Matthew was in a heightened mood, elated with the knowledge that his plan to use his daughter to force David to step down and appoint him boss could be expedited and completed in a matter of days. Happiness was finally just around the corner.
Mr. Crescent answered a knock at Matthew’s door and followed David into the suite as Matthew came out of his bedroom, adjusting his bowtie. “David. Come in. Can I get you anything?”
“Just a few moments of your time before the party,” David said, dismissing Crescent with a definitive look. Once Crescent was gone, David said, “I understand Renee is healing well.”
“The doctor assures me that she will be just fine. I had a conversation with Mr. Crescent about what happened and you can rest assured it won’t be an issue again.”
“He still breathes, and that tells me the conversation didn’t end as it should have.”
Matthew knew now was not the time to lose his temper when he was so close to getting what he wanted. “It will not happen again.”
“I know Mr. Crescent has been a devoted and trusted man with the Family for many years, and you wouldn’t be where you are right now if it weren’t for his enthusiasm. However, twenty-eight years ago, you and I made an arrangement whereby she would be forever protected and not unduly touched by anybody. This is not the first time Mr. Crescent has crossed that line, yet there has been nothing done.”
Matthew could see where this conversation was going. “David…”
“We have rules and expectations that we must follow; a conduct of behavior that is pivotal to our way of life. So I have to ask myself, why do I allow you be an exception to that rule? I’m sure that if I really think about it, the answer is simple: our relationship changed when Renee was born. She is the one thing in this world that has been a common interest for us, and always will be. I love her more than you know, Matthew, and she’s done being punished without consequences to the offender.”
“Meaning?”
“Changes are coming, Matthew, and I need to make sure you are ready for those changes. The first of which will be to extinguish the problem between Renee and Mr. Crescent. Since you have done nothing about it, it appears I will have to take it into my own hands. I expect to see Mr. Crescent in your office after the meeting, and just so there is no misunderstanding, we will be meeting behind closed doors.”
Matthew knew David would be expecting Crescent to be waiting in the Red Room after the meeting, and if he wasn’t there, a contract would be issued to hunt him down. Until Matthew had been officially sworn in as the boss of the Family, there was nothing he could do to stop it.
Matthew nodded with one thought in mind: You pompous, arrogant son of a bitch. “He’ll be there.”
“Now, I have something else for you.” David motioned for Matthew to take a seat in the living room while he inserted a disc into the laptop on the coffee table. “Please sit.”
A feeling of unease was steadily creeping over Matthew as he sat down and watched David poise his finger above the keyboard to play the disc. “David, we really don’t have time for any of this right now. The party starts in thirty minutes and Renee and I have to be downstairs to greet our guests. Can this wait until later?”
“No,” David said with a hard and deliberate stare, “it cannot. I’ve been doing quite a bit of thinking over the past few months, Matthew. I think about how I got started in the business and everything I have gained, while, at the same time, I think about how much I have lost. It’s the losses that are weighing heavy on my heart. I have lost close and dear friends. My beautiful wife of forty years, who, to be honest, was the love of my life. Not a day goes by that I don’t miss her. We had such a beautiful life together, and she gave me a son.” David turned on Matthew and faced him with hatred. “God decided it was time to take my wife, but my son was taken too soon. Now all that matters is what he left behind and the truth.”
Matthew could feel his heart beat a little faster and his eyes widened in horror as the picture came to life and he heard a voice from the past ringing in his ears.
“Your boss didn’t like this guy he was partners with. I mean, he really didn’t like him. Apparently, he had been stuck with him because he’s the son of someone important, and your boss was sick of his friend fucking everything up. So, your boss paid us a little extra—two hundred and fifty thousand each—to take this guy out to the desert and make him disappear. We roughed him up a little bit but I got bored, so I put two shots in him. Afterward, we went to the casino and I won a grand at the blackjack table.”
It was the video Sasha died for, and finally he knew why. Matthew couldn’t concentrate on one single thought in his head; there was too much chaos to sort through. The only thing he knew with complete certainty was that his fate was sealed. Matthew placed his hand over his chest, willing his heart to stop racing.
“I expect now I know why Sasha never came home,” David said calmly. “I’ll see you at the party.”
David left Matthew alone, giving him very little precious time to think about what just happened. As if in a dream, Matthew slid his jacket over his shoulders and reached for the doorknob, when a thought suddenly hit him. He could save himself, but he would have to act fast.
Chloe. Renee. Whatever her name is. He smiled at the irony; the last person on the planet he would have expected to be his savior was someone he was hell-bent on destroying.