Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
“When I took over, I told Everton he either found a new racket or he was out of the Rogues. The thing is, the Rogues aren’t an after-school math club. There’s only one way to leave—in a body bag.”
I shook my head. “I’m guessing Everton didn’t like being threatened.”
“Didn’t like it one bit, but I had to make myself clear. What he was doing had to end. No discussion.”
“Did he stop?”
“No.”
“I knew before you answered,” I said, dropping my chin on my knees. “We wouldn’t be here if everything went well with you two.”
“Everton didn’t believe his childhood friend would kill him, and he was right. I had a moment of weakness,” Alistair confessed. “I punished him instead. I outed him and destroyed the reputation of the Starling Group in the process. Every case they tried was overturned, and countless people were able to demand a retrial. Including the father of that young boy. He got out of jail, leaving an empty cell for Everton.”
“Everton was arrested?”
He nodded. “Arrested, disowned, reviled. He lost everything, and believe me, it did not soften the blow that he didn’t lose his life too. All he saw was that I betrayed him. It sealed his hatred of me.”
“You were trying to do the right thing. You were doing what Everton should’ve done himself. Why would he want to continue after someone used him to destroy an innocent man and kill a child?”
“Everton took the approach that all he did was sell the information. It wasn’t on him what people did with it.”
I scoffed, feeling less and less sympathy for the guy by the second.
“Everton wasn’t on trial for long,” Alistair continued. “He fled in the middle of the trial and lay low among his many undisclosed properties. During that time, he plotted how to take me down.”
“He wanted you dead?”
“He wanted me dead and he wanted my throne. Everton secretly spread division among the current and former Rogues. Weren’t they chafing under my new rules? Didn’t they hate taking orders from a twentysomething upstart? Didn’t they want a return to the old ways? Join with him, put him on top, kill me, and he’d give them everything they wanted and more.”
Even all these years later, I saw the pain in Alistair’s eyes clear as day. “This set off a wave of assassination attempts that’d make a president quake in their boots. Old and new enemies came after me relentlessly—spurred on by my oldest friend.”
“Wow.” I tried to imagine my old friends from Catholic school hating me so much they sent assassins after me. Alistair was right. It was a frightening thing when love turned to hate. “Were you with Mom while all of this was happening? Did she know the truth about you?”
“Your mother knew everything about me, from the mundane to my deep, darkest secrets. I never lied to her and never will,” he said firmly. “She knew everything and didn’t judge me. All she wanted was to be with me and raise our family together. The only thing I wanted more than leading the Rogues was to give you, your sister, and your mother everything.
“I was stupid to think I could do both. The day my brakes failed and I crashed the car with the three of you inside ended my silly fantasy.”
My lips went numb. “A car crash? But... I don’t remember that.”
“You wouldn’t. We were bringing you home from the fucking hospital,” he forced through gritted teeth. “You were three days old. Winter was only one. I had no idea someone had gotten close enough to your mother to watch and wait until she went into labor. Everton knew I wouldn’t miss your birth, so that’s when he told them to strike.”
Oh yes, my sympathy for the man was nonexistent.
“After that, your mother and I agreed to split up for your safety. She took you girls out of Regalia”—emptiness bled into his eyes—“and I killed my oldest friend.”
That was the only way this story could end.
“You did it?” I asked softly.
“I say this all like it happened quickly. I didn’t realize Everton was behind that attempt and the many others that followed for quite some time. It took years of following money trails, listening to whispers, speaking to this broker who received a call from that blocked phone that was prompted by this email from a dummy address. All that time, I didn’t consider Everton was behind the many assassination attempts that drove me further and further underground, farther from my family.
“When the trail finally led back to him, it was riddled with unforgivable betrayals after nearly a decade of us having no contact. There wasn’t a friendship left to fight for.”
He stared off into the distance, eyes glazing with memories I didn’t want to know about. The emotion within them said it all.