Kai’s hand moved back, a knife in it. The tip was covered in dark blood.
He pressed the tip to my father’s leg to clean it off. “Now, I can start your slow death if that’s what you really want. Or, you can answer the fucking questions. Your choice.”
My dad gurgled again. “Goddamn you—”
“Do you want me to slit your throat here and now?” Kai slammed his hands down on my father’s shoulders, and a hoarse scream ripped from my father before he began sobbing.
I winced. Those sobs came from deep inside of him.
“Goddamn you. Goddamn,” my father choked out. Tears streamed down his face.
Kai stepped back, turning to me briefly before rotating back to the council. “Did you order the death of your wife?” he asked flatly.
My father frowned. “Yes.”
“Did you blackmail one of my security guards to kill your daughter while she was in my care?”
“Yes.”
Kai paused. Then, “Are you in business with the Guaranno family?”
“What?!”
“Hey—”
“What is going on?”
All of those protests were from the council. Two of the members shoved back their chairs, turning red-faced to the spokeswoman.
Not Kai. The spokeswoman.
One of the other women spoke clearly, “What’s the meaning of this? Jillian?”
The spokeswoman paled, her mouth gaping. “We—sit down. Everyone. Sit down.” She hit the table again with the base of her palm. “I said sit down!”
She seared Kai, half growling. “You better get to your goddamn point or I will—”
Kai spoke over her, calmly. “Bruce Bello, are you still in business with Jillian Guaranno?”
He waited.
“Yes.”
He stepped closer to the screen. His question was directed to my dad, but he wasn’t facing him. “Have you been in business with the Guaranno family for the last five years?”
“What?”
“Jill!”
“This can’t—”
But the spokeswoman was silent, a resigned shudder passing through her. Her head bent down.
“Jillian!” The same woman on the council pounded on the table with her knuckles. “What is going on here?”
But the rest of the council had fallen silent. They were listening for the rest.
“What was your business with the Guaranno family?”
My father hesitated, his side still bleeding. “Gun distribution.”
No reaction from the spokeswoman, but the others seemed to suck in a collective breath. The other woman murmured as she sat down, “Oh, Jill.”
“What were your instructions?” Kai asked.
“To undersell your product. I’d offer yours first at a higher price—higher than you wanted them sold—and if they did sell, I’d pocket the extra money. If they didn’t, I’d offer them the same gun at a cheaper price. Those always sold.”
“What else?” Kai grated out, staring down the spokeswoman.
As he did, a door in the back of the room on the screen opened, and I recognized some of the men going inside. One approached the table, moving silently. Only the members facing his direction saw him, and none gave it away. They looked at him, then looked away.
It was Tanner who came to stand directly behind the spokeswoman. He didn’t say or do anything. He was waiting, as we all were.
My father’s strained voice filled both rooms. “She had me shipping black market products too.”
“What?” This came from the elderly man in the council. But unlike the others, he didn’t ask questions. “You dirty fucking whore!” He shoved back his chair, his voice rising. “None of this was approved. We’re a council. You have to approve this shit. Underselling the Bennetts’ gun distribution, then what? Underselling my trade too? You’re going to die tonight, Guaranno. You’re going to die a horrible and slow death!”
“Mr. Bello,” Kai called for attention again. Still. So. Fucking. Calm. “Do you have anything else to share?”
“No.”
But that was enough.
These were matters that directly impacted the council, and even though I didn’t know them, I knew what Kai had exposed was a lot. One family had gone against two others. Everyone knew what would happen next.
Kai motioned for the guards in our room, and they untied my father. They half-dragged him, half-walked him out the door, and I almost went with them. Was that the end? The big fucking finale?
It couldn’t be, but the door shut before I could go with them, and I felt Kai’s hand at my wrist. He tugged me back. He gave a reassuring pat to my arm and left me back in my spot.
I waited for the gunshot. Half wanting it, half knowing I would hate it.