Once we’re in the hallway outside my father’s suite, Kane and I fall back from the group, allowing Kit to join us, the tick of time flowing quickly now. Our plans are about to kick into gear.
The rally is in a huge auditorium with a screen set-up outside where overflow is massive. I know this from the window view in the elevator. Good lord, my father draws a crowd. I wonder if the Society really planned on him garnering this much love from the people. Because with love comes power. The kind that wins a presidency. And there is no doubt that Grant Love is going to start by winning this election.
We enter the rally, and my father ushers the “family” to seats on the stage. Apparently, Kane went from the kingpin they all hated to “family” because he’s right up there with me, but this works well for our plan. And what is this plan?
One of Kane’s contracted men rushes the stage, seeming to attack my father. Kane’s men intervene and save him. Pocher’s asleep on the job. It’s a bit dramatic, and I argued not necessary, but Kane won me over. My father will feel exposed and vulnerable in a public forum, headed to public office. And in his moment of weakness—my father hates to feel weak—Pocher’s protection will pale in comparison to that of the Mendez empire.
My father steps to the podium, and the crowd goes wild. He’s been speaking all of three minutes, when Kane squeezes my leg and speaks softly into his mic. “Four rows back. Left middle. Black ties, two of them.”
My gaze jerks to the two men who are not Kane’s men, and just that quickly one reaches for a gun. I jerk up my skirt, retrieve my weapon and prepare to take aim. Kane is already tackling my father, who he takes down right as a bullet zips through the air. It’s only then that I realize my brother is on his feet, his weapon drawn as well, but neither of us have a chance to fire. Jay dives onto of one of the offending men, and Enrique the other. My father is safe. The shooters are down. The crowd scatters in panic.
Chapter Forty-Four
What the hell just happened? And in what universe did I ever believe Kane would save my father’s life? But that’s what just happened. Kane returns to my side, and I say just that, “What the hell just happened?!”
“I don’t know.” Kit steps to our side and Kane speaks to him in rapid Spanish, the general gist being, get word on the street. Find out who did this.
Chaos is an understatement, and my father demands both me and Kane be by his side. Kane offers Enrique and Jay to my father, who couldn’t be more appreciative. That was always the plan, of course, but not like this, not with an unknown enemy, shooting bullets at my father and for all we know, us as intended targets, as well. But the win here is what the win was always supposed to be. Now Kane has trusted men guarding my father, watching what is happening inside a Society operation.
I coordinate with the police, talk with Chief Houston, and work through the safety issue, and somehow forty-five minutes after the attack, the chaos has calmed down. When that happens, and despite my objections, my father convinces the hotel and the police that he must go on, even if it’s only on camera. After which, he will host a slimmed down afterparty. And so that’s what happens. He stands on the stage and gives a speech to the cameras that I expect will now end up on every television in the city. Everyone in this city will be spellbound by the television and what happened tonight. A part of me wonders if my father set this all up to ensure this attention came his way. I decide if anyone did this, it was Pocher, or my father would not have accepted Kane’s protection.
I’m more convinced of this than ever after my father’s speech, and before the party, that my father didn’t set-up today’s attack as a publicity stunt. Kane and I are inside a private room with my father when he shakes Kane’s hand again. “You saved my life. I don’t know who’s more surprised, me or you.”
“As long as she wants you to live,” Kane replies, “I’ll protect you.”
There is a not-so-hidden meaning punched into those words, as long as she wants you to live.
My father isn’t stupid. He gets it. This story works in reverse. If I want him dead, Kane can make that happen, as well.
Much later, the afterparty has turned into much more than a small party, with at least two hundred guests, and waiters working the room with trays of champagne and finger foods. Kane’s on the menu too apparently, as my father pulls him into conversation after conversation about energy and oil. An hour into the torture of it all, a waiter pauses next to me and hands me a note. I open it to read: Alleyway behind the kitchen –Andrew