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“Oh, no, that would be foolish,” I chuckle dryly. “No, you’ll get everything back when every last member of the Black Hand is in jail, paying for their crimes.”
“But that could take years!”
“Tough shit,” Kendric mutters and puts the safety back on his Glock. “This is what you get for choosing profits over people.”
“You won’t win,” Thierry shoots back.
I pour myself a cup of hot tea. The subtle fragrance of jasmine tickles my nose while a hint of honey soothes my throat. I welcome the calming gulp, wishing I’d downed a double shot of espresso instead.
“Here’s what you’re getting wrong, Thierry,” I begin. Sky and Raylan are already on the phone, alerting the club members and the few loyal friends they still have within Everton PD that there’s an operation about to unfold. They need all the help they can get, and I don’t want Thierry to pay too much attention to their conversations. “This isn’t about winning or losing. It’s about doing what’s right. My father should’ve known better. The people elected him, and he was supposed to be working for them, not against them.”
“But he is working for the people,” Thierry says.
“He’s working for the Black Hand, and we both know that the cabal only serves its own interests and no one else’s,” I reply. “That’s why the crime rate is so high; that’s why there’s a mostly empty residential complex in lieu of a much-needed second community center; that’s why there are entire blocks in Everton that have been left derelict for over a decade. You can’t tell me that my father is working for the people when the only ones profiting from every decision he’s made as mayor are corporations and fellow politicians.”
“Not to mention law enforcement and other agencies,” Kendric adds. “They keep getting funding that is wholly unnecessary while the city’s infrastructure is in dire need of repair. There are public reports that emphasize precisely that, yet all the mayor has done lately is go on TV crying about Ariana while also musing over a run for senate.”
“I told you, Thierry. I wasn’t born yesterday. My father may have shielded me from most of the world, but I see it now. I see it all too clearly, and it is breaking my heart. It would break my mother’s heart, too,” I add.
Thierry gives me a long, hard look. He would reprimand me if he could, but he can’t, not with Kendric standing so close to him, so ready and eager to backhand him at the first sign of disrespect. “The world is not black and white, Ariana,” he says instead. “It’s shades of grey. It’s always been shades of grey. If you knew that, you wouldn’t hold people to such high standards.”
“Oh, but I do know that,” I say. “I also know that people hold themselves to such high standards. Take the mayor of Everton City, for example. He made promises to his voters. He claims to be a man of morality, with a strong sense of ethics and a penchant for justice. What justice is there in Everton? Please, Thierry, enlighten me. He’s so many shades of grey, you can’t even tell the man from the dirt anymore.”
“I understand that you feel disappointed, Ariana, but he’s still your father.”
“He sat down and had a slice of pie with the man who tried to kill me,” I snap, my voice trembling with anger. Tears sting my eyes as I realize that I cannot get over such betrayal. How could I? My life, my baby’s life … it could’ve ended that night. “Don’t talk to me about blood ties, okay? Not after what I learned about him and my mom.”
The shift in Thierry’s expression is subtle but noticeable. It’s enough to make my skin feel tight and cold all of a sudden as he briefly looks away. “You should have a heart-to-heart talk with your father,” he mutters. “Maybe this meeting won’t be such a bad idea after all, provided you go in with a clear head.”
“I’m going in for the truth and nothing else,” I reply. “And you will keep your distance from me, from my father, and this whole fucking mess, Thierry. As far as I’m concerned, I never worked for you. I never set foot in any of your stores. You don’t know me, and I don’t know you. Someday, you will look back on this moment in time, and you will understand. Until then, spare me the morality lecture. You are the last person I would ever take any advice from. Your hands are dirty with the blood of innocent children. There is a special place in hell reserved for the likes of you.”
“That may be true, but until then, I get to sleep on silk sheets and goose-down pillows,” Thierry shoots back, crossing his arms in childlike defiance.
“We’ll see about that,” Kendric replies.
“You said you’d keep my secrets!” the Frenchman gasps.
“We will, but once the Feds come down from Quantico, there’s no telling what they’ll find when they start auditing your computers,” Kendric reminds him.
That’s enough to get his mind twisted. Panic sets in, and I have to admit, I like seeing him squirm. All it took was one little, wriggling worm being slipped into his ear for Thierry’s brain to go into full paranoia. I bet he will go into a complete shutdown as soon as he’s back in the city.
He’ll wipe every hard drive and shred every piece of paper in every single office. He’s got his work cut out for him in the next couple of days. He will transfer all of his money into offshore accounts. He will hide everything he can in terms of wealth in safe deposit boxes outside of Everton. Yeah, Kendric played it smart.
It gives us one less thing to worry about while we move on to the next stage.
22
Raylan
The following couple of days go by in a heavy blur. Sometimes, I feel as if I’m sinking into a bowl of water, and someone decides to pour black ink into it. I find myself helpless as I watch the blobs dissolve and diffuse, muddling everything and leaving me blind. But we make it to the final day, either our last or the first of what’s left of our lives. We’re not sure which just yet.
If we succeed with our mission, we’ll have enough leverage to force Henry David to turn against the Black Hand and give us the evidence we need to reveal and destroy them. Taking his daughter clearly wasn’t enough, especially after the cabal decided she might as well be dead and, therefore, less of a problem.
Daddy dearest wasn’t too vocal about that. I don’t think I will ever let him live that down. In fact, I hope we put him away in cuffs with the rest of them. A prick like Henry David doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as Ariana, let alone be a part of her life in any manner.
We took great care in planning this last stretch of the operation.
“How many of ours are in jail now?” I ask Sky as we pull over half a mile down the block from Henry’s residence.
