Page 7 of The Lost Kings

Presley

T he afternoon heated my hands as I pulled on the rotting wood.

Dust erupted from the last board being dropped and the sunlight cast an eerie glow through the gaps in the walls. The pile on the floor of discarded wood had grown so much, it would take well over an hour for me to pack it all up and move it to the burn pile.

Taking a step back, I glared at my lack of progress and scanned the rest of the wall and all I had left to do.

The old farmhouse was strong even after all the weather and neglect it had endured.

But I was determined to rip out every single board until there was nothing left, and I could start fresh.

The heat practically suffocated me as I moved through what was once the living room. Swiping at my brow with my forearm, I paused at the sight of someone standing in the open doorway.

Ashy chestnut hair cropped high and receding from a too angular face. Green eyes I wasn’t lucky enough to inherit, and a muscular frame hidden under a set of black clothes far too thick for this heat. I rolled my eyes and continued past him as if I hadn’t seen him .

“You’re being stubborn.”

I ignored my uncle and dipped down to retrieve my water bottle.

“You’re acting like this wasn’t something that could happen at some point.”

My eyes remained on the wreckage. I was going to put up shiplap I had decided, but only in certain parts of the house. Not throughout.

“Lánya.”

I had never asked why Scotty called me that, but I’d once overheard Taylor asking him about it. Why do you call her daughter?

I had no idea what language he used, but I knew for certain he wasn’t my father. I had a feeling it was deeper than that for him, that he cared for me in a way that meant he loved me like how my dad loved me. Speaking of my dad…

“What has The Joker said about all this?” I spun away, rearranging more rotten pieces that would need to be tossed.

Scotty remained quiet, unphased. “You mean your father?”

“No. I mean The Joker. That’s who’s pulling all the strings, right? The one who has the enemies and the one I’m stepping in to replace?”

My father hadn’t handed me a crown; he’d given me no other choice but to accept it. Ever since that night when I was just eight, I had felt the burden of being The Joker’s daughter.

“Your father is against it. He doesn’t want you anywhere near the Adesso family.”

My chest squeezed the smallest bit with relief.

Scotty followed me from one room to another, taking his time as if he had no agenda at all. I knew him better than that.

“But I happen to think this would be the most peaceful outcome after the mess Carter created for us.”

My beautiful but very stupid cousin had indeed started a shitstorm for us.

According to Scotty, who I had called after her reveal of my dad’s criminal alter ego, she had somehow fallen in with a rival family.

Roscoe Ferro, who had been trying to get information on us, had wiggled his way into her life with the help of his mildly attractive and now dead nephew.

My dad caught on before the rest of us did because he managed to catch her while he was out on a supply route.

My dad stepped in and killed Ferro’s nephew, who had been pretending to be Carter’s boyfriend for the previous month.

The man had called my dad, “The Joker,” right before a bullet landed between his eyes.

Carter crashed out, and her parents, unsure of what to do, dropped her here after my dad suggested it.

Finding her had put our family on the map, so now our enemies were circling like sharks in the water.

“Why can’t you set up the alliance, why does it have to be me?” I asked.

My uncle surveyed the room before toying with a loose board. “Adrian Adesso has specifically requested you be the point person between our families.”

I turned and raised my brow. “And you trust that?”

It was dangerous that the young head of the Adesso family was able to reach out in the first place, although I wouldn’t pretend to understand how vast or deep my uncle’s connections went.

He’d worked in a few different crime families throughout his life and had made more allies and enemies than I cared to keep count of.

“I trust you. If you were to go into enemy territory, you’d be fine. You’ve been taught how to withstand whatever he throws at you. We need an ally, Presley, and he’s the most powerful one we could ever hope to get.”

I shook my head, unsure why my uncle was suddenly acting so stupid. “We can’t trust him, which means there’d be no alliance that we could create that would ever last.”

Scotty stared at me.

The silence grew and suddenly it clicked.

“You think I can win him over, make him like me.” My tone was unsure because of how embarrassed it made me feel to even say that out loud.

My uncle didn’t reply right away, but I knew that was his plan .

I ignored him, digging back into the rotted wood.

