Page 79 of Commit

“What I want to do with the rest of my life.”

Kate looks at me, confused, but her mom nods knowingly.

I smile—my first real one today.

If I can't help myself, I can at least help others.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Hudson

To say I’m pissed is an understatement. I thought I’d be home by now. Instead, here I’m debriefing Atlas, who was thrilled to get out of his meeting until we had to fill him in on why.

“So you’re the target?”

“Or the fall guy,” Kenzo says.

“Looks that way. I’m the one with the connection to each victim. But that doesn’t give me any idea of who it could be, though.”

“You might actually have more enemies than us,” Kenzo laughs, and I give him a look.

“What? It’s true. You can’t kill as many people as you have and not make enemies in the process. Even if the guy you’re killing is an asshat, someone out there still loves him.”

“He’s not wrong. It’s how it was when I was growing up. We would take out the whole family, not just to send a message, but to prevent circumstances like this from happening.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you fuck up, or you wouldn’t have Ivy,” I snap, getting up and pacing.

Ivy was the only surviving member of a rival family that Atlas and his father wiped out. A cop had snuck her out and placed her with an adoptive family. He had no idea who she was when she came into his life, and ironically, neither did she.

Atlas gives me a look that threatens to gut me if I mention his wife again, but I’m beyond caring.

“Don’t mind him. He’s just pissed he’s here with us and not with his new wife,” Kenzo remarks.

Atlas does a double take. “You got married?”

“You said I could borrow the plane,” I say defensively.

“I didn’t know you were getting married.”

I shrug. “You didn’t ask.”

He pinches the bridge of his nose. “How is it that you managed to make me and Kenzo seem sane?”

“If that’s what you need to tell yourself, go for it.”

Kenzo starts laughing. “To be fair, Atlas has a point. You stole your kid’s girlfriend, and just to one-up him, you married her.”

“Yeah, well, she loves him, so I needed to do something big.”

Atlas looks from me to Kenzo. “Is he hearing himself right now?”

“I personally think he’s going through a midlife crisis,” Kenzo replies.

I pick up my whiskey glass from the desk and throw it at his head. He ducks, and the glass hits the wall and bounces off without shattering. None of that cheap-ass glass for Atlas.

“Is she a gold digger?” Atlas asks as he leans against his desk.

“Was Ivy?”