Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68058 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68058 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“Your father would kill anyone outside the family who found out.”
“Including X?”
She hummed. “Damn, you go right to the top.”
“I’ve never seen a reason to play games. When I want something done, I go to the most skilled person I know, or I take care of it myself. If I’m stuck here at the ranch, then I need someone I trust to work on this. You said yourself that we don’t know who we can trust right now. Anyone could be in Franco’s pocket.
“I believe your brothers are safe.”
“I’m willing to take your word that they’re on our side, but I’m not going to trust them with something like this. They’re way too fucking young.”
She sighed. “Dario is eighteen, and he’s starting to take on more responsibility, but X would be perfect.”
“And there’s no way in hell Dad is stupid enough to try to kill him or reject his assistance.”
Van sighed. “True, but he’d never ask him directly.”
“That’s why it’s up to me.” I hated the idea of bringing someone else in on this almost as much as my father would, but Aunt Van was right. We couldn’t take Franco out until we knew who was working with him. If I couldn’t be there in person to investigate, then I needed someone with the kind of tech resources X had. He’d shown me just how easily he could find out everyone’s secrets with the right hacker. His guy was the best I’d ever heard of.
“I know how you feel about your father.”
“And you know it’s justified.”
“It is, but I also know he loves you and—”
“I don’t want everything he and grandpa worked for going to fucking Franco and the assholes who’ve dared to take his orders over my father’s. I will make this right, but Dad could have just told me the truth from the beginning.”
“Would you have gone to the ranch then?”
“Hell no.”
“That’s why he didn’t tell you.”
“He expects me to kill for him. He’s seen firsthand what I’m capable of, but he doesn’t think I can defend myself against Franco.”
“Franco is ruthless. He’ll do anything to take power.”
“And I would do anything to stop him.”
“Would you kill an innocent?”
“No, I’d find a way around it.”
“That’s just the sort of weakness Franco would exploit.”
I huffed. “I don’t have weaknesses.”
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, you men are all the same.”
“I can’t afford weakness. Once I commit to a kill, I’m all in.”
“But there are things you’d never agree to. Franco used his sister as a shield yesterday when facing the head of the Cafaros.”
“Son of a bitch.” I slammed my fist down on a fence post. “I’m going to kill him tonight.”
“No, you’re not. You’re going to stay where you are and do what you can from there, and I’m going to feed you all the information I can.”
I did not want her in danger. “I’ll handle this now. You stay away from it.”
“That tone has never worked on me, not from your father or mine.”
What was I doing? I hated the way my father dismissed her, and now I was trying to do the same. “Be careful.”
“I always am. I wouldn’t still be alive otherwise.”
“I love you, Aunt Van, and I don’t want you hurt.”
“I love you too, Teodoro. Behave yourself.”
She ended the call, and I sat there staring at the screen of my phone as it went dark. I’d known something wasn’t as it seemed. My father sending me away had never made sense. He might not think much of me, but he knew I was a topnotch assassin. When Franco and his cronies were agitating for war with the Cafaros, why would he send his best hitman a thousand miles away?
My father knew everything about the kills I’d made. He knew they weren’t sloppy and that I didn’t leave any evidence behind. If there were too many, that was because he’d ordered them all. It wasn’t like I’d acted on my own. None of the story he’d given me ever sounded right, but I’d assumed he wanted to get rid of me to move either Franco or Dario into my place as heir. My stepmom had wanted her children to come before me from the moment she married Dad.
Van had insisted that was nonsense, that blood mattered too much to my father to ever replace me with Franco, but he couldn’t simply push Franco out once Dario came of age. I hadn’t believed Van when she said I wouldn’t be replaced, but I knew she was telling me what she believed. Had my father fooled her? What if he really was working with Franco?
No, I didn’t believe that was true, not if Franco was pushing harder for war with the Cafaros. Van was right. My father wasn’t ready for an offensive on that scale. No way would we have the strength to take on their whole family without severe losses.