Isaiah
What happenedwhen you were in a battle but you were straddling the line between two enemies? Both sides were dangerous and tricky. It was a war where you couldn’t walk into it with guns in your hands or without an army to back you up. You had to be precise and gain control, attack them when they least expected it.
And that was the one thing I kept reminding myself as I stood in front of the house that Gemma grew up in, leaning against my uncle’s car at one in the morning. No matter what I found inside, I couldn’t attack first and ask questions later.
I had two wars brewing: one with my father and the other with Judge Stallard.
“Where are we?” Brantley asked, flicking his cigarette off to the side of the road.
I held back a groan, stealthily walking over to it and crushing it with my black shoe before bending down and swiping it up. Brantley’s dark brows lowered as he leaned up against the car, looking as if he wanted to hit me when I shoved my hand onto his chest with the butt crumbling in between my fingers.
Cade chuckled. “Are you suddenly concerned about the planet, Isaiah? Afraid that a lonesome cigarette butt full of nicotine is going to decompose and seep into the ground and hurt the ecosystem?”
Brantley grabbed the butt from in between my fingers, after I told him to shove it in his pocket, and looked over at Cade. “What are you even talking about?”
Cade shrugged nonchalantly. “I learned about it in earth science. Unlike you, I actually pay attention in class.”
“That’s because you’re fucking lame, bro.”
I expelled a heavy breath and looked back at the Stallard Manor that stood nearly as tall as the trees out front. There was a chill in the air, and it did nothing but cool me even more to the core. “I told you two a week ago that there was going to come a time when you were going to have to pick a side.”
Brantley and Cade both came over and stood beside me, glancing up to the same home that I was staring at, but they stayed silent, likely wondering where we were.
“I asked you to pick up your cigarette because there needs to be absolutely no evidence that we were here. And the person that lives in that house”—I inched my chin to the darkened windows, almost picturing Gemma’s face staring out of them as if I were pulled back in time—“thrives on rule-breaking citizens, and he has many ties in this community and can pull strings like you wouldn’t fucking believe. A lonesome cigarette butt would only intensify his stance.”
Evidence was artillery to men like Richard Stallard.
“Who lives here?” Cade asked, an edge of suspicion to his voice.
I sighed. “Judge Stallard. Gemma’s uncle.” He wasn’t her biological uncle, which Uncle Tate and I had already concluded, but she let it slip one day when she referred to him as Richard instead of Uncle, and it only confirmed what we’d already suspected.
Brantley ran his hands over his head roughly. “Isaiah, what the fuck? I thought you were done messing around with Gemma. Even Bain has taken a step back from her.”
I ignored him. “You two have a choice to make. Right here and right now.” I quickly looked at both of them before laying it all out in the open. “You’re either with me, or you’re not.” I held my hand up when Cade opened his mouth. “Let me finish.”
Both of their faces dropped. I ping-ponged my attention between them both so I could get a feel for how they truly felt when I let it all out. “I am not taking over my father’s business.” Silence cut through. I was pretty sure that Cade and Brantley had both stopped breathing. “Before I divulge anything else, you need to let me know which side of the war you want to be on. If it’s with me, just know that your fathers will likely be going down with mine. Cade,” I started, looking over to him, “I want you to remember that you have a mother. It’s possible that when it’s all said and done, you will no longer have a relationship with her, as little as it is now.”
My heart thumped wildly, gaining traction with each word that came from my mouth. I wanted to believe that they wanted out of the fucked-up future our fathers had intended for us and had bred us for since we were young, but I knew that just because I wanted them on my side, it didn’t mean that they were. Wants and realities were two very different things.
Surprisingly, Brantley was the first to speak up. “What are you saying, Isaiah? That somehow, you’re going to just walk away from everything? That will not fucking fly with the Huntsman. And what about Jack?”
I knew he’d question my father’s willingness to let me go, but I was staying true to my word. I wasn’t giving up any more information until I knew for sure they were with me. “You’re either with me or you’re not. I need to know now.”
I counted in my head with each thump of my heart. Blood rushed and flooded my veins with caution. If they weren’t with me, that would mean they’d go down too. My muscles were growing tighter with every second that passed.
“I’m with you.” Cade stepped forward and stood by my side, causing me to freeze for a second. “I’m a little perturbed that you even had to ask. We’ve been brothers since we were in diapers.” Loyal. Cade was so fucking loyal.
“You’ve been your mother’s son for that long, too. You could pack up with her and leave this life if you wanted. Your father won’t be able to come after you when it’s all said and done.” He’d be stupid to.
Cade laughed under his breath. “If you take my father down along with yours, my mother will probably kiss you herself. Last Thanksgiving, she stabbed him at the fucking dinner table. She hates him, but she’s too afraid to leave him.” I nodded once before we both turned to Brantley.
His jaw wiggled back and forth like a teeter-totter as he pulled his black hood up to his head. His hands went into the pocket on the front of his hoodie. “Are you doing this all for Gemma?”
“No,” I answered. “I’m doing it for me and for Jack. But this?” I nodded over to the looming house full of shit I probably didn’t want to see. “This is partly for her. Judge Stallard is affiliated with the Covens and has worked with my father in the past and is now working with Bain’s, as you both already know. If my assumptions are correct, Bain is planning on using Gemma for something to get closer to him, maybe to secure a deal, I’m not sure. But Gemma is a part of this, and I will not have that. I want to know all there is to know about Judge Stallard and his position in this. Because after I take my father down and hand over the reins, I’m coming for Richard fucking Stallard, and that means I need to know who he is.”
What I meant was that I needed to know how much he’d harmed Gemma and what he’d done with Tobias. Because that’d be next on the to-do list: finding Tobias—for her. I couldn’t do that if I accidently tripped and happened to choke Richard Stallard in the process.
Brantley observed the house for a few seconds before coming back to me and Cade. “How tight is your plan, Isaiah? Because if your father knows you’re planning on taking him down and it doesn’t work, he will fuckin’ kill us all.” He was worried, and that was something I never saw from him. “We’ve seen him kill men for less.”
My plan was mostly solid, as long as Bain agreed to it, which wouldn’t be difficult after I revealed my wild card. Jack was already safe as a precaution, because if things went sideways, he’d be the one to suffer the most. And as soon as I got all the necessary documents for Gemma, including the new identity and everything else she’d need to disappear that she didn’t even think of, I’d lay it all out in the open for everyone.
“It’s tight. But it’s a risk. It’ll be a war, Brantley. If you want out, then get back in the car. If you want in, just know this is your only warning that things could go wrong.”
A swallow worked itself down his throat before a sinister smile broke out over his shadowed face seconds later. “You think I want to be like my father? You think I want to go around taking orders and killing? You think I want to be in an uphill battle against men like Bain for the rest of my life?” He threw his head back and chuckled. “Who the hell do you think I am? Cade is right. We’ve been brothers since birth. You think we’d actually choose your psycho father, or ours, over you and our brotherhood? We may be a little fucked-up, but at least we’re loyal to one another.” And it was a shame their fathers were loyal to mine.