“You would have thought of something,” Darcy cut in. “You have your moments. Problem is, you don’t realize when you’re having them.”
“It’s the mark of a true genius,” I said, winking at him. Rising from the table, I thought for a moment. “It’s late to deal with the Chicago rats. The shipment was today. It will be on the streets by morning. It seems I’m not even going to get a chance to fight the southern cunts anytime soon. After all, I must defend the homeland at all cost.”
I said the last bit with an Irish accent for my own amusement.
“Should we take a tour of the Chicago Police Headquarters before it magically…I mean accidently catches on fire?” Sedric asked.
I gasped in fake concern. “I would never waste the tax dollars of my fellow citizens like that!”
“So how are you going to find the traitors in blue?” Darcy questioned, now much more serious.
“Good question,” I replied but didn’t answer the question. I could tell they were waiting, but I pretended I didn’t know. Instead, I looked at my watch, only to see blood had gotten on it. “Goddamn it! I swear these people are the reason I can never wear nice things!”
Taking it off, I tossed it to Sedric and moved to the mirror, pressing the intercom. “Call the clean-up crew, then have the usual doctor come and have them both checked out…I need them alive. Well, truthfully, I only need Emilio alive, but you all seem fond of Greyson, so I guess he can stay alive as well. Then one of you...actually, no. Let me just end there seeing as you all haven’t been able to even walk and chew at the same motherfucking time.”
Releasing the intercom, I felt myself tense up again. I flexed my finger. “Darcy, I’m leaving my dog in your care.”
“I’m not a fan of dogs,” he started to object, until I looked over my shoulder at him. He rolled his eyes and nodded. “Fine, I’ll happily dog sit while you’re off killing cops.”
“I’m not going to kill anyone.” I walked over to the elevator. “Didn’t you hear Sedric? We are flames. Therefore, they are killing themselves. Tell Nana I apologize for missing dinner tonight.”
Entering the elevator, I leaned back against the panels, and just as the doors closed, I heard Sedric say to Darcy “A hundred grand he burns them alive, too.”
God, I wish it was only that simple.
SEDRIC
“He isn’t going to burn them alive, though he probably wants to,” Darcy said after Wyatt left, tossing the core of his finished apple like a basketball into the air and across the room. It landed in the trash bin in the corner.
“He’s barely holding himself back. You and I both know the longer Ethan isn’t here, the more reckless Wyatt will be. We controlled the OC. Apparently, we no longer control headquarters. That means he can’t go in there guns blazing just because they ticked him off.”
“He wouldn’t—”
“Are you sure?” I pressed, and he paused before rising from his chair, adjusting his trousers. Between him, Wyatt, and I, he was just slightly taller, but still shorter than Ethan.
“There’s nothing we can do for now. He’s decided to deal with this his own way.”
That was the problem. Wyatt’s way wasn’t always the most logical or reasonable way…actually it was rarely the logical or reasonable way. “Wyatt is the type of person to jump out of a plane without checking if he has a parachute on.”
“Yet somehow, he has always managed to make it to the ground safely,” Darcy tried to remind me as he walked up beside me.
“Somehow is Ethan. Ethan has always watched over him. Before that his parents. Our parents.”
Darcy just shrugged his shoulders at me. “Ethan isn’t dead. If Wyatt gets in over his head, I’m sure Ethan will be back…even if not, there’s us. Both of them become tunnel-visioned when it’s this personal. That’s why we’re here. To see when they can’t.”
“Glorified side-kicks,” I scoffed.
A smile formed on Darcy’s lips as he nodded. “Yes. But even glorified side-kicks have their day. We already got what we wanted. We’re in, where we belong. Right now, I’m more annoyed about these ingrates.”
He meant the people on the other side of the glass. Turning my back on them, I leaned on the glass again.
“Have you spoken to your sister? It’s dangerous for her to be by herself with all of this happening.”
Darcy shook his head no. “There’s no need. She’ll be fine. Besides, I pity the fool who thinks of going after my sister.”
The moment he said it, I tried to imagine what would happen if someone did try to go after her. If Helen of Troy caused a thousand ships to sail, then Helen of Chicago could cause ten thousand bullets to fly.
There was a price to pay for messing with the women of this family. Ivy hadn’t even been part of this family for three months, and her death already made Wyatt burn people alive. Turning around, I watched as Darcy gave orders to the guard who lifted the broken, bloody, and bruised Emilio from the ground.