Page 3

Maddox

I need to get my head focused on the meeting ahead of me and not the puzzle that is Mindy Peters. But she is the only thing I’ve been able to think about since last night. Today’s meeting is too important to let myself get distracted.

That smile won’t leave my mind.

“When did you get that?” Jacko points at my newest acquisition.

“He arrived yesterday. It’s a Blue Insularis Pit Viper.” The snake has been pretty chill so far.

“What are you going to do when you run out of space up here? The walls of your office have already filled up.”

That’s a good question. “Maybe add a reptarium to The Street.”

“Pit would love that, but there’s no way you’re bringing any of the venomous ones there. Not by the kids.”

Like I would ever take that risk with the constant flow of hooligan street kids that move onto The Street. If my office didn’t have as many levels of security, I wouldn’t have them here. “The venomous ones can stay here. Talking about Pit, is he ever going to tell us about the baby?” His wife has got to be at least five months pregnant by now.

“Probably when they pop the baby out.”

Jacko has a way with words. The world appreciates that it doesn’t translate to his artwork. “I’m sure it’ll be before that.”

“You don’t think something is wrong with the baby?”

Pit would have said something to me if there was. “No. I’m sure the baby is just fine.”

“They should pick me to be the godfather of this one.” Jacko gives me a pointed look. “They need someone who can have fun with the kids and isn’t a workaholic.”

Like he works any less than I do. When Jacko isn’t working on a custom piece, he’s taking care of business on Willow Street. “It’s not my fault everyone wants me to be the godfather of their children.”

“You could be a little less responsible and go out and have fun once in a while.”

What is fun? I haven’t had it in so many years, I’m not even sure it exists. The closest I’ve gotten is knocking Ethan to the ground a couple of years ago. That was the highlight of the last decade. “There’s no time for silliness.”

“Getting a girlfriend isn’t silly.”

“Like you can talk. When was the last time you dated?”

“Tòuchè.” Jacko grimaces. “I’m just particular about the women I see.”

“Somehow, half a dozen models from across the globe weren’t good enough.”

Jacko reaches into Molly’s cage. She’s the sweetest corn snake. Molly winds herself around Jacko's fingers. “They didn’t want to date me. They wanted to date the world-renowned artist to further their careers. Or they see the playboy millionaire that they expect to shower them with gifts and trips around the world. What’s your excuse?”

Pit stalks into my office with the biggest grin on his face, saving me from having to find one. “He’s going to tell us today.”

Jacko turns towards Pit. “You’re right.”

I’m always right.

The rest of our inner circle shows up.

Who knew our little street gang would turn into this…

***

“The first order of business for today’s meeting comes from Ethan.” My mentor still throws business our way.

The guys smile even as Ace asks, “Is he ever going to retire?”

Ethan retire? “Nope.” Matthew does most of the legwork now. “He has a recovery mission for us. In and out in seventy-two hours.”

“Recovery?” Jacko knows these are never quite as simple as they sound.

“A billionaire’s daughter is currently the guest of a cartel. We need to extract her and return her to her father.” Pampered princesses are always the most annoying jobs. “Who wants in?”

Six hands pop up.

Pit’s isn’t one of them, but then he doesn’t go often since he’s been married. My cousin Dyce’s hand also remains down. Not that she couldn’t lead the team if she wanted to. She’s gone on a few missions before. The guys are a little scared of just how brutally lethal and insane she can be. The gang needs a lawyer more than we need another killer at the moment.

“How did she get herself captured?” Ace asks.

Usually, they do something stupid in a foreign country because they’re entitled brats. This one was different. “She rented out a movie theatre for her and her friends.”

“Wait, this happened in the States?” Canyon stands up from where he was leaning against the bar.

“Yeah. The cartel was sending a message to her father.” One that isn’t acceptable. “Jacko will lead the group.” Even though I should be. But Willow Street has to be my first priority. “Unless someone volunteers to take over for a few days.”

Every single guy looks down at their feet. Not one of them wants the responsibility. My brothers will walk into a battle not knowing how outnumbered we are, but they won’t take over Willow Street. Half the time I don’t want to either. But I chose this, and the kids need to be protected. If only they weren’t stupid kids half the time trying to get themselves in trouble or killed.

More often than not, it’s me that wants to kill them. But I’ve accepted that I can’t go do the fun stuff anymore. “It’s the standard pay split, thirty for equipment and planning, fifty for the men who participate, and twenty for Willow Street.”

Ethan started that years ago to help keep the neighborhood afloat. Not that any of my brothers need the money. We’ve had more money than we’ll ever need since before most of us turned thirty. “Any questions?”

Silence is the response I expected. “On to the next issue.”

***

My stomach clenches as we move on to the last order of business before we can celebrate with Pit. “In all the years we’ve been together, I never thought I would have to say anything like this. All of you are my brothers. I trust you with my life and would give mine to save yours. But we’ve gone over Marlie’s abduction dozens of times. And the only possible explanation is that one of us is a rat.”

Everyone starts murmuring to each other. Their voices blend into a mixture of shock and anger, mirroring my own.

“How can you be so sure there’s a rat?” Jacko starts to pace.

I look over at Dyce, who is now sitting on the bar holding Cow. There’s so much rage and guilt built up in her that I don’t know how she hasn’t exploded yet. “There’s a video. Plant found her. No one knew where Marlie was, including her, except for Deathadders.” It shouldn’t have happened. It couldn’t have happened. But it did. “The only phone she had was a burner of ours that she took. And the only call she made from it was to 911.”

“There has to be an explanation.” Onyx taps his leg. “No one in this room would ever do that.”

“There were ten others that knew.” And most likely, one of them betrayed us.

All the brothers sit silent, going over the list in their heads of those trusted enough to know about our safe houses and who we’re currently protecting.

Enzo shakes his head. “Most of those are our children. Children we protected and cared for when no one else would have. None of them would have done that.”

“The kids from The Street are just as trustworthy as each of us. None of them would have ever ratted out a woman’s location knowing that she was likely to be trafficked. If anything, they would understand her plight more. Not to mention, each of them has demonstrated just how trustworthy they are on numerous occasions.” Jacko lets the frustration we’re all feeling show in his words.

“We need to find some other reason. There’s got to be something else. Someone outside of our gang.” Ace always wants to see the best in people.

“Find me the explanation. We all need to work on this together.” Though I’ll be running an investigation on my own.

“What if…” The question hangs in the air, suffocating all of us.

There’s only one answer. It’s the same for any man who would hurt a woman on purpose. “We feed that person to the snakes just like we would any other rat.” The beautiful and venomous snakes lining my wall are well-fed. If it really is one of us… There has to be another answer.