Page 2 of Junior Has a Secret
“No fucking kidding.”
“He needs to die,” he bites out.
“You’ll have to find him first.”
“He will not come at you again.”He says the words like a command and a threat to a man who isn’t even here.
“I don’t need you to take care of me, Kane.I’ll find him.I’ll kill him.When the time is right.Tonight wasn’t that time.”
“I won’t give you the chance to prove you win that matchup, Lilah.Not this time.I’ll go talk to your father, but send a damn medic.If he says one wrong thing to me, he’ll need one for more than his finger.”With that, he turns away from me, and enters the dressing room, his masculine woodsy scent lingering in his aftermath.Some might call it the scent of sex, others that of death on their doorstep.I call it the scent of power.The scent of control.The scent of a man you do not cross.
Unless you’re me, of course.
My father and Ghost are fucked.
And I love it.
Chapter Two
I call for the medic team and Pocher shows up with them, proving he’s my father’s stalker.Or puppet master, depending on how you look at it and while I still believe my father will turn master to servant, his whimpering display lends doubt to that certainty.He is, after all, the man who ordered my murder, rather than daring to face life, and a career, with a daughter with opposing views.Pocher considers himself invincible, and tonight, Ghost proved my father is not, but perhaps by default he’s proven Pocher isn’t either.Choosing a weak follower to be in control still leaves you with a partner in crime who’s weak.
My father would turn on him to save himself.Pocher would kill my father to save himself.And I’d kill either or both to make the world a better place.At least one of us is going to die, and it’s not me.
Of course, Pocher halts in front of me, squaring off as if ready for battle, a tall man you always remember as short.He’s in a suit, his salt and pepper hair exposing far more of his wide forehead than the world was ever meant to see.Failing to kill me when he had the chance seems to have stirred real anger in him.These men are such little bitches.“What the hell is going on?”he demands.“Did you do something to him?”
“Not yet.I’m thinking you should be the first on my list to “do something to.”That way when it’s my father’s turn, you won’t be there to hold his precious little hand.You took your shot with me.It’s a bit like Russian Roulette, but I’m the gun and your time is up.”
“What the hell happened?”he repeats, his teeth grinding together, which might be nails on a chalkboard to someone else, but to me it’s all about living under his skin.Tormenting him is almost worth keeping him alive.
Kane exits the dressing room, done with my father with lightning speed, I suspect, before he ever entered the room.I point a finger gun at Pocher and pretend to pull the trigger.“Bang.You’re dead.”I pause for effect, before adding, “Soon.”I step around him, and fall into step with Kane, walking down a hallway created by curtains.“What did you say to him?”
“I told him the only people who have ever been close enough to Ghost, and knew that it was him, to kill him, were you and me, and he’d be good to remember that.I also told him he’s the new governor and if he didn’t stop crying like a pussy, I was going to live stream him for all the world to see.”He glances down at me.“I took a video as evidence.I figured you couldn’t stomach it enough to document it.”
“You do know me.”
“Better than even you believe, bella.”
Not really, I think.Kane knows me with an irritatingly accurate assessment, which is exactly why I’ve tamed my kill instinct.They say your other half should make you a better person and considering I’m really trying to arrest people before I end them, I think he’s succeeding.I’m just not sure it’s actually making the world a better place in the process.We reach the end of the hallway and Kit and Jay step in our path, twinning in black suits, with black ties, and crisp white shirts, the uniform of sorts Kane has established for his security team at one of my father’s events.Not that Kane or Kit and Jay are running the event.It’s all Enrique, who is only working security for my father to please Kane.He’s as loyal to Kane as Kit is, and probably more lethal.He’d rip my father’s throat out if Kane told him to, and yet my father feels safe when Enrique’s near.
The more I think about that fact, the more I think my father and Pocher are far more at odds than we believe to be the case.My father, I decide, is hiding behind me and Kane, and doing so despite the fact that he can’t possibly be delusional enough to believe I hold some inherent need to protect him.We join Jay and Kit right about the time a blonde woman in a black snug fitting dress steps in front of me.“Lilah, can we get you on stage with your brother to talk to the crowd?”
I don’t know this woman.I don’twantto know this woman.“Who are you?”Jay asks, and I’m not sure if it’s to save me from her or her from me, but I suspect the latter.
Her gaze shifts to him and her eyes go wide, before lingering on the scar down his cheek, I don’t even notice anymore nor do most people who meet him, certainly not DD, the medical examiner he’s fucking.Or dating.Whatever on that.I don’t really want to know.The point being that this woman notices and it tells me far more about her than she likely wants known.She’s superficial.She’s self-centered.She straightens, regaining her composure before answering with, “I’m Serena Rogers.The new governor’s image manager.”Her gaze shifts to me.“If we could get the first son and daughter on stage—”
“I’m here,” I say.“That’s the closest to support you’re going to get from me.If my father didn’t tell you that, you should work on his communication skills.”
She pales a creamy white.“Apologies.I’m sure Andrew will be enough.”She backs away and disappears.
Kit moves in closer and we sure up a huddle.“None of them can really believe you’re here for this, right?”
“One would think,” I say dryly.
“Maybe he’s hired us to ensure you at least appear involved?”Jay asks.
It’s an interesting take, but I don’t even have to look at Kane to know he’s dismissed this possibility as readily as I have.My father and Pocher agreed to breed a positive environment for Kane’s oil business, which seems to indicate they came together on the plan to control Kane, and me, by default.Only would Pocher really believe that to be possible?No, is the answer.Just no.So what is really going on?
A few minutes later, my father is on stage, a splint on his finger, as he tells the world he slammed his hand in a door, just the way he plans to slam the door on red tape and crime.I’d roll my eyes but I’m too nauseous with his cheese factor to do it.I’m also distracted by the why of him hiring Kane to run security.He calls it a favor he will pay back in his favor to the oil business.We call it an opportunity to get close to Pocher and takedown the Society.Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, though for my father it could be all about political posturing.He needed his daughter, the FBI agent, to look like his ally.Pocher needed me here, too.