Chapter Four

Braxton

I’m a fucking liar.

Not about my feelings for Loren. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

I don’t deserve her, not after all the heinous crimes I’ve committed under the direction of that monster.

Sal Vergara fished me out of the shit and gave me everything I’d been missing for so long, at least that’s the story I’d sold him. No family, no money, no home, no reason to live. I was weak, impressionable, and desperate to find my place. I deserved a fucking Oscar for that role. My lack of purpose made me an asset; a bitter, damaged, broken man who’d lost his way. Sal was all too willing to fill those voids with money, women, and power, all while grooming me to become the trained killer he needed to take his organization to the next level.

I rose through the ranks quickly because of his faith in me and my abilities. He asked, and I delivered. No questions asked, no trepidation, and I never missed my target.

I gained his trust and learned all his dirty secrets - how he’d expanded his empire into a lucrative sex trade operation, and how his ring of kidnappers, under the direction of his scumbag nephew Gaetano, targeted innocent, young girls. They drugged them to the point where they could barely stand on their own two feet, guaranteeing that they’d submit to the low-life scumbags who’d pay a pretty penny for a fuck.

Then there were the girls he’d keep on the side. They were the ones he’d sell to the highest bidders, the ones who’d disappear from their homes forever, without a trace, destined to live a life of hell, poisoned by soul-crushing emotional torture.

Just like my sister, Cadence.

Except she didn’t get the chance to escape her fate. Eighteen years old, a competitive cheerleader, homecoming queen, full ride to Northwestern University – Cadence had it all. Until all of her dreams were yanked away, along with her life.

Her team had just won a national cheerleading competition, and in all the excitement, she’d forgotten her bag inside the arena. She never made it back to the bus. By the time anyone realized she was gone, Gae’s crew had already raped and murdered her. Turns out she’d put up too much of a fight, which made her a bad investment for potential buyers. But it didn’t stop them from torturing her. She’d been found naked in a dumpster five miles away from the arena. Fucking buddy system, my ass.

This is all for her. They will fucking pay for what they did to my family.

I swallow past the lump in my throat as the apartment door slams behind me. Of course, it wasn’t supposed to work out this way. Meeting Loren, falling in love with her, none of that was part of my plan. It added a level of complexity that I didn’t anticipate, and forced me to be that much more careful about every move I made. I cannot fuck this up. There is way too much riding on my plan.

I exit the building, the stifling air damn near choking me as I hail a cab, desperate for one with a working air conditioner. A yellow sedan pulls to the curb, and I reach out to grasp the door handle. In my periphery, I see a flash of black screech to a halt behind it, but the oppressive heat compromises my ability to focus.

And when that happens, shit really goes sideways.

Beefy fingers squeeze my wrist, making me yelp. My body lurches backward and a hand clamps over my mouth before I’m unceremoniously shoved into a blacked-out Ford Expedition, the door slamming behind me.

“What the fuck?” I yell, raking a hand through my sweaty hair. “Was that really necessary, Cox?”

Cox turns around in the passenger seat as the SUV tears away from the curb. He narrows his hazel eyes. “Entirely necessary, you jackass. Did you, or did you not, understand your orders?”

I turn my head to glare at Zak, who’d grabbed me on the curb, and shake off his hand. “You guys have to trust me. I know what I’m doing, okay?”

“You know what I think?” Cox sneers, his thin lips stretched into a straight line. “I think you’re letting your dick lead the way on this one, and rest assured, you won’t be banging your pretty little barista if you get caught. Someone else will be doing the banging, and it sure as fuck ain’t gonna tickle.”

“She needs to trust me, Cox. This is a world of shit for her, and she needs to know someone has her back. Let me handle it my way.”

“And what happens if you’re wrong, Brax? Who the fuck is going to bail you out?”

“I believe that’s your job to figure out, yeah?” I push open the door, poised to jump out. “Just make sure I don’t get killed in the process.”

Cox grabs my wrist. “I’m serious, Brax. Get it together or I’m stepping in. You feel me?”

I yank back my arm. “You’re on the sidelines, just like we agreed. Don’t get in my way, Cox. If you do, it’ll cause a lot of people a whole world of pain. You want that shit on your head?”

“You put me in this position when you changed the plan. Things didn’t need to go down this way. Just remember that.”

I jump out of the SUV, watching it speed away from the curb. Yeah, I changed the plan, but in my defense, the universe changed it on me first.