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Aiden suspected we had a mole in our organization who had slipped information to the FBI and that was how I ended up behind bars. Rather than telling him the truth, I agreed. He was unable to find the mole, and the moment I got out, he charged me with finding it and with enforcing our security.
I appeased him by opening the gym where we ended up conducting meetings and laundering money.
“So it’s just us?”
“So it seems.”
His brows pulled together. “Are you okay?”
“Always.”
I wasn’t. The need to punish ate at me and drove me nuts. It made me a great enforcer for our organization, but it didn’t satisfy this insane urge, because the one person I needed to punish wasn’t being punished.
“You seem on edge.”
“You think so?” I asked sarcastically. “It couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that the FBI is preparing for another trial that could put me away for life?”
Fucking Sienna and her skillset that made it easy for her to hack into any database…
It was impressive as much as infuriating, not to mention dangerous. The little blondie played me like a fucking fiddle.
“We’re working to find out who this mysterious witness is,” Kyran assured. “Whoever it is, we’ll get to them before the trial ever takes off.”
He wouldn’t, because Sienna was no dummy, and instead of trusting the FBI to protect her, she covered her tracks and identity herself. I was fairly certain her family helped too, because you needed money to disappear.
“Tyran, are you listening?”
I looked up at him. “Yeah.”
“So will you go?”
I frowned. “Where?”
“To the family party.”
It turned out I wasn’t really listening to him. He watched me expectantly, but he already knew the answer.
“No, not this time.”
“Why not?”
“I’m busy,” I deadpanned.
Since getting out of prison early—thanks to a combination of family connections, a few favors owed by people higher up the food chain in the U.S. government, and good behavior—I had kept mostly to myself. Except for when I worked on ending people from the list I started before I got locked up.
Why was I still punishing people who had a hand in Sienna Baldwin’s kidnapping after she betrayed me?
Fuck if I knew, but it took the edge off, and it was far better than participating in family dinners, celebrations, or hearing how fucking happy Aiden was with his wife and how adorable his children were.
Of course I was happy for him, but I couldn’t celebrate anything until I punished the one who had betrayed me.
Five years behind bars had a way of changing a man. Prison stripped you down to the ugliest parts of yourself and then forced you to live with them. Day after day. Week after week. Month after month.
Until you come out of that place hard, cold, and angry as fuck, and all of it had to do with one person.
Sienna Rose Baldwin.
The name tasted bitter on my tongue. It was the name I breathed through every push-up, every weight I lifted, every brutal repetition that left my muscles screaming. The name that haunted me through every minute of every day I spent behind bars.
