Page 62 of Only Fools Rush

“What is it?”

“My father sold those guns to the government. I still can’t figure out why. Or even what happens now that he’s stopped.”

My brain had also been spinning on the same thing. It surprised me, still, to realize how similarly our brains worked.

“You worry that this will come back to bite you.”

“Yeah. I mean, if the government was using my father, would they let that go? What if it comes to light? I just can’t help but feel like that’s going to stab me in the back somehow, and I’mnever going to see it coming. Maybe the account numbers will give us more answers. If Ciel can find them.”

She was right; it was a question we were nowhere close to answering. But if Luciano had made a deal with the government, they had also made a deal with him. They would not want the truth of that coming to light. Perhaps the deal would come back as a stumbling block in our path, but we could also use that information to protect us.

There were plenty of ways we could use it to take down our enemies.

I poked her forehead. “Between the two of us, we will see it coming.”

She smiled. “Put our brains together and we can take over the world.”

“I am counting on it.”

Together we would own New York. But beyond that, we would become the most respected, most feared organization in the world. We would ruin anyone who stood in our path, and we would build a future that made us invulnerable.

She watched me carefully. Her gaze cut me to the core, as if it could see right through my fears to the part of me that was still the scared little boy who, in the face of death, chose his sisters over his parents.

“You know, Obi, all the other guys have told me more about their pasts.”

My brothers were more outspoken than me, yet less in control of themselves. I knew which person I wanted to be. “You wish I were like them.”

“No, no. But the more secrets you keep…I don’t think the guys have ever pushed you on this before, but all the scheming comes off as pretty manipulative. It’s fine when it’s against others. But not us.”

I huffed. “Myscheming,as you call it, is how we all got here.”

“What does that mean?”

My lips thinned. I still had not told them how I had set us on this path when I followed her after her father’s death. How I had pushed us down this road and why.

“This is what I mean, Obi.” I opened my mouth, but she raised her hands in defense. “I’m not holding it against you. You know you’re smarter than all of us. I’m just saying that the more secrets you keep, the harder it is to understand you. To trust you.”

I stood from the couch and moved toward the windows to stare out at the cityscape. My brain and my heart warred inside my body.

Iwantedto become closer to her, but I knew it would distract me.

Iwantedto share my thoughts, my fears, my plans, but I knew she would reject them.

The path to acquiring power was bloody and violent. It was not one that could be trod when guided by emotion.

“All right.” She stood. “I won’t force you to talk to me.”

“Wait. Please.” I turned as she folded her arms across her chest. “Sit. I promised I would tell you about them, so I will.” I walked the length of the room, pausing to lean against the desk. “I have two sisters and two brothers, back home in Nigeria.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

I nodded. “My brothers are strong, confident young men.Goodmen. My sisters are wondrous, headstrong, and beautiful. I have done all that I can to keep them safe.”

“What about your parents?”

Blood. Fire. Screams. Shattering glass. “They were killed when we were children.”

“Obi…”