Page 28 of When Sinners Hate
I watch him go and wait for Dante to show, then step in behind him as he tosses a few more bottles of liquor along the hall. One last glance back and I see flames creeping around the corner towards us, an inferno building behind it. Wood starts creaking and groaning under the pressure he’s created, and then the smoke thickens to near opaque around us. None of it means anything other than an enforcement of the rules. The Goldmann family are lucky there was only one dead man and one building destroyed tonight, because if it happens again – if Liam dares bring drugs into our area again – I’ll gut his wife in front of him before he feels my wrath himself.
By the time I’m out into the night air and pulling in clear breaths, Liam is getting a reminder of the manners he should have acknowledged while his brother was still alive. I chuckle lightly and pull Dante off him, pushing him towards the car. We’re done here for now, and I have more important things on my mind than debtors, infringing cartels, or Alexia’s past. Namely, why they’ve both been hiding things from me for too long.
The drive back towards Knox’s place is slow and winding, and I stay quiet and wait for him to speak. He doesn’t. He staysfixed on the road and nothing else until we finally pull into the long driveway that leads up to his place in the woods. I’m alright with that. I’m neither wound up nor angered at the moment. But I’ll be both if there hasn’t been a damn good reason for the deceit.
They all get out and head into the house, and I give them time to deal with whatever shit they’ve got to deal with together. They’ll be getting their stories straight, and Dante will be trying to knock sense into Knox about why this was ever hidden from me in the first place. Shaw won’t know a thing about anything. I know my brothers well – all of them. They’re loyal. No disputing that, but they’re individuals too. Knox – the thinker. Dante – the muscle. Shaw – the questioner.
Unsurprisingly, when I walk into the house, there’s an argument in full swing shaking the fabric of the building. “Sit your ass down,” Dante shouts. I listen, wondering how much longer this will go on before Dante finally loses his cool. “I told you how this would end.”
The sound of knuckles meeting bone lands hard, as I keep moving towards them, and by the time I’m around the corner into the main lounge area, Knox is pinned on the wall.
“Get the hell off me,” Knox shouts, jostling for space. Dante doesn’t.
I get it, he’s pissed he’s been asked to hide something from me, but I need the truth now. Whatever this has been, it’s done. “Let him go,” I command, as I head for the bar. Knox rips at his jacket the second Dante does, and then starts pacing like he might just get pissy with shit that was his own making. So I watch that, too, ready to knock some damn sense into both of them if need be. “Calm down.”
Finally, the air starts settling into neutral. Dante stands in the open doors onto the deck, his back on display as he stares out at the dark of the woods. And Knox does eventually sit his assdown, shrugging his body like a kid who just got caught doing something he shouldn’t.
“Talk to me, Knox.”
He huffs and looks away. “I know where he is. Reed.”
I pour my drink, filling the next three shot glasses alongside it. “And?”
“He’s in New York with Logan Cane. At least, he’s under his protection.”
Leaving one glass on the counter for Shaw, I walk for Dante and hand him his. He scowls and takes it from me, downing it with nothing to say about anything. “Why?” I ask, turning for Knox.
“I don’t know, but I’ve been trying to work out the connection. There isn’t one that I can find.” I offer up his drink and walk backwards until I’m leaning on the side wall. “But you know Logan, Abel. There’s no point going in there like a bunch of banshees. We’ll lose, and someone will probably get killed. We’re not doing that.” I keep looking at him, waiting for more. “We’ve got to be tactful or at least have something to barter with.”
I down my own drink. “Do we have anything to barter with?”
He nods. “Yeah. A priest.”
“Priest?”
“Yeah.”
“How do we barter with a priest?”
“He’s fucking him.”
Dante spins around at that information, seemingly surprised. “Logan Cane is fucking a priest?”
Knox looks over at him. “Yeah.”
“Just fucking, or involved?” Shaw asks. Good question.
“The latter. I think but–”
“You didn’t tell me that?" Dante snarls. “Why all the goddamn waiting if it’s that simple? We go in there, get the priest and use him as bait.” Knox gets up and paces again. “Don’t know why we haven’t just gone for the wife or kids anyway.”
I glare at Dante, making my point felt.
We don’t touch kids.
“Don’t bring that bullshit at me,” he growls. “Elias is six feet under and you’re more bothered about a couple of Cane fucks? Maybe if you both stopped acting like mothafucking politicians we’d–”
My hand goes up. “Calm down before I turn hostile.”