Page 12 of Stand: Part One

I could see Darren’s jaw tense as Sid reminded us all of how close I probably came to death. Wouldn’t be the first time, and if things were going to go my way, it wouldn’t be the last time either. But death would have to wait its turn. I still had shit to do.

Darren offered me another sip of water, to which I greatly took.

“What about the live rounds?” I asked him after he set the cup aside.

His eyes went dark, his jaw set tight as his gaze penetrated me deeply. It was that kind of look that always reminded me of how dangerous he really was. Especially when it came to things like vengeance.

“It’s already been handled.”

I knew I’d have to beat it out of him.

“So, who wanted me dead and why?” I continued pushing.

He shook his head, his hair falling loose over his forehead. He hadn’t cut his hair since well before he left for Honduras. It had grown long enough to fall over his brow now.

“No one wanted you dead, Jaden. It was an accident. But I don’t want you to think about that right now. Your focus needs to be on your recovery. Nothing else.”

I pursed my lips at his response. I didn’t understand how someone could accidentally try to get me killed or how live rounds accidentally made their way into my training exercise but dwelling on it was a lost cause. I knew that was the most I was going to get out of Darren on the subject, so I decided to change it. For now.

“So what does my recovery look like?” God, my throat felt like it had gone through a wood chipper.

Sid sighed like he was actually sad for me. “You have a very long road ahead of you.”

5

Carnage

I stared out the window of my office, watching the wind whip through the trees as the nearing storm blew closer. As a child, I had loved thunderstorms. I’d rush to the nearest window and watch the sky darken until the sun had lost all hope of shining through. I’d find thrill seeing the lightning crack across those menacing looking clouds, scorching the earth wherever it could touch.

I found it fascinating, but my mother was always less than enthused. Storms meant she had to remain inside, so the sunshine was her obvious preference. But even so, she’d still sit on the couch with me and watch the lightning, counting the seconds between each roll of thunder to note how fast the storm moved.

After she died, the storms stopped being an observation and quickly became a new method of training as instructed by my father. No longer did I watch from the safety of the windows. I learned to endure them from within, track through them, predict them, survive them, exploit them. I’d spent so much of my education in the rain, I’d almost started preferring them, the storms becoming a natural part of who I was.

So when someone threatens me with a storm of their own, they’d better hope they can match the hurricane I would eventually swallow them with.

“You’re sure it was Matt?” I asked, my eyes catching the strike of lightning not too far off in the distance.

Scott took another step forward, the conviction in his eyes telling me his information was accurate.

“Yes. All three of them confirmed he’d promised them a better cut to be his spies before Brian spotted them at the docks. They made up the coke story as a cover to lessen the blow on themselves, but Matt ultimately convinced them they had to kill Brian. He helped them formulate a strategy, but the poor execution was all their own.”

Son of a fucking bitch.

After I had spent an hour tormenting the shit out of the ones responsible for the bullet Jaden endured, I let Scott spend the next hour torturing them for actual answers. Before, I hadn’t cared about the answers, but after I had been satisfied with the amount of blood coating my hands and arms and finally calmed down, I let Scott handle the rest. The intel he collected only added to my rage, instead of subsiding it.

If Matt was trying to sway my own men to be his spies, that was one thing. But creating an influence that harmed my wife was another thing entirely. Gunning for my brother to satisfy his oath to avenge Regina’s death already put him on a suicide mission, but now I would be destroying far more than he would ever be anticipating. His entire fucking legacy.

“Matt has a shipment coming through in the next week for some very big clients.” I knew this because one of those clients was also my own. “Let’s intercept that shipment before it gets a chance to dock.”

Scott nodded with a smile, the man loving every chance to wreak some havoc wherever he could. “I’ll begin setting it up,” he said with a nod.

“And the traitors?”

A dark smile spread across Scott’s face as his eyes met mine. “They’re awaiting their chance for redemption. The guards have already gathered in the shack. We’re ready when you are.”

“Good. Meet me down there in twenty minutes.”

Scott nodded and left the room, his phone already at his ear as he began to set up the plans I had just put in motion. Scott loved organizing our little side missions, and I was only too happy to let him, his strategies were flawless in their own right. And with Matt and his pesky little interferences with my operations, it was time for a little retribution—to remind him who he was fucking with.