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Brent

S he’s been glued to her phone texting Kelly for what seemed like forever. Heartbroken over whatever scenarios she’s made up in her mind tore at my own heart—she was desperate for a reply from her only trusted ally. So she believed .

Kelly left and went MIA after Fallon was attacked by that fuckwad. He was the first on my hit list. I didn’t care how I killed him, I just knew I would take full pleasure in removing the scum that touched my woman from this earth. He should have been eliminated years ago—I was just too complacent.

From the moment I laid eyes on her, I was hers. She just didn’t know it.

And it killed me to watch her suffer in the days after, clouded in a deep depression. She sat in the big chair in her living room, unable to muster an appetite or want to take a shower. I took care of her for two days straight while she called out sick from classes.

The front door opened to reveal Reaper walking in with a large bag. He tried to make her talk to him, but she was never in the mood for his antics. She did like Pumpkin, though. “I come with snacks,” he announced, holding up the bag.

She gave him a sideways glance from her spot petting the cat.

“What is it?” I stood up from my spot on the couch watching her stare at her phone, uninterested in her favorite movies.

“Frozen yogurt. I made them give me containers of the toppings too. They kind of just gave me whatever I wanted.” He set them down on the counter and put his hands on his hips to survey his loot.

I sighed. “Did you think the mask may have given them the idea that you were there to rob them?”

“No. Why would a masked man rob a frozen yogurt place?”

He had a point.

“Blondie, you want any?”

She shrugged.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Come sit your cute ass at the table.” I dished up what Reaper brought back and set out the toppings for her.

He nodded in the direction of the backyard. Great hinting skills, that one.

I closed the door behind us and looked back at her looking longingly at the table. Maybe she’d eat something. She also might throw up again.

“I followed that friend of hers.”

“And?”

“I don’t want to give any definitive statements, but she’s Wilders’ daughter. You tell me.”

“They’re the ones responsible for a lot of trouble over the last decade. They do what we do at a high level. What’s to say they didn’t plant her in Fallon’s life? Everyone knew Maria was sick and it would be a perfectly executed plan to keep tabs on her. It doesn’t make sense how it fits in with her aunt, though.”

He shook his head and sat in a chair. “Many things can be true at the same time. What we need to know are the intentions of people. She met with the Whitmore girl, and I broke off from there to see her meeting with the Fitzgerald boy.”

“What do Kelly, Sloane, and Alexander all have in common?” I mused, wracking my brain for a centralized connection. “I know multiple families would want to see ours go down, but what is their play? Sylvia is trying to take over Montgomery Group and just fucked over Jason Haines. There are other pieces to the puzzle that I’m just not seeing.”

Messing with the zipper on his jacket, he seemed to be done with the conversation. He was never one for a long conversation—unless there was action, Reaper got bored quickly.

Sylvia fucked over Jason—which he deserved. She took everything from him, and I needed to know how she did that.

“We’re going to have to talk to Jason for his side of the story.”

“Mr. Vaughn is going to hate that idea.”

“No word about Wilder to Fallon. She’s fucked up enough as is.”

He made a zipper motion with his hands over his mouth and made his way back into the house where Fallon found her way to the table. Good girl.

“This is coconut,” she said. “It’s one of my favorites. Thanks, Reaper.”

He sat down next to her. “If it wasn’t, I would be back there now blowing up the place for giving me the wrong flavor.”

I should have given him more direct orders to not freak her out in general.

I watched her sift through the toppings, memorizing what she chose to learn more about her in a non-creepy way. Simple observation. She liked sprinkles, cookie dough bits, and peanut butter chunks. She ate carefully, watching the two of us sitting at the table with her.

“Are you two going to join me or am I supposed to eat this all by myself?” She cocked an eyebrow at me, a glimpse of her coming back out of her depressed shell.

Grabbing my own, I dished up the same thing she did. I wanted to test the flavor combinations.

“I think I need to leave my hole,” she sighed.

Thank God . She was starting to leave a large dent in that chair.

“You also asked about how to kill people.” I pulled the spoon out of my mouth and pointed it in her direction. “How are you supposed to do that from your chair?”

