“Can’t reach your crew?” he continued.
The confusion twisting up James’s features cleared and was replaced by rage. “What did you do? Where the fuck is Slaney and the rest of my pack?” He stomped toward Dom, the gun pointed right at his face, and Dom just smiled at him.
“Right now, they would be in police custody. They should be matching your people’s prints to The Joint and the weapon that killed the bar owner. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few other unsolved crimes around the area that could be tied back to your pack.”
“Fuck off! You think you’ve won, but you ain’t won shit. Your boyfriend is dead. You’re going to be blamed for the death of Trent Elrige. You’re going to lose everything. I can create another pack. Nothing is going to stop me.”
Dom chuckled at his brother, his grin growing wide. “Abe’s dead? Trent’s dead?” He shook his head. “Sounds like you had a rough day pretending to be me.”
James stared at him, the confusion returning. The gun in his hand slowly lowered back to his side and he took an unsteady step backward. “What? How?”
“You mean, how did I know that Abe, who was completely off the grid for three days, just suddenly ran back to his house, the one place your people were sure to be watching? And then you just happen to catch him out in the open in Washington Park. Where you just so happen to meet up with a freaking movie star?”
“Of course, you expected me to follow Abe,” James snapped, but his voice lacked the same mocking strength and conviction he’d had just a few minutes earlier. He waved the gun widely as he spoke. “I told you I was going to get Abe. He was your weakness.”
“Abe is my strength,” Dom corrected in a hard, cold voice. He slowly paced, walking around James so that he was forced to turn in a tight circle if he wanted to keep Dom in view. “But how could you pass up the chance to grab both Abe and a movie star? That was a once in a lifetime opportunity, wasn’t it?”
“I don’t…” James started to say, but his voice trailed off.
“But then Trent had a stalker who chased you to Trent’s nearby car. That had to have been a wild ride through the city. Must have been hard for your people to keep up. There was always the chance that you’d lose your backup to a red light and heavy downtown traffic.”
“You!” he gasped.
“Ward Security intercepted your crew, disabled them for the cops, while you continued on to here. A fake car accident. Blanks and some exploding squibs with fake blood put both Trent and Abe out of your reach. And you…you’re alone, confused, and desperate for escape and ran straight in here after Trent mentioned it.”
“You-you fucking conned me,” James stammered in shock.
“Dad taught us both,” Dom sneered. “You think I forgot all that shit? Forgot what it takes to get a person to believe and do exactly what you want them to? You think you’re smarter than everyone, but yeah, I conned you.”
James backpedaled away from Dom. His sweat-covered face was pale in the light coming through the dirty windows of the warehouse. He shook his head once, mouthing the word no. Dom braced himself, muscles bunched and ready to strike if James decided to lift the gun again. There were several feet between them, but he was sure that he could cross the distance in time to knock the gun away.
And then James started laughing. Deep, loud belly laughs. He dropped the gun to his side, hanging loose from just a few fingers. He held his stomach with his free hand and laughed wildly. When his gaze returned to Dom, he shook his head as he continued to chortle. “Dad was wrong about you. He was fucking wrong,” he said when he could drag in a deep breath. Dom remained cautious, not sure what his brother was talking about.
“He said you didn’t have what it takes to be a wolf. He said that you were always too soft, too worried about the marks.” James snorted. “Said you were nothing more than a weak sheep pretending to be a wolf. He was glad you were dead.”
Dom clenched his teeth but said nothing. There was no love lost between himself and his father. He couldn’t say that he was surprised by his father’s comments, and they certainly didn’t hurt like they should have.
Staring down at the gun in his hand, James gave a little smirk and returned his sparkling green eyes up to Dom. “This con…your greatest con ever…proves to me that I was justified in killing the old bastard. He couldn’t talk about you like that. Talk about us like that. You’re not a sheep. You’re a killer wolf just like me.” Unexpectedly, James charged him faster than Dom could react. Reaching out, James grabbed the back of Dom’s head and pulled him forward until their foreheads touched. “My brother is back and he’s ruthless. We’re back.”