Page 2 of Dirty Little Secrets

XAIDEN

I twist the blade, making sure the wound stays open as I drag it free from his neck. His eyes widen, and a spray of blood shoots up, painting the air. One more minute and he’ll bleed out. A wave of satisfaction floods me as I watch his body go limp, the life draining from his eyes.

Remorse? That’s for men with conscience, not executioners of filth like him.

My eyes catch on the patch on his leather cut.

One more second and those eyes will go vacant, just like his soul.

There’s only one place men like him go after death for the kind of sins he committed.

Grooming teenage girls, fucking them once they’re of age, keeping them dependent and loyal to his club by preying on their broken homes. That’s rape in my book.

I could’ve done worse. Tortured him. Cut him apart, piece by piece, and watched the agony eat him alive. But I had to be quick. They’re looking for him.

I grab his head, tilting it up to see if there’s a flicker of life left, something I can crush out of existence. But he’s already gone. A corpse in a puddle of his own blood.

I let go just as my cousin Leo walks in.

“Damn, ese. You cut him up real good.”

“Not good enough.” I walk to the makeshift sink in the warehouse, drop the knife in, and turn on the faucet. “Where’s Relic?”

“He’s coming with the rest of the Kings to clean up the mess.”

Leo’s phone buzzes. I already know who it is.

My father. My uncle wants me to take his son Leo and the younger Kings under my wing but I’m not. Not after tonight. They’ve learned enough.

“Yeah,” he says. Pause. “It’s done. He’s cleaning up now. Alright…I’ll tell him.”

He hangs up.

“Let me guess…he wants to know how I feel about killing the rest.”

“You know him well. He knows what this shit does to you.”

He thinks he knows. I watch the blood swirl into the drain.

Truth is, it makes me feel alive, this is the only time I ever do.

But I’m not a hitman. I can’t run a legit business in New York and be the family’s executioner on the side.

The cartel spills too much blood. Eventually, it’ll stain everything I’ve built.

Too much is at risk. I peel off my bloodstained shirt, scrub the red from my skin until it’s raw, then toss the shirt on the ground.

Leo and the other King’s blood’s still warm from childhood.

They don’t carry the weight I do. Not yet.

I can’t rely on my younger cousin to clean up my messes or his close friends.

They’ve been raised as brothers to run their respective families when it comes time but right now, they have school, futures, heirs to protect.

The door swings open. Relic enters with the rest of the Kings. “Damn, Xaiden,” he mutters, surveying the scene. “You fucked this fool up real nice.”

“Good. Now you putos get to clean it up. Take notes.”

Relic smirks. But he can see it in my eyes. I’m done. “You’re heading back to New York.”

“It shouldn’t have been me.”

“I know. But they’re too young.”

He’s talking about Aiden, Leo, Colton, and Mason. They’ve been spilling blood since they were thirteen. Still, this job was too big to trust them with. The streets of Hillside are already theirs to control. Seattle and New York are left to us but as of tonight, New York is mine.

“Damn, ese,” Aiden says. “No faith?”

Relic glances at the body. “This had too much heat,” he agrees. “Xaiden was the only one they wouldn’t see coming.”

“Why’d you take him out?” Mason asks.

I look down at the dead man. His eyes are wide and blank. “He groomed teenage girls. Hooked them on drugs. Forced them to steal. Then passed them around the club like toys.”

Aiden spits on the body. “Fucking sick.”

“There’s more,” I say. “They’re running drugs for other crime families. If we’d taken them all out, the rest would’ve caught wind. They’d know who crippled their supply chain.”

“That’s why we couldn’t touch him,” Relic adds.

“If they found out it was the Kings of Seattle...” Colton says, catching on fast, “And the vice president of their club died by our hands, war.”

Relic nods at them all. “Lesson one…don’t shit where you eat.

Don’t bring heat too close to where you sleep.

Other crews will come after what you love most—wives, girlfriends, children, parents.

These pinche desgraciados…they’re not like us.

” We live by a code. No killing women. No killing kids. Unless the woman’s a hit.

Leo looks over at me. “Is that why you’re good at this? Why you didn’t want us involved. Because you don’t want a wife or kids.”

Everyone knows I don’t want a family. No ties.

Too much risk.

There are always women willing to warm my bed. It’s why we have sex clubs, where no one asks questions. No strings. No weaknesses. I know what losing someone you love feels like.

“I already lost my mother.”

They look away. They don’t want me to see the pity in their eyes.

“Thanks to my father.”

He couldn’t protect his mistress—my mother. He let her die for his mistakes. That’s what feeds the fury in my veins with every fucking kill.

After rinsing off the last traces of blood, I move toward the door. Relic’s voice stops me right before I push open the door.

“We’ll always have your back, Hermano.”

No matter if we stay legit or not. We’re family.

“Out of all of us,” he continues, “you get to choose. You want out? You want a real life in New York? Go. Just remember you are family. And we protect our own.”

Leo steps up. “You can count on me, Xaiden. I’m just a call away.” He glances at the others. “All of us.”

“Yeah, ese,” Mason says, the biggest of them all. “Don’t forget. Your father’s blood runs through your veins. We may not all come from the same man or have the same mother, but, like Relic said, we’re family.”

If I needed a reminder, this was it. But it’s not the life I want.

I clear my throat. “You need me, you know where to find me.”

I step into the cold Seattle night. The air stings my face, salt and steel in every breath.

I climb into the back of the Rolls, knowing it’ll be a long time before I return.

There’s no need to call my father. He knows this was my last job for the cartel.

Anything they need, they can get from me remotely. This is my life.

My choice.

He owes me.

I wasn’t his wife’s son. Just a mistake.

He might not say it.

But I know how things work. I’m not an heir to his empire but I can build my own.

Bash glances at me in the rear-view mirror. “Ready?”

“Yeah. Let’s get out of here.”