“Don’t antagonize me, Vaughn. My best friend is missing, the world is on fire, and I can’t keep my stomach out of my mouth. Have some empathy.” Her blue eyes lit up while she ripped into me, and I relished in it. The spark behind her eyes would come back eventually. She took another bite, and I could see the sass re-enter her body.

“Don’t hate me ‘cause it’s true.” I flashed a smile at her, and she looked like she wanted to throw something at me.

Good. Get feisty.

“You’re such an asshole.”

“But I’m your asshole.”

“No. You’re my...associate.”

“I could be down for some roleplay. I hear you have a wonderful boardroom we could use.”

Her mouth fell open and she threw a spoon at me. Reaper watched comfortably from his side of the table. He got dinner and a show watching her attack me. Her face curled into slight disgust—it looked far better than a droopy depressed expression.

Was it bad my dick could get hard with her hating me like this? She was so full of spite and anger; I couldn’t wait to let her take it out on me. Let her use her frustration on my dick? God, yes.

“You’re so gross.”

“Thank you.”

“We have a visit to pay to someone later tonight,” Reaper cut in.

Fallon looked to me expectantly. “Can I go?”

“Only if you wash your hair.”

She chucked a full container of gummy worms at me.

––––––––

D ave threw down the profile of a man who worked in the legal department. His immediate supervisor was Mr. Caldwell, the lawyer from the boardroom that didn’t rub me the right way. Everyone was suspicious at that company, and I couldn’t trust anyone that was around Fallon. If he handed us these profiles and tried to send us on a wild goose chase, we’d be fucked.

Time was ticking until Fallon’s birthday.

“What do we have on him outside of his ability to access legal documents that may have come across his desk? Evans said there were personal legal matters which would have zero eyes from anyone in the company.”

I was still missing something. It was going to cost me everything.

Dave awaited orders from me. He wasn’t one to formulate opinions. He pointed and I said shoot was his job title. Reaper knew more because he’d been with us a long time—I heard he was freshly out of the military not long before we took him into our company. I was young.

Reaper was the one to respond. “Mr. Vaughn authorized whatever means necessary to do what we need to do. He has a lot of interest in preserving the Montgomery Group. Chamberlain Industries depends on it.”

“So, we just grab this guy and terrorize him with no way to know anything?”

“You can use me,” Fallon piped in.

“Fallon, you are out of the question. You’re here by the grace of God right now.”

She picked up the file from the table and flipped through it. “There’s no notes. Just his picture and what he does at my company.”

“Standard practice. We ask no questions and bring knives.” Reaper brandished his ka-bar from his vest and picked his nails with the tip.

Gawking at him, she turned back to me. “Then how do we broach this without alarming those who might be watching? Jason told me he has been surveilling me for years. Who knows who may be watching me now?”

“Since you’re so smart,” Dave cut in, “what do you suppose we do now?”

She rubbed her face, clearly torn. Years in this world, I was numb to what she was dealing with. I was trigger happy myself.

“I don’t know. I just have a feeling we shouldn’t be going in with so little information.”

“Boss, we have to make a move—quickly.”

“Look, Blondie. We have to make our moves. There’s no time for a jury deliberation here.”

“Time’s up. Let’s move.”

We rolled into Allen’s late night working evening at a Montgomery Group field office. I could smell the anxiety coming from my Blondie.

A big, bald fucking slob sat there while some poor woman was sucking him off. Yeah, I would kill him just for putting that woman through that. Reaper burst through the door.

“Allen? Is that you? Are you cheating on me?”

Jesus Christ, Reaper.

Allen shoved the girl off of him and stood up with his hands up, dick still out. The sight of a fat man, sweaty with his dick hanging out like that was enough to give me nightmares for the rest of my life.

The girl scrambled out, holding her dress up to her body.

“Get out of here, girl. This is my man,” he mocked.

“Wh—what do you want? I’ll give you anything you want. My wallet is in my briefcase.”

“Your boss has some questions about this. It’s an HR nightmare in here,” I called out. I nodded to Dave who stomped over and set Allen down in his chair, covering up the unsightly scene we walked into.

“At least I feel better about interrogating him,” she whispered in my ear.

He was still stunned with his hands up in the chair while Fallon came out behind me. “Hi, Allen. I have a couple of questions for you. Well, we do.” She gestured to the group of well armed men ready for whatever the night would bring.