Anger stirred like a dust storm in my chest, clogging my airways and tear ducts.

Why did I have to be the one to clean this up?

I knew I’d been training for it my whole life, but I signed up to shoot and kill whomever threatened our family.

I never agreed to go play dress-up and smile at the enemy.

It only proved as a reminder of why the twins had been so upset that night when?—

“I’m not asking you to do anything that you don’t want to do. Maybe you go and you meet him and he’s not horrible. You inspire loyalty in people, lánya . Even if you merely become friends, that could ensure we have him as an ally.”

Friends .

Didn’t he realize that I was incapable of keeping those? My only friends left me. They abandoned me, and without so much as a goodbye.

I began focusing on the house once more, but the thought of doing this, of helping my father kept creeping back into focus.

The longer we drew all this out, the less of my life I’d get to live.

I had made a promise that I would help set things right and end the threats.

Then I could have my farm and start my life.

I could get my dad an alliance and make sure he would be okay. I could help end this war that had been waging for all these years, and then I could settle down.

“Where is this guy?”

Scotty’s eyes flicked up while his dark brows rose. “Italy.”

Of course he was in Italy. I’d always expected to be sent away to fight for the family; I just assumed it would be with my gun, and maybe a knife at my rival’s throat.

I didn’t think it would be to meet with the head of a family and play nice.

“I will travel to Italy for one week, and only a week. One of those days I will meet with your guy. That’s all I’m offering. ”

“Fine. Would you like to take any backup with you?”

I assumed he meant his dog Reaper but was shocked when I saw him pull up his phone and show me the string of texts. A vine on envy and malice twisted around my heart and squeezed.

They were texts from the twins…and they were meant for me.

My voice was so small as it squeezed past my lips. “How come those are going to your phone?”

They’d been texting me.

All these months, they’d been reaching out, and I hadn’t known.

Scotty acted blasé, as if this wasn’t earth-shattering information. “I had our tech guy set it up…whenever they text you, it forwards to me. Same with calls. The only thing I can’t control is if they find you on social media.”

I wasn’t on social media.

My uncle had been doing things like this my entire life, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise.

I shouldn’t have felt the bone-deep pain of betrayal scraping along my veins, reminding me that this man who had a hand in raising me would never hesitate to ignore how badly my heart would take the hit. “Scotty, what the fuck?”

He shrugged and pocketed his phone. “They were a weakness, and you needed the time to get past your infatuation with them.”

My chest felt like it had caught fire with how easily he’d dismissed what I had felt for them, and how he acted like he had any real clue how deep it went. “I wasn’t infatu?—”

He scoffed and spun around, about to leave. “You forget that I have eyes everywhere, lánya .”

My face heated, realizing what that meant. I was on his heels, practically chasing him as I asked, “So what…they’re offering to suddenly come back and be my security?”

“They haven’t offered anything other than apologies but as I said…you inspire loyalty. They’d go with you in a heartbeat.”

No, I didn’t inspire loyalty; I was the spoiled brat who required constant observation.

The twins did what they had to…it was better that I couldn’t see their texts because anything they’d have to say would be an excuse or justification as to why they felt like they had to hurt me the way they had .

“No backup. I’ll be fine.”

Scotty’s eyes found the gravel at our feet and then he stopped.

“Would you like me to show you what they said?”

I continued walking toward the large field that separated the farmhouse and our manor. Gravel crunched under my shoes and the sun warmed my skin, but it was the frustrating tears in my eyes I needed to hide.

Without looking back, I replied, “No. You can delete them.”

I figured that would be the end of it, but Scotty’s next words froze me in place.

“You ever wonder why they have such a hatred for me, your dad, and this life?”

No, I didn’t want to dig into any of their whys. Not when any of them had been reason enough for them to keep me. Whatever they did see was enough for them to lump me in with everyone else and dismiss this entire family.

My throat was tight as I shook my head.

Scotty’s feet scuffed the rocks as he drew closer. “You might want to ask him some day.”

My head popped up as I watched my uncle pass me.

“Who?”

He replied, tilting his chin over his shoulder, his mossy eyes landing hard on me. “Kingston.”