Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
I get it and hold no grudge against my brother. The two of them are bonded in a way she and I will never be. I had a father who loved me from day one. My father adopted Caius because he wanted my mother. I believe she loves me, but when my father set Caius aside and cut him out of his will, things changed, and I understand the ferocity of her instinct to protect him.
These last few days that she is at the house instructing the staff on her packing, she makes sure to show me how much of a sacrifice she is making for the comfort of myself and my wife, the enemy.
I go along with it because it’s temporary and it’s easier this way. Besides, I have more important things to deal with at the moment.
Val and I pull up to the gates of the Avery property along the edge of town late in the afternoon two days after the incident at the lighthouse. There has been no contact from Thiago. That message I sent still sits undelivered in outer space somewhere. Two more calls to Addy have turned nothing up.
Val slows the car as we pull up to the gates. The security cameras on either pillar zoom in on our faces, and I’m surprised when the gates ease open before we have to announce ourselves to the two armed soldiers approaching from the guardhouse. We drive toward the entrance of the opulent home while I take in the grounds, seeing in my periphery the closing of the gates and the two men standing just outside of the guardhouse watching, automatic rifles slung over their shoulders.
The house itself is a French style stone structure. It is beautiful, certainly, and I imagine the interior to be just as luxurious as ours. I’m sure Bea Avery wouldn’t have accepted anything less than the very best. They can afford it. The Commander was a very wealthy man—the kind of wealth one can only acquire in the line of work he was in. The line of work my family is in.
We are all criminals, no matter how we try to scrub the blood from our hands.
“Wait here for me. I shouldn’t be too long,” I tell Val once he pulls the SUV to a stop.
“You sure?” he asks, peering to look toward the front entrance, the door of which has just been opened.
“I’ll be fine,” I say, watching Camilla and her creepy brother step outside.
I climb out and take note of the armed guards at the door, who step forward as I climb the stairs.
“Search him,” Camilla orders.
“That’s not necessary. I’m unarmed.”
“We don’t believe you,” she says, folding her arms across her chest like she always used to do because she’s still a fucking brat.
Before I have a chance to respond, Bea Avery appears. She’s wearing a black dress, and her long blond hair is loose down her back. She’s still attractive, but she must be aware that her daughter’s beauty has surpassed her own.
“Don’t be a child, Camilla,” Bea says. She brings the cigarette she’s holding in its vintage silver engraved cigarette holder to her mouth, and her gaze moves over me. “Santos. What a surprise. Come in.”
She stands back, and the twins move into the house so that I can pass through the door. I notice another soldier inside the house. The Commander never had so many armed men so visibly present. Thiago wouldn’t have either.
This is because he’s gone.
Once we’re inside, Bea Avery leads the way to a formal living room and takes a seat on an armchair by the fireplace. She doesn’t invite me to sit while Camilla and Liam perch on the couch. That’s fine. I don’t intend on staying long. Besides, this is like old times. To them, I am a servant. One who deals in blood, but a servant nonetheless.
“I’m here to see Thiago,” I say flatly and watch them closely. I see how Liam glances to his sister for a clue on how to react, see Camilla’s eyes narrow accusingly, and watch Bea Avery’s cool gaze not wavering from me once.
“Are you? Well, I’m sorry to say he’s not here.”
“No? When do you expect him home? I’ll come back.”
“Why? What business do you have with him?”
“That’s between us.”
She studies me as she takes a drag from her cigarette. “Any business you have with my son is business you have with me.”
“As far as I know, Thiago is the head of this family since the Commander’s unfortunate absence.” I add the last part in with a grin I don’t like the feel of and a glance toward the twins.
“You mean since his murder?” Liam asks.
“Shut your mouth,” his mother chastises him, exhaling cigarette smoke as she speaks and looking like the fucking dragon she is. “My son was on his way to dinner at your club two nights ago, but sadly he never arrived, and we haven’t seen him since. He seems to have vanished off the face of the earth, in fact. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”