That’s fucking hilarious. The organized crime kingpin who damaged my childhood beyond repair thinks I have nothing to lose. “You’d think that because I’ve lost everything already, right? Well, even the most wretched creature can find something of worth. Ever seen Lord of the Rings? There’s a point, big guy, at which everyone should make a stand.”
“Stop testing my patience, Jack. You know what’s at stake.”
I’m growing sick and tired of his word games. “We messed up, all of us, me included. I’ll give you that. But you… you fucked us all royally. An innocent girl is dead and she’s not the kind people forget.”
“That was unfortunate, Jack, but it was not within our control.”
Fuck his tomblike calm when someone else has paid the price. “Did you have Madison killed because she was getting too close to your goon?” I say this partly to irritate him and partly because the thought just popped up in my head and I don’t give a shit.
Wolf, the man Madison was seeing at the club was on my uncle’s payroll once.
Lucius leans in so his face almost touches the camera. “You never say that again, not to me, not to anyone, not to yourself. Is that clear?”
“Or what? Will you have me killed too?”
I’m pushing him like Esposito pushed me, so he might explode and this charade could come to a thundering end but the bastard sits back in his chair, calmly considering my words.
“I want to protect you, Jack,” he says finally, “but I don’t have the power I once had. New blood has assumed crucial posts in the organization. If someone wants to come after you, I might not be able to stop them. You have to promise me you’ll keep quiet.”
“It’s not like I know anything. You’ve intentionally kept me in the dark.”
“If you could shut your mouth, you might hear something useful.”
Through the distorting lens of the secure feed, his features focus on me with an undeniable sincerity. For better or worse, I’m about to find out why Madison was murdered. I feel it in my bones that the truths that are about to be revealed will be worse than any lies he could ever utter.
“Go on,” I say, swallowing spit.
“Your friend Madison’s death was accidental. It was a mix-up, not by us, but by Bronson’s crew. They arranged the murder.”
The Bronson family is a syndicate of professional assassins and drug enforcers, the worst kind of killers, the kind that whistle when they work.
“What kind of mix-up? Why would they want Madison dead?” I say, my voice losing strength. “Because of me?”
“Because of Carter Wade,” Lucius says with a bent brow.
Electricity simmers in my bloodstream. “Carter Wade?”
“Yeah, I’m afraid so. He messed with the Bronson family and they want to break him slowly and methodically. They thought Madison was his daughter.”
Everything races from my stomach to my throat. The room spins as I can’t focus my eyes on anything, not my hands, not my uncle’s face.
“Did you hear me, Jax?” Lucius asks quietly, almost gently.
I nod. “They thought Madison was his daughter,” I say. “The one they intended to kill was Ella.”
He almost grins when he sees I’m finally getting it. “Do you see now why you have to stay away? They’ll never rest until it is accomplished.”
“How could they mistake Madison as his real daughter?”
“It’s possible Carter planted that fabrication in Bronson’s files. He’s a master at false information flow. The elements were all there. He just had to add the details.”
“He sacrificed Madison to protect his real daughter.” It is all so fucked up it starts to make sense. Everyone in my uncle’s circle of influence is some form of evil lunatic.
“Sometimes,” Lucius says, but then can’t find more words.
“Shells break?” I say. “For fuck’s sake, if you try to justify what he did, I’ll lose it. Madison was a friend. She had many flaws but she wasn’t evil like all of us, like Carter. She did not deserve this, to die such a horrible death.”
“No argument here,” Lucius agrees flippantly. “Now pipe down and listen to me. If you hang out with the girl, you’ll draw attention to her. I had to mobilize the entire organization to keep her name out of the papers when you took her out on a public date. What the hell were you thinking? Even if you didn’t know she had a target on her back, you knew she was Carter’s daughter.”
“Fuck Carter,” I say.
“Yeah, fuck Carter, great, but that doesn’t change what Carter is.”