Page 5 of Reign of Royal
“Go fuck yourself.”Dad spits, the cunt reels his arm back and hits him.
“Motherfucker!” I roar.
“Get his ass up.”The cocksucker orders. Two other dead men walking come into view as they grip each of my dads arms and lift him to his feet. His face shows no pain but I can see it in his eyes that he is in agony. The three of them step out of view, my brows jump at the sight of Rook, Knight and King on their knees at the back of the concrete room with guns trained on the backs of each of their heads.
“Royal.”The fact my father is addressing me and not Luka or my mother has me standing up straight and inching closer to the TV.“Miami is gone, Chance Bennett now owns it, pull the men back from the corners and let the soldiers loose from the territories. Everything from the family file is to be turned over to Chance and the Vargas cartel. Don’t battle this, it will cause a war. Once the demands have been met, Chance will release us from the Siberian jail and Gage and Vincent will be returned home. Do as Chance and Emilio say, son. Let go, Royal, let it all go and do what you need to do to ensure our family remains safe, Chance will be in contact soon.”
The video ends, everyone begins to start discussing what they just saw, I stand here still and reeling, staring at the black screen of the TV trying to work it all out in my head.
“We need to pull everyone back, get Luka.” Aunt Ally says.
“No, if we do that they win.” Aunt Anya counters.
“What the fuck do you think they will do to them if we don’t do as Bishop told us?” My moms words are what have me snapping out of it.
“He didn’t say it to you, he told me.” I mutter as I frown at the blank screen.
“Lay it out for me, Royal, let’s piece it together.”
“Chanel, he is clearly not thinking straight.” Aunt Carlina says but Sin ignores her mother as she comes to stand in front of me.
“Tell me.” She demands.
“He told me what he wants in clues, my dad doesn’t want to give them a single fucking thing, he wants a war.”
“No, he doesn’t, he just said it’s not worth the battle.” Mom grits out.
“Because it will cause a war.” Havoc announces, I turn to my cousin and nod.
“Dad wants us to be smart, we can’t battle them because they will kill them but if we’re smart, we can win the war against them and get them all back.”
“How?” Aunt Koby asks.
“We need to pull the men from the corners and let them loose through the entire city, if they think we have abandoned our posts and let each of the territories go they will see it as us obeying their orders,” I answer.
“We can’t win a war without them, we just can’t.” Aunt Carlina says. “They each have a skill set that no one else does and that is the reason they have always been able to win every war.” The twins smile as they come to stand beside me and Chanel drawing all the women’s attention to us.
“They taught us everything we know, we will win this war because everything they have, we do as well.” That’s when my dad’s words finally dawn on me, I break away from the others and rush to his office. I hear them following me but ignore them as I go behind his desk and reach for the bottom drawer where his files are kept but it’s locked.
“Here.” I look up to see my mom taking off the weirdly shaped heart necklace she always wears and hands it to me. I frown at the thing as it sits in the palm of my hand. “You have always hated that necklace but the reason it is so important and always around my neck is because that is the only key to that drawer.” My eyes widen as I look up at my mother, she smiles timidly and nods for me to try it.
To my shock, the fucking thing fits in the little enclave perfectly and the drawer lock clicks open, I pull it open and sift through the files until I spot my name in the back, I yank the file out and place it on the top of his desk and drop into his seat.
“What are you doing?” Chaos asks.
I look to each member of my family as I answer. “My dad has always told me he had a family file stashed in here and if anything was to ever happen to him I was to find the one with my name and everything that I would need to know would be in here. He wants me to let go, what he means is that he wants me to let go of all the anger and rage I feel right now and be the man he knows I can be. My dad wants me to lead and in order to do that, I need to read what’s in here.”
My mom purses her lips as she looks down at me, she looks me over and without me having to say it out loud she nods. “Come on, we’ll give him a minute to go over that while we make something to eat.” My aunts begrudgingly follow her out, I look up to my three cousins who each stand in front of the desk with their arms crossed over their chests.
“We aren’t going anywhere!” Chaos snarls, I knew they wouldn’t leave and that is why I will always respect the fuck out of each of them.
Opening the folder I see a small yellowish envelope with my name on it, I tear it open and dump the contents on the desk. There are three single keys and a…
“Is that a tape recorder?” The shock can be heard in Sin’s voice, I’ve never seen one of these in real life, only in movies, I push the one that says play and wait. A crackling sound fills the room for a second before my dad’s voice can be heard.
“Good work, son. I knew you would remember this. I need you to listen carefully, I know without a doubt you have found a way to get rid of your mother so you can be alone and listen.” He snorts before continuing.“Hello Chanel, Chaos and Havoc.”The four of us exchange a look of confusion.
“When I said you would listen alone I had no doubt those three would be with you. If you four are hearing this tape then that means we have fallen, I never wanted you to be the head of the family this way, Royal. Contrary to what you think everything I have done, said and shown you were all leading you to this moment. If I was hard on you it was because I was teaching you a lesson, everything I have done son is to show you how to lead. Never let a bastard come between you and your birthright, if there is ever a time where I will be held for ransom or some shit like that. You never give in, you keep this family together and make sure no motherfucker takes from you what we all built. Think, son, take the time to plan and make sure you don’t act rashly, think like a leader, not a soldier. The four of you are the next generation of Murdochs, do not forget who you are and where you come from.