15
Wylder
Axel was gloweringat me as if I’d gone against his authority somehow. As if hehad any real authority over me.
“I thought the instructions couldn’t be any clearer,” he said. “No contact with the Katz girl after she leaves the mansion.”
Instead of answering, I glared back at him. We’d arrived back at the mansion half an hour ago, and Axel had insisted on marching me straight to my father’s office after barking at one of the lower lackeys to find the man in charge. Dad hadn’t shown up yet.
“What do you think you’re going to get out of tattling on us?” I asked. “No one likes a rat, Axel.”
“I was doing my job, unlike you,” Axel retorted. “Maybe you’ve forgotten who you owe your loyalty to.”
“Don’t fucking talk to me about loyalty. Everything I’ve done so far, every difficult decision I’ve made, and every bullet I’ve nearly taken has been for this family.”
My father’s cold voice carried from the doorway. “And yet you’re willing to throw all of that away for the princess of the Claws.”
He strode inside, his face an impenetrable mask, but I could tell he was angry. The chilliness of his tone was a dead giveaway.
He closed the door behind him and walked to his desk. I got up from the leather sofa and approached him. “Dad, you have to hear me on this.”
“Hear what exactly?” he said. “You went behind my back and met with Mercy Katz. Several times, I’m guessing, since I highly doubt Axel just happened to catch you on the first occasion. He’s said he’s noticed you and your inner circle vanishing on unexplained missions quite often.”
“I have every reason to believe that they’ve been helping her from the moment she left the mansion,” Axel jumped in, like the brownnosing prick he was. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve been using Noble resources to help her get by.”
What a fucking dickhead. He wanted that to be true so he could look even better to Dad for having caught us, as if spying on me and my men was what our resources should be focused on instead. No one had been using those apartments anyway.
My fingers itched to close into a fist, one I longed to drive into the wall—or, even better, Axel’s self-satisfied face next to me. Hell, I wanted to punch Dad too, just to see some reaction, to catch him off-guard enough that he might think beyond the box he’d already put my disobedience into.
But I knew that wouldn’t actually work. My father believed in self-control. I had to play this situation strategically. God knew what would happen if I really pissed him off and he took it out on Mercy.
“What do you have to say about that, Wylder?” he asked, his gaze boring into me.
“I haven’t touched the Noble accounts or anything earmarked for other purposes,” I said stiffly. I wasn’t sure I could say the same for Anthea, but I wasn’t going to drag my aunt into this after everything she’d done to help us. “What I do with my personal money and time shouldn’t be relevant.”
Dad made a scoffing sound. “I think it is if you’ve been focused on that girl rather than the real problems we’re facing here. We sent her away for a reason. She’s no longer a part of our organization. Why are you and your inner circle still associating with her?”
I took a deep breath before I finally answered, the sense prickling over me that more than one life might hang in the balance here. “With all due respect, Dad, I didn’t agree with cutting ties with her in the first place. She left the mansion as you ordered. She hasn’t been involved in any larger operations the Nobles have been working on. But she’s been instrumental in my own continued efforts to get these intruding gangs out of Paradise Bend.”
His tone turned even icier. “Are you suggesting I made a mistake?”
There was no good answer to that question. I squared my shoulders. “No, only that we had a minor difference of opinion. Mercy knows the Bend better than any of us do—she’s given us intel that my men and I have been able to use to strike at this Storm guy’s operations. You wanted her to leave because Xavier was targeting her, didn’t you? Now that she’s gone, he hasn’t come near the mansion. Why shouldn’t I take what she can offer while she’s someplace else?”
“And just how much of what she’s ‘offering’ are you taking?”
The insinuation in his voice was clear. My stomach knotted, but I kept my tone even. “Anything we could use to tackle Xavier and the rest of the assholes trying to usurp us. That’s all. And we’ve made a lot of headway into disrupting their presence here thanks to her.”
Axel snorted in disbelief, but I kept my attention focused on Dad. He skimmed his hands over the top of his desk and then folded them in his lap.
“Xavier appears to have gotten distracted by the other new presence in the Bend,” he said. “I don’t think we can judge how much of a thorn in our side he’ll be until they’ve settled that conflict—at which point, it seems likely he’ll focus his attention back on us. And who drew that attention to us in the first place?”
It took all my willpower not to snap at him. My voice came out rough despite my best efforts. “Not Mercy. The whole reason he and the rest of the Storm’s people came here was obviously to take over Paradise Bend. We’d have been in their way regardless of what happened with Mercy. It doesn’t make any sense to blame her.”
Dad’s eyes narrowed. “So now you’re questioning my mental faculties.”
Shit. “No,” I said, scrambling for another argument, but Dad leaned back in his chair with an air of finality.
“It’s clear to me that this girl has warped your priorities in dangerous ways, Wylder. You’ve gotten too close to her to see the full problem she presents.”