club. And we’ve left Storm and the girls as sitting ducks.
Angelo smirks, a look so deadly and disgusting my own stomach flips with disgust. “Like I said, dear nephew, this all ends tonight.”
