The gates at HQ opened without issue when I gave my name through the intercom. By the time Lucius realizes Ella is on the premises, I will have convinced him to let her stay.
I’m waiting in the main briefing room where my control freak uncle greets most visitors. I always feel like I’m at a job interview, but really it’s just Lucius flexing his power and control. Making others wait for as long as he likes in this bland, impersonal room gives him the psychological advantage.
That might work for people he can intimidate, but it’s useless on me. I use this time to focus. I tell myself I have the advantage sitting here.
“Jack,” he says as he enters the room quietly, opening a door behind my back. It’s been twenty-three long minutes since I was led here to wait. I used the time to review my entire pitch.
“Lucius,” I say, nodding at him.
“Hey,” he says, placing a hand on his heart as if hurt. “What happened to calling me Uncle?”
“This is business,” I say randomly.
“Is it?” he says. “I thought you were out of my business.”
I don’t have time for his fucking wordplay. “I need your help,” I say.
Lucius opens his arms and grins. “That’s better.” He sits and leans back on his chair. “Let’s hear it. What business can I help you with?”
We stare at each other a long time. For all the bad blood, when our eyes meet there is no hostility, only a sense of understanding like any two family members that have been through bad times side-by-side.
“I’m here to make amends, Uncle Lucius.”
A barely happening but easy grin seems to relax his face. “That’s good. A family divided is very unhealthy.” I detect no trace of menace in his words.
“I’ll come back to you, to the organization,” I tell him. “I’ll let you teach me your business if that’s what you still want.” I stop. I don’t want to take it too far.
If he’s surprised, he doesn’t let it show. He keeps his eyes on me but remains calm and collected—benevolent even.
“You’re willing to come back? To assume your position as my eventual heir? Is that what I’m hearing?”
This is the moment of truth. I have to believe it or he will see right through me. “Uncle, I have resisted this. I wanted a simple life, but life can never be simple. I know that now. There will always be complications.”
Lucius nods slowly, considering my words.
“I need to be able to control the complications, keep them from having any ill effect on my life and those I am loyal to.”
“A man’s loyalty is his value,” Lucius says.
“Everything has gone shitty,” I say without hesitation. “The whole fucking world has gone insane. There’s no point denying who I am anymore. I can’t walk away from it and neither can Ella.”
A slight jerk of his neck and a twitch in his eye express his displeasure that I have linked Ella to my decision.
“Miss Wade has her own family,” Lucius says. “Her father is more than capable of giving her protection. I know you care for the girl, Jack, but her whole family has been marked and that mark won’t go away completely until they do. They’re doomed. No one can save them now. You’ll just get yourself erased along with them.”
Yeah, fuck that and fuck you, Lucius. It’s now or never. I interlace my fingers, feeling the weight of the gun in my pocket. “Here’s the deal,” I say. “You take me in, you take Ella in, too. We’re both under your protection and my loyalty is yours forever.”
Lucius bangs his hand on the table as his face goes red. “You don’t make ultimatums. I have no use for them. And you… you vastly overestimate your importance to the organization.”
One way or another, Lucius is going to come around. “Maybe I’m not all that important but you have no choice but to do as I say.”
Lucius pouts, grinding his teeth together. “No choice?”
“Bronson knows everything. You’ve told me this yourself. He’ll know I’m here with Ella if he doesn’t already. He knows my connection to her. Turning us away won’t change that fact. She and I and your sense of loyalty are all on this fucking sinking ship together.”
“I have survived things beyond what your naïve mind could ever imagine. Whatever happens, there are endless paths I can take.”
“I don’t doubt that,” I say. “But I doubt the path where your long-time associate Carter lies dead next to his dead daughter and your dead nephew is a path you would ever choose to take. It will make you appear weak, Uncle.”