Page 9 of Wrecked By a Devil

The house is elegant, with warm lighting reflecting off the marble floors, illuminating the villa’s interior. Every detail, from the artwork to the furnishing, has been chosen with care, reflecting my brother’s luxurious taste.

“It’s about time,” Levi leans back in the leather chair with a drink in his hand and a smile on his face. “I was starting to miss my older brothers.”

Elijah gives him a deadly look, while Cain remains focused on the tablet in his hands. Seeing Cain do something as mundane as paperwork would strike anyone else as strange. Sure, he mighthave a few more scars than your boy next door, but that doesn’t make him any less human.

“Is everything alright?” Elijah speaks in a calm tone.

“Not exactly,” I make myself comfortable in one of the free chairs while Malachi takes the spot next to Cain on the sofa. “We got nowhere with the interrogation, and to make things worse, someone saw me interrogate this guy…”

We were supposed to have our meeting at the club originally, but after Riley came into the picture, I rescheduled the meeting and moved it to midnight at Malachi’s house.

“Did you take care of it?” Elijah’s eyes widen slightly at the possibility of danger. “And how much did they see?”

“Yeah, it’s all under control,” I notice Malachi shooting me a look, but he stays quiet. “The girl was auditioning for a stripper and she got lost on her way to find the bathroom. She didn’t see much.”

“Are we sure she’s not a spy?” Levi asks.

“No, that’s why I hired her. To keep an eye on her.”

“Good,” Elijah nods, leaning forward in his chair. “We can’t afford any more problems right now.”

“Do you want me to keep an eye on her?” Cain speaks for the first time.

“No, I’ve got it with this one.”

There is no way I would allow Cain of all people to keep an eye on Riley. While he’s not an aggressive guy by nature, he’s the person we send where diplomacy is no longer an option. Not exactly someone I’d send to do surveillance on a regular person who just happened to be at the wrong place in the wrong time.

The memory of Riley dancing at the audition flashes in front of my eyes. I end up pouring myself a glass of water, suddenly thirsty. Before my brothers can notice anything, I change the topic back to the reason why we’re meeting tonight in the first place.

“We still have zero leads about the girl that went missing,” Malachi speaks. “It’s not possible that she just vanished. Someone has to be behind all of this.”

“Agreed,” Elijah nods.

“Can we discuss the possibility that someone might be targeting us again?” Levi sighs, placing his empty glass of whiskey on the coffee table.

The air in the room changes immediately and my body stiffens.

“It’s very likely,” I nod. “And whoever it is, I’m not going to let them get away with it as easily this time.”

“Zeke,” Malachi’s voice is neutral but even like that it cuts the tension like a knife. “What happened a year ago wasn’t your fault.”

“Doesn’t mean I couldn’t have done things differently,” at my words, all four of my brothers go quiet. They know I’m right and neither is mental enough to challenge me on a subject as delicate as this one.

One year ago, right after I became the new head of the Kavanagh family, I sent Malachi on a mission and it got him captured and tortured. He never should have been there in the first place, I was supposed to go. I put him through hell, and I swore never to allow something like that to happen again.

“My bets are on the Devlins,” it’s Levi who breaks the silence by pouring himself another drink.

“We don’t have enough proof to back that theory up,” Malachi says.

“If we’re going to rely solely on proof, we don’t have any proof for anything,” Levi points out and I agree.

“But that doesn’t mean we can go and accuse the Devlins for something like this without being sure it’s them,” it would bereckless and we’d end up putting our family in even greater danger.

“I don’t need proof to go against a Devlin any day,” Cain smirks.

“Same here,” Levi raises his glass at Cain theatrically. “They might not be responsible for the girls disappearing, but they’ve done enough to have it coming.”

“As much as I would love to see Ronan Devlin at the bottom of the ocean, we can’t recklessly start a mob war.” I don’t say it at loud, but that reckless behavior is what got our parents killed.