Elect(60)
“Then you should probably wait until I’m not this drunk.” I jerked my arm away from him. “Tomorrow. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Fine.” He slipped something in my pants pocket. “Do yourself a favor and tie up all the loose ends, sooner rather than later.”
“Loose ends?” I shook my fuzzy head. “Everyone’s dead, or haven’t you noticed?”
“Not everyone.” He grinned and slapped me on the shoulder. “Now, do your job.”
Did he just threaten me? And who the hell would be a loose end?
“Ready?” Tex held out the keys and shook ’em. “I’m driving because I’m pretty sure if you did we’d be seeing Nixon sooner rather than later.”
“Right.” I followed him out the door.
Once I was in the car, I pulled the envelope out of my pocket. Inside was a picture of Mil with her face crossed off in red. And then a picture of Nixon and Trace. Both of them smiling with ugly red marks across their faces.
“Pull over!” I shouted.
“We’re on the freeway! I can’t exactly pull over!” Tex yelled right back.
“Pull the hell over or so help me God I’m going to jump out of this damn car!”
“Shit…” The car jolted as Tex pulled over to the shoulder, cursing the entire way.
I opened the door and threw up.
“Ah hell,” Tex grumbled. “Did you have to drink that much?”
“Not the alcohol.” I wiped my mouth. “We gotta get back to the house, now!”
I pulled out my cell and dialed Trace’s number. Pick up, pick up, pick up.
“Hello?”
“Trace?” I yelled.
“Yeah? What’s up? How did it go?”
“Lock the doors.”
“They’re locked.”
“Trace, I…” I gripped the car door with my free hand. “Just don’t answer the door for anyone, okay? I don’t care if the Pope suddenly decides to come bless our entire family. You stay inside. You wait for us, okay?”
“Okay. You’re scaring me, Chase.”
“Good. You should be scared, because I’m about five seconds away from losing my damn mind.”
“That’s not good,” she said just as Tex said, “Already lost it.”
“Just… we’ll be home in ten.” I ended the call and slammed my hand against the seat.
“Calm down. What the hell has gotten into you?” Tex asked.
“He wanted Nixon dead.”
“Who did?”
“My father.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he wants me to kill Tracey.”
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chase
Tex slammed on the brakes, then must have realized we were on the freeway, because he sped off again.
“How would you know that?”
A bad feeling? I didn’t know. Hell, all signs pointed to my father killing Nixon, but that would be impossible, wouldn’t it? That would mean that Luca hadn’t, and he’d admitted as much.
Shit, things were messed up.
What could my father possibly have to gain by me tying up the loose ends? What loose ends?
“I’ll show you when we get inside the Abandonato house without getting shot at.”
“That’s fair.” Tex exhaled and cursed again as we drove the rest of the way to the house.
Once were inside, we pulled out our guns and gave instructions to the men that they were to double security until we said it was safe again.
I turned on all the alarms to the outside and made sure that my gun was loaded—twice.
Trace, Mo, and Mil were waiting for us in the rec room. All of them were sitting around the flat screen TV.
The minute Trace saw me, she ran into my arms. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t need it more than my next breath.
“What happened?” She grabbed my right hand and tugged me over to the couch. She stopped suddenly and released my hand as if burned. “Chase?” She turned around, her eyes narrowed. She glanced down at my hand. I put it behind my back.
“They’re going to find out why everyone’s calling you ‘sir’ at some point, Chase,” Tex said from behind me.
Mo began to cry softly into her hands. At least she was finally showing some emotion, too. Would our lives ever be normal?
Mil gave me the pitiful look girls give guys when they feel sorry for them but don’t want to say it out loud, lest they make you feel like less of a man.
And Trace. Trace just stared at my hand.
Betrayal washed over her features and then understanding. “His ring.”
“I had no choice,” I whispered.
“The hell you did!” Mo screamed from the couch. “I’m so sick and tired of you guys saying you don’t have a choice! This family, they don’t own us! They don’t own you, Chase! You can get away, you can run! This doesn’t have to be our destiny!”