Page 45 of Wicked Truths

There’s a few cars parked back here, but besides the thumping of the music coming from inside the club, it’s quiet.

There are no cars driving by. No people milling about. Hell, I can’t even hear if there is work happening across the street at the shipyard.

I get out of the car. “Thanks for the ride. I’ll see you around. Just not here. Remember, not a word.”

He glances toward the club. “Uh, yeah. Just be safe.”

I stay still until he drives off, back in the direction of the apartment, before walking across the street to the shipyard. No one is manning the front gate, so I push it open a few feet and walk through.

It’s quiet, like no one is around, but the flashing orange glow of the forklift bounces off the sound barrier wall that separates the shipyard with the yacht marina next door.

Someone is at the dock working to unload or load a shipment.

More like several people. Dad, Joey, and a few players at the bare minimum. Not to mention the security guys Dad hired to watch over the shipyard.

I shake my head and slowly walk toward the back of the building where the river is.

Maybe I have this all wrong. Maybe I misheard what Spencer said. There’s only one way to find out the truth right now.

I stick close to the building, staying in the shadows as I slowly make my way to the back of the building. The closer I get to the noise, the faster my heart pounds in my chest.

Am I scared of what I might find? Am I scared that I have, once again, been left out?

I stop at the edge of the building before closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. In my heart, I know what I’m going to see, but my mind is hoping my heart is wrong.

Peeking around the building, my gaze moves from the small cargo ship to the group of men. I can’t see who is driving the forklift, but he’s unloading pallets of boxes from the ship and dropping them halfway between me and the ship.

Movement gets my attention and I watch Joey, Spencer, and another man run over to the pallet, rip the protective plastic wrap open, and carry smaller boxes to the different trucks waiting for the delivery to be loaded up.

They run back to the pallet and repeat the process until another pallet is dropped off.

Where’s Dad?

My gaze wanders around the expansive lot until I spot him. Dad is standing off to the side, talking onhis phone before yelling something at the man driving the forklift.

There are two tied up, gagged, bloodied, and beaten men slumped against a metal shipping container.

They’re not the first ones I’ve seen like this. I’ve seen what happens when you really piss off my dad, and it’s a lot worse.

Movement catches my attention. Someone is jogging toward Dad and the two men. My heart clenches as I stare at the man who just joined them.

Rhett Montgomery.

“What the fuck?” I murmur as my mind tries to remind my heart that we already suspected this.

But the hurt is still there, ripping my heart to shreds. Not only has Rhett known about my family’s mafia ties, but he’s been working for them as well.

Why wouldn’t he tell me he was working for Dad? Why would Joey keep it a secret? Why did they not tell me during the meeting on Monday, or tried to tell me since?

Dad claps Rhett on his back and the two of them nod before heading over to the forklift.

This is how I pictured life two years ago. This is the dream I knew could never happen.

I turn around and run away, feeling betrayed. I’m not paying attention to where I’m going or how loud I’m being. My only thought is to get as far away from Rhett and my family and to do it as fast as I can.

As I get to the front of the building, I meet the end of a gun barrel. Someone steps out from the shadows with a smirk on his face.

It takes me two seconds to recognize the person pointing the gun at me. It’s none other than my ex-boyfriend, my past situationship, Jax Brown.