Elect(62)

“Your tattoo?” She nodded to my chest. “What does it mean?”

I chuckled. “Which one?”

She pointed to the left side of my chest. “This one. The writing, it’s in Italian.”

I slowly unbuttoned my shirt and pulled it to the side. “It says blood brothers, Fratelli per patto di sangue.”

“Nixon.” She caressed the letters on my chest. “He has one, too.”

“In the same spot. But I think you already knew that.”

She nodded.

“I should go.”

“Okay.”

I stood up and walked out of the room, knowing damn well that if I stayed, I would do something irreversible. She deserved better than that, and for once in my life I was beginning to think I did, too.





Chapter Thirty-nine


Chase


It took us exactly one hour to find out what Nixon had written about. I stared at the writing and had to blink a few times in order to understand it. Could it be true?

“Shit.” Tex sighed. “I really don’t know what to say right now.”

Mo’s eyes filled with tears.

Mil didn’t seem shocked at all, but the girl was impossible to shock. I mean, she was Phoenix’s sister and all that. The girl was tough as nails.

Trace scooted away from me a bit. I didn’t blame her. I would scoot away from me and I was me.

“How do we know this is true?” I pointed at the offending journal and cursed. “I mean, that’s crazy, right?”

Mo lost it. She started bawling and then tackled me into the tightest hug I’d ever felt in my entire life.

I didn’t blame her.

She’d been closer than simply a cousin—she’d been like a sister to me my whole life, and now I finally knew why it had felt that way.

Nixon’s mom had had an affair with my dad. I was never my father’s son. This meant my so-called uncle, Nixon’s dad, was my dad. The man I’d called a monster when I was a little kid… was my flesh and blood. How bad did that suck?

So basically my real father was dead.

Because both wives had cheated.

Both wives had done so to get back at one another.

When my mom had learned of Tony’s betrayal, she’d gone to Nixon’s father, who was my real father.

Nixon’s mother had been in love with Tony. They had an affair for two years and then along came Mo and Nixon. Twins. Nobody would have ever known except Nixon’s dad had suspicions and called for a paternity test.

The minute the truth was discovered both women were screwed.

And both of them died for it.

I released Mo and sighed. “It still doesn’t explain how Trace’s parents died.”

“No.” Mo wiped her eyes. “But it explains so much. Why would your father keep this from you? Why would he keep it a secret? Why would he demand Nixon call him Uncle Tony when he was really his dad? Why would he let his brother beat his son! And on top of that…”—she hiccupped—“we’ve been lied to our whole lives. How do we know who to trust?”

The more I thought about it the sicker I became. She was right. Nixon’s real dad—my dad—Tony—had stood by and watched his son get beaten and did nothing.

He stood by and watched the woman he’d claimed to love get beaten, and did nothing.

One thing was for sure: My dad or uncle or whoever the hell he was, was a monster. And he was hiding something. I was going to either get it out of him or kill him with my bare hands. I’d never felt connected to him, never felt like we were close. And now I knew why.

Both men had kept secrets from us—but why?

“I need some air.” I bolted from the room and ran outside. A few of the men looked at me like I’d lost it. To be fair, I was way past merely losing it and on my way to insanity.

“Chase!” Trace ran out of the house in one of my coats and stopped in front of me. “Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not okay!” I yelled. “How the hell am I supposed to answer that? He wasn’t ever just my cousin!” The cold air nipped at my face. “He had always been like a brother to me—he gave me everything and I—”

“What?”

“I took it all from him. All of it!”

“Chase,” Trace warned. “The men. We don’t know who we can trust. We can’t fight… not now.”

“Shh.” I pulled her close. “Someone’s watching. I can see his shadow, stay close,” I whispered. “And go with it.” It could have been one of our men—but I was starting to become a paranoid lunatic when it came to everyone, especially considering my conversation with Tony. What if they worked for him? What if their loyalty wasn’t mine? The shadow moved, and then disappeared behind the building.