Page 1 of Trial of Deceit (The Family’s Oath #1)

“M y dick is hard from me thinking about how I’m going to kill you.”

A whimper passed through the other end of the line, and a devious smirk crawled over Jediah’s face. “J-Jed,” she stuttered. “You have this all wrong! I didn’t betray you.”

“I trust no one,” Jediah replied. He glanced at the man a few feet before him, who was heaving and coughing up blood. “Be at the ball tonight at eight p.m. sharp. Maybe I’ll make your death less painful.”

Jediah ended the call while moving the cigar he held between the index finger and thumb of his left hand to his mouth.

He took a big puff, then held it away from him.

Ash fell from its end, landing on the pristine wooden flooring.

Thin lines of its embers raised from the small hill created by the fallen ash.

Cameron Reeves took the cigar from Jediah and placed it in the ashtray on the table.

Jediah grabbed a chess piece from the board on the table.

He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows and strode towards his target.

Strong gusts of salty wind hit his nose with each step forward.

Jediah stooped before the shell door. He clasped his hands between his thighs as he looked at the man in front of him.

Blood poured from the man’s crooked nose.

One of his eyes was swollen shut, and his lip was busted.

“That looks like it hurts,” Jediah mused, giving the man another once over before meeting his eyes again. “Does it hurt, Tyre?”

Tyre didn’t answer.

Jediah’s eyes narrowed while his voice came out in a cold command, “Answer.”

Tyre nodded his trembling head. He forced the word out in a labored breath, “Yes.”

“Does it hurt as much as knowing you only have a minute left to live?” Jediah asked, not waiting for an answer before he flicked a hand behind him.

Cameron approached from behind. He rested the cigar between Jediah’s fingers. After taking a big puff, Jediah blew the fumes toward Tyre’s face. Tyre choked as the smoke passed over him, then his eyes darted from the cigar to Jediah’s eyes.

“Do you know what I hate more than liars? People who steal from me. It never works out in their favor in the end. Was it worth it, Tyre? Never mind. Don’t answer that. But consider this my generosity.” Jediah moved the cigar toward Tyre’s mouth.

Cameron ran a hand over his head of smooth, blond-bleached waves. “Come on, Jediah. Yu don’ have fi mek the rookie—”

Tyre parted his trembling lips, silencing Cameron’s words.

Jediah briefly smirked before settling the cigar between Tyre’s bloody lips.

Tyre took a long pull, choking as he pulled away and blew fumes to the side.

Jediah chuckled. Not everyone was a connoisseur of the art of cigar smoking.

He rolled the pawn between his fingertips.

He was about to put it between Tyre’s lips when a voice halted him

“Despite the circumstances, the family’s name can’t be on this,” Elias Swaby advised, then straightened his purple tie with orange triangles on it.

Jediah retracted his hand with the pawn cradled in his palm, then he stood and turned his back to Tyre. “Kill him,” he said, trading the cigar for a new one. As he lit it, he heard the unmistakable sound of a plastic bag covering Tyre’s face.

Tyre flailing.

Fighting for air.

Until, finally, stillness.

Followed by a loud splash .

A faint squeak rang out as the yacht’s shell door closed.

“Done,” came a voice from behind Jediah.

Jediah nodded before returning to his seat and looking at the man who spoke to him. “Everybody out.”

Of the three other men in the room, two didn’t move.

“I said everybody,” Jediah said through clenched teeth.

“Jed—”

Jediah swung his head in the direction of the voice and snapped, “Elias, leave. I don’t need advice right now!”

Elias stroked his salt-and-pepper beard once, eyed Jediah warily, then nodded and walked out of the room.

Jediah heaved a breath. “Talk to me.” He placed the polished black pawn on the table and stared at it.

Dimitri Forde smirked before pushing off the shell door. He walked toward Jediah while pushing one of his four barrel twist locs over his broad shoulders. “Yu tell yu adviser fi leave.”

“He’s not seeing things my way. I considered every move already. This is the best decision.”

“Then why yu need me tell yu dat?” Dimitri asked. “Whatever you say is law.”

Jediah hummed before standing. He grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair, shrugging it on while moving toward the door. Dimitri was close behind him. Elias and Cameron, who stood talking a distance away, cut their conversation short and fell into stride behind Dimitri.

“Tell the captain the course is set,” Jediah said as they walked.

“Ah,” Cameron said and walked away from them.

Jediah entered the security room. One wall was full of monitors, showing different angles of the yacht.

A bustling party was on the deck. Bodies danced on bodies, allowing the loud music to direct their movements.

