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“No, I’m saying that because it’s the truth. Wynter has always been stronger than any of you have given her credit for. Your dad always sheltered the girls, always kept them away from what he did, and he taught both of you to do the same. But Wynter, and Snow, for that matter, are more capable than anyone has ever allowed them to be. And if you think me defending her is going to do anything other than piss her off more, you don’t know your sister very well.” I chuckle.
Storm drops back into his seat and sighs. “Fine. You can help. But you will not leave this house without one of us with you. After what happened with Emerson, I don’t trust anyone with any of your safety. We are all going to stay here until further notice, so if you need anything from your apartments, I suggest you go and get it now. We will all be working from here, with exception of Rayne, who will only leave to take care of problems if absolutely necessary, and he will have myself, Everett, or Tommy with him.”
Snow groans and throws her head back. “This is so unfair.”
“Do you want to be dead? Because that’s what could happen if you leave this house unescorted and Russo or his men get near you.” Storm stares at her pointedly and the blood drains from her cheeks. The baby of the family doesn’t love the word no. She didn’t when she was a kid, and that hasn’t changed as an adult either.
Tears well in her eyes as she looks to Rayne and Wynter for support. “Of course I don’t want to die, but I also don’t want to be a prisoner.” She pushes her chair back and storms from the room before anyone can attempt to stop her.
Emerson looks like she’s about to follow, but Rayne places his hand on her arm. “She’ll come around. She’s just used to getting what she wants and doesn’t like it when she doesn’t get her way.”
She looks to the stairs Snow disappeared up and sighs. “It’s hard for her to live in all your shadows. She thinks everyone has a role in the family but her, and every time you lock her up, she doesn’t see it as you trying to protect her. She sees it as you taking away all that she has,” Emerson tells us.
She hasn’t known any of them long, but her honesty will get her far in this family. That and her unwavering strength. She hasn’t flinched once while we started talking about Russo, hasn’t looked uncomfortable to be a part of a conversation about war and murder. You would never know she hadn’t grown up around this shit the way we all did. She fits.
“I understand that, but we’ve already lost our parents, I’m not risking losing her as well. She’s going to have to swallow all that shit for a minute and let us take care of this, and then on the other side, we’ll give her something to do within the family,” Storm replies.
Emerson chuckles. “That’s the point though, she doesn’t want you togiveher something to do. She wants to earn it just like the rest of you did, but she’s sheltered. It’s no one’s fault, it’s just the way it is with youngest children sometimes.”
“Sweet girl, your counselor is showing.” Rayne laughs as he wraps his arms around his wife and tugs her into his side.
Fuck, it’s nice to see him happy. He’s always lived a tortured existence. He was the first one to kill a man, and he’s never recovered from it. Don’t get me wrong, the man loves his job, he loves taking care of problems and if a little bit of blood and the occasional torture session is a part of that, you’ll never hear him complaining, but sometimes I worried the darkness would take over. Emerson is the bright light someone like him needs, just the way Wynter is mine. Whether she’s known it or not, she’s always been the light at the end of the tunnel for me, the guiding light in everything I do.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to overstep. I just want you all to understand why Snow feels the way she does.” Emerson’s cheeks turn a bright shade of pink and she looks down at the table.
“You’re just as much a part of this family as the rest of us, Emerson. Don’t ever hesitate to say your piece,” Storm tells her. “But Snow is going to have to live with it for now, just like the rest of us. We’re all in lockdown the same way she is, and this is not something I am willing to negotiate. Once Russo and his organization are six feet under, we can get back to business as usual.”
I nod in agreeance. “It’s important that we take some time to grieve as well. If we go into a war with hot heads, it’s only going to mean more casualties.”
“I agree.” Emerson smiles shyly. “I know I’m new to all this, and that you’ve been doing it a really long time, but I have a certain amount of insight into how the human mind works, and Everett is absolutely correct. If you go into this guns blazing and wanting to avenge your parents as soon as possible, you’ll do so without clarity, and I imagine in this line of work that is dangerous.”
Rayne’s face is full of pride and love as he looks down at her, and I can’t help the pinch of jealousy that I can’t do that with Wynter yet. Or ever really. When we were together before, we were never really together. We were best friends. We were everything to one another. But no one knew we were that. She was scared her brothers would kill me, and honestly, I was a little scared too. But when I had to go to them and tell them I had to leave her, they were never mad, never even blinked an eye. They always saw what we tried to hide.
I feel her eyes on the side of my face long before I turn to look at her. She isn’t sure how to take everything I’ve thrown at her over the last twenty or so hours. Something deep inside me settles at the idea that she can take care of herself. She’s not the girl I left all those years ago. The one I was terrified someone would hurt to exploit me. Wynter is a woman now, and I’d like to see anyone try to take her on.
I tear my eyes away from hers and look down at my computer screen, pulling up the financials I had been scouring over late last night. There had to be something here, a loose thread we could pull, a weak link we could use to our advantage, and when I see exactly what that weak link is, I look up at Storm and smile.
Let’s do this.
7
Wynter
When my parents bought a family plot in Chicago’s most prestigious cemetery, I laughed at them. I remember the moment so vividly I could swear we had the conversation yesterday, when in reality, it was years ago. I remember laughing so hard at the idea of my young, spritely parents needing to think of something like that, and then I laughed at how morbid it was.
But now it’s a reality, one that I’m having trouble accepting. After our family meeting, I threw myself into work and planning. Business didn’t allow for me to be away from my role as chief financial officer of Frost Industries for any amount of time, and I could only pawn off so much on my assistant. Clara is great, but I couldn’t do that to her. She’s shy and the idea of walking into a boardroom on her own in the past has left her having a meltdown. So in between my bouts of depression, planning to take out our enemy, and training with Rayne so my brothers and ex-whatever Everett is, don’t worry so much, working, and planning a funeral for our parents, I’m pretty damn exhausted. But the exhaustion is good. It helps. It reminds me I’m alive and that my parents would want me to live despite them being gone.
The cemetery is deathly quiet as mourners arrive. We anticipated a big turnout, but this is beyond what even I could have dreamed of. Hundreds of people surround the two empty graves with the coffins resting at the top. People from all parts of their lives, their childhoods, college, Dad's old job, and then there’s Frost Industries. The contrast between the good side and the bad side has never seemed so obvious as it does from my place in the front row. Every time I look around and see a mixture of high-class society, and people who work in the underworld, who make money on other’s pain, it’s almost enough to make me laugh.
Almost.
Snow holds my hand tightly, her blonde hair curled around her face as she struggles to hold it together. We’re trying to show a united front, to prove to the world that this hasn’t broken us. But it’s come pretty fucking close.
It’s the first time we’ve been seen in public since the accident. We arrived together, and we will leave together. The show of solidarity will hopefully squash any chance of the board thinking they can overthrow Storm and that anyone within the underbelly of Chicago will think they can stake a claim on our territory.
We are showing the world that adversity only ever makes the Saint James family stronger.
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay doing the eulogy? I can do it if you want?” Storm asks for the tenth time since we left the house, and probably the three hundredth overall. He thinks the words will break me, but showing emotion isn’t a bad thing.
