Page 5 of Dangerous Command

“Did anything strange happen today?” I asked.

“Like what?”

“You dropped off flowers at the spa,” I said.

“Yeah,” he said. “Your father looked busy with Margot. I offered to deliver them. I wanted to say hi to Clara.”

My cheeks flushed with heat. “Why the fuck did you want to say ‘hi’ to my mother?”

“Look, man.” He lifted his hands in defense. “I wanted to catch up with her. Nothing suspicious about that. Besides, Gerard always gets Clara flowers on days with the mistress. Why do you ask?”

Uncle Ray, and the rest of the staff, would know what had happened soon enough, but something itched at my brain. Why had it been Uncle Ray to drop off the flowers? Something about that seemed off.

“And you tookallof the men from the Adler House for the new shipment?” I asked. “Even the ones who were supposed to be on watch here?”

“Yeah. We needed them,” he said. “They’re here.”

“And you’re at the warehouse?”

“Yes, Boss.”

I headed straight there, and as soon as I saw the four fuckers who were supposed to be guarding the house waiting to the side, I pulled out my gun. Square Face, Pouty Lips, and the Twins. None of them deserved names anymore.

Pouty Lips raised his hands in defense.

“Boss, we were just—”

“We didn’t know. I swear—”

“We’re sorry, Boss. Sorry that we—”

Square Face grabbed his gun, ready to shoot me, but the rest of my men pulled out their weapons, ready to kill those four men for me. But I shot all of them in the chest, knocking the four of them backward. There was no time for forgiveness. Not when my family’s legacy was on the line.

The rest of the group turned to me. I pointed the gun at Uncle Ray. Uncle Ray was family, but even with Muro supposedly dead, he knew better than to leave the Adler House unattended. What was he thinking? I didn’t care if the shipment was arms; the Adler House wasneverleft alone. We had too many enemies, and now, one of our worst enemies was still alive.

“What the hell, Derek?” Uncle Ray asked. ‘Boss’ slipped from his words. He knew what was coming.

“Did you pull them from the house?” I asked.

“My lead gathered the group,” he said. The lead raised his hands in defense and I stepped closer toward him.

“He said to take what we needed,” the lead said, his voice in haughty pants like he couldn’t decide whether to attack me or to cower. “I just thought, you know, with the arms shipment, that we—” I grabbed him by the neck, putting the gun to his temple, and instantly pulled the trigger before he had a chance to process what was happening.

Then I grabbed Uncle Ray by the throat.

“Did you tell your lead to pull them from the house?”

“I swear, I didn’t—”

“Your brother died tonight.”

“My brotherdied?” The tears welled in his eyes. “I would never do anything to hurt my brother.”

“Don’t lie to me,” I growled.

“I would never. I would never. I would—”

But that’s all they were. Words. He had let his men get out of hand, and that mistake had cost my father his life.