Page 50 of Merciless Obsession

“It’s my job to keep this family out of trouble, you remember that, right?” I stepped closer to my big brother. “If I thought Ziora was a threat I would have handled it.”

“That’s what you were supposed to do in the first place!” Nazai’s voice rose.

“If you two are gonna fight, take that shit outside and not in my office,” Lucas cut in.

“When you brought your wife into the mix I was on your side. I even welcomed her in.”

“My wife! Not some random girl who is hellbent on exposing our family!”

My hands balled at my side. “Ziora understands what we do and how it benefits the city, that’s not something she’s gonna compromise. She’snotsome random girl either, she’smy girl, and it’s better she learns what we do now. Plus, she can be an asset to use.”

“He’s right, Nazai. Ziora can be an asset. Imagine having two Emmets on our team. It would take a lot off him too,” Lucas cut in again.

Nazai was quiet for a second. I could see him pondering our words in his head.

“How do you know she’ll be able to accept what we do? Not just we, me and my wife. Did you forget we get hired for kills that aren’t always for justice.”

“You don’t have to worry about her. She’ll understand. Shedoesunderstand.”

He pushed a deep breath through his nostrils and rolled his neck between his shoulders. “If she causes trouble or becomes a threat to this family I won’t hesitate to put a bullet between her eyes, do you understand me, Ezra? The Bloodline comes first and it’s my job to take out anyone who’s a threat to it.”

I stiffened my stance. “It won’t come to that.”

We stood in a stare off. I admired my big brother as much as I did my dad. I knew Nazai had a lot on his shoulders when he took over the business. Dad put a lot of pressure on him and Nazai not wanting to go into law was a big deal to our dad. He wanted to make his own path and be more than just the head of the family, which he was doing. I had no plans to hurt his position or this family.

In my position I could have written up an NDA for Ziora to sign to make sure my family was protected but my gut told me I didn’t need to do all that and I always went with my gut.

“A’right.” He nodded. “I’ma hold you to that and step off. But Ez…make sure she stays in line.”

“I got this.”

Nazai pushed a deep breath out and rolled his shoulders back. “Good, now that that’s out the way. I asked around and apparently there’s some organization that’s been working in the dark for a while now. No one knows who they are directly, but they’re shady as hell.”

“Wait, are you talking about The Veil?” Lucas’s eyes widened then narrowed.

“The Veil?” My face balled up. “They’re just a myth, just like The Consortium.”

Both The Veil and The Consortium were rumored to be powerful secret societies in Silver Shadow. The Consortium was said to be a group of power families around that, with mutual influence, used their power to benefit one another. There had never been proof they existed, but it’d been said if you were invited into the circle, you weren’t only protected but also a part of the trade, whatever the hell that was. As for The Veil, they were more or less the same, except darker. It’d been said they were a shady group. No one knew who ran it or if they were even real. Anytime someone came close to unmasking them they came up dead or missing. In order for them to stay so far off the grid they had some high connections.

Nazai nodded and shoved his hands into his front pockets. “Cashlynn said she thinks she remembers hearing her parents mention them before. But as you know, they’re a group of ghosts in a sense. They have people who do their bidding for them but the actual people behind the organization are unknown. Whoever they are have some deep pockets and connections too in order to go under the radar this long. And even though I hate to admit it, they may run deeper than ours.”

Lucas was now at my side. This information was more important to him than either of us.

“They were the ones who took Adrian? The Veil?”

Nazai leveled a stare on our brother. “I don’t know, Luke, but it’s a possibility, yeah?”

Lucas ran his hand over his head and went to adjust his glasses but must have remembered he wore his contacts today because his hand shot down and balled up.

It would make sense if The Veil was involved with all this being that no one has been able to get a lead on these kidnappings and murders.

“It’s not a lot but it’s a start. I’m going to see what else I can learn, but Lucas, I don’t want you going off the books and doing something crazy. We don’t know who these guys are or what they’re fully capable of. We need to play this smart… if Adrian is alive.”

“She is!” Lucas interjected.

Nazai pressed his lips together tightly. “Then we’ll find her, but I don’t want you to have false hope. This could be a bunch of bullshit and just rumors. We don’t know.”

“So we find out.”