Everyone drank and did drugs as they desired, not having a care in the world since the yacht was far out at sea.

No-one but the birds swooping to catch fish could see and judge them.

While Jediah stared at the screen, Elias sat beside the man monitoring the room.

Spotting a figure among the gyrating bodies, Jediah scowled. “Bring her to me,” he said before returning to the room he was in moments prior, then taking the same seat.

A moment later, the door opened. Dimitri led a woman inside the room and gently nudged her toward Jediah. She walked further into the room. Dimitri remained at the door.

Crossing her arms, the woman sat on the chair beside Jediah. “If you a go use mi birthday do this, yu can at least mek mi have likkle fun.”

Jediah’s fists tightened. “Reine—”

“Don’ Reine mi, Jed! Yu always do this,” she complained, pouting her lips.

He sighed. “You can have the beach house all of tomorrow—”

“No. Mi wan’ the club.”

“Fine,” he grumbled, and Reine smiled.

She sprang out of her chair and dropped herself onto his lap and hugged him. “Thanks! I love you.”

Jediah huffed. “Let go of me before you make him think I’m soft.”

Reine, grinning, looked over her shoulder at Dimitri, who kept his gaze averted. “You are soft though,” Reine said as she looked at Jediah. She pinched his cheek and chuckled when he swatted her hand away. “Seriously, though. Stop use mi like this.”

“It won’t happen again, Reine.”

Reine scoffed while standing. “Yu sound like Daddy. Mi don’ believe yu.”

Jediah clenched his fist as Dimitri opened the door, allowing Reine to leave.

Shaking his head as the door closed, Jediah grabbed the glass of rum, which he’d abandoned to devote his focus to Tyre.

Taking a sip, he drew closer to the chess board on the table.

“Dimitri,” Jediah called out. “Let’s play a game of chess. ”

Hissing a sharp curse, she ended the call, then stood and dusted off her hands. Her frantic eyes searched the stillness of the night while her heart raced at every minor movement.

The sway of the tree’s silhouettes.

The coos of a distant owl.

The thrum of her heart.

Ashari exhaled a shaky breath. She grabbed the dried branches, slipping them in place before she took calculated steps back to the bicycle. It was parked on the side of the road, blending into the falling darkness.

Ashari cycled to the safe-house and hauled the bicycle into the bathroom. She stripped from her clothes, dropped them on the floor, and took a quick shower. Afterwards, she redressed, put the bicycle into the shower and tossed the tainted clothes atop it before setting them aflame.

Moving to the mirror, she stared at her reflection. Her eyes were bloodshot, still red from all the crying she’d done earlier. They were fear stricken from imagining Jediah’s devious grin awaiting her at the estate.

“I hate you, Jed!” Ashari spat at her reflection, ridding the figment of her imagination.

She turned the pipe on and scrubbed her hands and underneath her nails until they were squeaky clean.

Ashari glanced at the flame. It wouldn’t take too long for the house to be engulfed.

She rushed outside and hopped into the car, cruising along the lonely road way.

A yelp ripped from her throat when a ring traveled through the car.

She didn’t read the caller ID before answering.

“Ashari, don’t do what you’re thinking,” he advised, and her grip tightened around the phone.

“I gave this too much time. Why would I leave now?” she asked, flicking a glance to the headlights that hit her eyes through the side mirror.

“I can’t protect you if you go back. Pull over. Now .”

A tear almost fell from Ashari’s eye as vivid flashbacks played in her mind.

“Senior, I need to do this. I’m sorry. I’ll deal with whatever repercussions after.

And if I don’t make it out alive… this is what you would’ve done, too.

” Ashari ended the call. She floored the gas pedal until the headlights were no longer visible.

She was sure dust was left in her wake as she blazed down the abandoned road.

The dashboard’s clock read seven thirty.

It wasn’t possible to arrive at the estate by eight, but damn it — this consequence would only be hers to pay.

Holding her head high, Ashari straightened her shoulders before exiting the room. She took calculated, ladylike steps toward the railing, then paused to stare at the formal gathering below.

There was an ice fountain, investors and guests of the highest echelons, and servers dressed in all black weaving through the patrons with silver trays of hors d’oeuvres in their hands.

A specific pair of eyes were on her, but she didn’t glance in their direction. She wasn’t ready to face them yet.

Ashari looked away from the gathering and wrapped her fingers around the railing. Its coolness seeped into her fingertips. She let go of it and turned to dismount the spiral staircase, her gaze fixed straight ahead.