Resting her head back against the bed, she closed her eyes and tried to come up with a plan.
Chapter Thirteen
“The Castillos are coming to claim their daughter. He’s bringing an entourage and I’ve advised him no armed guard will be entering our house,” Rick said. “They are also bringing a doctor. As long as her hymen is intact, he will see it as our debt to them is repaid.”
“You can’t give her back,” Gabriel said.
“This matter isn’t up for discussion. I’ve had Landon, Tulip, and now you. That girl is a problem and I don’t want to deal with it. With our focus on the bounty hunters, we don’t have time to start a war, and in case you haven’t noticed, with Maddox’s death, and you two fucking up rulings, things haven’t exactly gone to plan.” Rick looked at him and then at Jacob. “For the foreseeable future, my decision will stand.”
Gabriel looked toward his brothers. They had been so focused on trying to get Landon and figuring out what to do, that they had fucked up. Men had turned traitor, and some of their establishments had been closed down. Within the last few days, Rick had gathered a list of trustworthy, loyal men who had set about opening up their brothels, fighting rings, and gambling estates.
Running a hand down his face, he tried to clear the fog from his mind, but it didn’t work. “Giving Jade back is not a priority.”
Rick sighed. He’d already moved on to giving them a list of instructions. “And why is she not a priority? What part of you is too weak to start a war with the Castillos? While they’ve remained in power of their territory, we have become weak. There’s pressure gathering on the outskirts of our city for control. We are going to win that back, but not if we argue about this.”
Gabriel looked at each of his brothers. None of them put up an argument and the truth was he didn’t really have one, not really.
Gritting his teeth as Rick had already moved onto another job, Gabriel couldn’t do it.
“She’s mine,” Gabriel said.
This caused all gazes to turn toward him.
“I don’t have time for this bullshit now.”
“You all describe it as a feeling, don’t you? Well, when I look at her, it’s a feeling. She’s not a fucking twin, so I’m telling you, I can’t hand over this girl.”
Rick grabbed a knife and threw it across the room. “You only think to fucking tell me this now?” He roared the last word.
“What was I supposed to say? When I’m near her I get this feeling? It’s not exactly something I know anything about.”
“We all get feelings around our women. It controls us, Gabriel. This is important. Up until this morning, Castillo believed his daughter was dead. I could have left it that way. Fuck! This is why you’re all going to fail. You can’t talk for shit.”
“I’m sure you were open with your brother,” Jacob said.
Rick burst out laughing. “The moment I met Mandy, I went straight to Maddox and told him my days were numbered. That I was going to be with her and do whatever it took to win my woman. You can fault us all you want, but we kept power. We kept control.”
“And Maddox ended up dead,” Abel said. “Think about that.”
“Yeah, he ended up dead and I’m starting to figure out why. You all are selfish little bastards, and all of you have your own agenda. Your own women to take care of. We had our women, but the Denton name came first. It will always come first. He was on his own because his sons are fucking pussies. Get out. All of you, get the fuck out. Apart from you, Gabriel. Take a seat.”
Gabriel wasn’t afraid. His father had been a true monster and he’d dealt with many beatings. From the look on Rick’s face, he wanted to dish out some pain. He was more than willing to take it.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Rick asked, pouring out two glasses of scotch. It was the expensive stuff.
“What exactly could I say? I don’t trust you.”
Rick breathed in and out. He handed the glass to Gabriel and sat down. “I don’t agree with what my brother was doing.”
“Then why are you willing to give Jade back?” he asked. “If you’re supposed to be strong and powerful, feared, why are you giving in? You can leave at any moment.”
“But I can’t. Denton blood runs in my veins. You think falling here will put us all on the straight and narrow? You think giving up turf, handing over money, businesses, and trying to get a nine-to-five job will be that easy? You’re a Colton. You’ve seen the worst in people. I know you have. Damn, I was even a little worried about Colton when he was alive. He was a fierce bastard. Didn’t have our weakness when it came to the one woman. He used them as he saw fit. Saw one, took one, and discarded them like they were nothing but trash.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you and your brothers seem to have given up, so I’m going to let you in on a little secret none of you have even realized. The way this ends, the Denton line doesn’t just walk off into the sunset like everything is over and dealt with. It ends with every single one of us, myself and Mandy included, in a coffin. All of your women, kids, our associates, all of them, dead. Wiping us all out so we don’t have a chance to ever build up our line again. So no son or daughter would ever dream of annihilating the enemy. There’s no end in sight. It’s why I’m going to hand Jade over, only now, I’m going to offer them a deal, and it’s up to you if you take it.”
“What deal?”