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Maksim poked his head through the door, saw the drama, and backed away and closed it.
I sighed and glanced over at Ash. “You wanna start?”
Ash tossed a black folder onto the table. “I think Phoenix should.”
The room fell silent.
Phoenix walked over to the folder and stared it down. “Do I want to open this?”
“Do you want to avenge your dead son?” I snapped just as Chase walked in, expression pale. “Open the damn folder.”
Phoenix looked at it, then back up at Nixon and Chase. “I didn’t want you to find out this way.”
“Find out what?” Nixon asked. “That Ivan’s a jackass and that we have a killer on the loose that thinks they’re a boss and keeps branding their own men?”
Phoenix took a deep breath. “There were five.”
“Five?” Nixon repeated. “Five what?”
“Over twenty years ago, there were five De Langes that Chase and I didn’t cleanse. Five that disappeared off the map.”
Ash leaned forward while Chase cursed and looked down at his feet. “And you think they’re pulling the strings?”
“I think…” Phoenix sat “…that my son discovered them, and they made him pay for it, they wanted one thing, the money and the power, they wanted him to be a figurehead, I’m assuming. Knowing Junior, he said no, and they threatened his Family.”
“Why wouldn’t he just come to us?” I asked. “He knew better.”
“You don’t rat out a rat.” Phoenix sighed. “You lead them slowly with their own obsession… he couldn’t use force, they’d run, regroup, retaliate.”
I nodded my head. “He wanted them all out exposed, in the open.”
Phoenix tossed the black folder onto the table, the pictures slid out. Of Junior training Ivan, of Ivan’s first kill, of Ivan becoming made and Junior’s right-hand man.
“What better way,” Phoenix whispered, “to pull out the rat from the darkness, then having your favorite betray you?”
One of the pictures was covered by the folder, I pulled it out and did a double take. “Wasn’t his throat slit?”
“Junior?” Nixon asked. “Yeah, from left to right, couldn’t miss it.”
“He had a white horse tattoo on the left, not the right.” Hands shaking, I dropped the picture while Phoenix stood and ran his hands through his hair. “Anything can be edited.”
Nixon narrowed his eyes. “Ivan, are you still saying you killed him for the spot?”
“Yes,” Ivan snapped. “Of course I did.”
Nixon actually smiled. “He’s vehement about it.” I tilted my head. “Always is, about things you want, love, hate.”
Ivan went still.
Nixon stood. “Good meeting. Keep your secrets, I’ll keep mine, and Ivan, you touch her again without my permission and you’ll pay for it.”
Ivan reached for Nixon and gripped his arm. “With my life or with pain?”
“Why are you asking?”
“Answer the question.”
Nixon cursed. “Pain.”
