Chapter 5
Linda finally laughed.
“You think everything revolves around you.”
I held up the tracker.
“It was inside my gift bag.”
“Then maybe someone wanted to know where you were.”
“Who?”
She smiled.
“Ask your own people.”
Ryan looked at her.
That interested me.
He didn’t know.
“Mom?”
“Be quiet.”
There.
Hierarchy.
Ryan abused Emily.
Linda controlled Ryan.
And someone else might control Linda.
I called my security captain.
“Trace it.”
He took the device into the hall.
Emily reached for me.
“Daddy.”
I sat beside her.
“What else?”
She cried silently.
I waited.
No pressure.
No questions repeated.
Finally:
“They kept saying after Thursday, I wouldn’t need to worry about you anymore.”
Ryan interrupted.
“She misunderstood.”
I looked over my shoulder.
He continued.
“We said you’d retire.”
“I’m fifty-eight.”
“Exactly.”
Linda smiled.
“You’ve had your time.”
There it was.
Not death.
Not yet.
Replacement.
“Who replaces me?”
Ryan laughed.
“You’re so obsessed with titles.”
I looked at Linda.
She answered.
“Someone younger.”
“Ryan?”
She said nothing.
Ryan smiled.
That was enough.
I almost laughed.
“You believe you’re replacing me.”
His face hardened.
“You were Army before you were Mafia.”
“And?”
“You run everything like a barracks.”
“You beat my daughter in a bedroom.”
He shrugged.
“She’s emotional because of pregnancy.”
Emily whispered:
“You hit me before I was pregnant.”
Silence.
Ryan turned.
“Don’t.”
Emily flinched.
I stood.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“She talks now.”
My daughter’s voice shook.
“He told me if I called you, he’d make sure you never saw the baby.”
I stared at him.
He smiled faintly.
“Family court—”
“No.”
I cut him off.
“We don’t need that world.”
Ryan understood.
This was not paperwork.
Not lawyers.
Not strangers.
This was blood and loyalty.
My captain returned.
“Colonel.”
“What?”
“The tracker is pinging a receiver six blocks away.”
“How many?”
“One.”
“Owner?”
He looked at Linda.
“Registered to Marcus Vale.”
Ryan’s face changed.
Linda’s did not.
Marcus Vale.
A rival lieutenant who had spent five years waiting for Bennett weakness.
I looked at Linda.
“You invited Vale into my family.”
She smiled.
“No.”
May you like
Pause.
“I invited opportunity.”