“M—miss Montgomery. You aren’t set to take role until—.”

“I know. And I think you know that’s why we’re here. I wasn’t sure about coming to see you earlier, but I think my apprehensions have been put to bed. Can you answer me something? Do you know why I’m here to visit you tonight?”

He shook in the chair a bit. His thoughts crossed his face in a series of expressions. The answer took root in him as he surveyed us all. Mostly Reaper. “She’ll know you’re here!”

“Pray tell, who is this mythical ‘she’ you’re talking about?”

Dave finished tying Allen to the chair and opened his duffel bag of toys. A clear sheet was spread onto the ground. Cleanup . We cleaned up messes.

“Rabbit! Haines is gone and she’s ruthless!”

“Tell me more.” Reaper set his boot on his thigh and pretended to be patient and awaiting an answer. Allen looked at him in horror. “Because if she’s ruthless, then I’m the devil.”

“Are you talking about Sylvia? Taller. Brown hair. Hazel eyes. Drinks a lot and likes to get violent when she does?” Fallon’s face became serious. When she spoke of her aunt, she got a look in her eyes—a certain calmness. The kind of look that told me my Blondie would be the one to take her aunt out without a second thought.

Our little kidnappee was breathing heavily and sweat dripped from his greasy nose. His head was slick with sweat and his lips started to tremble. “Sounds like her.”

Reaper stabbed him in the leg and Fallon’s face about turned green. She gave a small flinch as the blade pierced his skin and forced him to scream in pain.

“No time for fucking games. Tell me what you know, and your death will come easy. I won’t ask again.” He ripped the knife out and started cleaning it with a cloth.

She swallowed hard. “Just tell me one thing: is she planning on stealing the seat from me, or is someone else plotting to topple the company completely?”

“She’s got a contract over you. I don’t know what. I wasn’t in that meeting.” He stopped to take a breath, and Reaper slapped him across the face. “I was there to grant her guardianship over you and change your requirements for succession.”

Fallon had a guardianship agreement?

“How many times was my signature forged?”

I watched her anger grow like she was siphoning it from the ground. Her jaw was set and the hands she held behind her back balled into fists. I knew this was personal for her, but having your own family member plot over you as a minor to steal from your dead mom was another level of fucked up family drama. My own paled in comparison.

“Too many to count, too many loopholes to get it overturned or looked at by a judge. We had multiple sign off for you to be able to fight it in court.”

“What’s the fucking point of all this?”

Shit, if she had a gun, she might have just pulled the trigger.

“What’s the point of anything? Money. Power. Whatever vice floats your boat.” He spit blood from his mouth to his left. He was clearly tired. “She never gave a why. She just went to work at taking your inheritance.”

“Do we have all the answers we need?” Dave gestured to the sheet on the ground, eager to get on with his portion of events.

“Your birthday won’t matter. She’ll take you down for this. Dead or alive, I’m compromised because she has eyes and ears everywhere with the power she stole from Haines.”

Fallon held up a finger. “How did she steal from him?”

Allen sighed as blood kept dripping from his wound into the puddle below him. “Sex. Secret deals with other big families. You.”

“Me?”

“I don’t have all the details. I’m just one man.”

I couldn’t risk my protective position of her. Gesturing to Reaper, I made hand signals for him to search the place.

“Don’t worry,” I said, pulling Fallon back to my side. “I can figure those out.”

His eyes got bigger when he finally focused on my face. “The Vaughns? All you big families are all the same. Money. Power. Greed.”

I smiled. “You’re the same, too. How far did greed get you? What families?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. Not my pay grade. Whatever you can find in my files is all I know. It’s bigger than Haines and his Rabbit. You’re up on the chopping block kid.”

Pulling Fallon behind me, I plugged her ears and held her head to my chest while Dave took care of it.

He heaved Allen onto the sheet and tied a zip tie around his neck. Suffocation wasn’t messy and gunshots were far too loud. He wrapped him up and surveyed the heavy man he’d have to drag out of here shortly.

“Boss, there’s a lot of files.”

“Get ‘em to me later,” I said, dragging Fallon out into the night.