seat, sitting on the edge, his feet bouncing up and down. “Fine. You want to know what they did? We killed your mom.”
I deflated. And I looked at Tanner in the other room.
He had been expressionless until now. Now his eyes were wide, his eyebrows high and his mouth open. He reached forward, grabbing the back of a chair in front of him.
A few of the council members cast him sympathetic looks, but not Rose. Not Richard, and not the elderly man. I didn’t know what families they represented, their last names, but I didn’t think it mattered. Somehow, in some way, they were involved, because all three were eyeing the guards around them.
I suspected there was a policy that council members couldn’t sit at the table with weapons. So they were sitting ducks for whatever was coming their way, set forth by Kai.
“Explain.”
Levi eyed Kai, shaking his head. He just kept shaking, and his leg started bouncing up and down. “You’re a dick, you know that?”
Kai hadn’t been watching him, but his dead eyes slid his way now. He stepped closer. “Start talking, or I’ll start torturing. Happily.”
Levi stalled for one more moment before giving in. “Fine.” He looked up, already flinching over what he was about to say. “About twenty years ago, my family got paid to make a hit look like a robbery. My two uncles did it. It was supposed to be just the woman, but then a second order came through for the guy too.”
“And that woman was?”
“Already said,” Levi huffed out. “Your mom.”
“And the man?”
He was quiet a moment. “Her lover. Randall Ritzo.”
Tanner’s eyes cut to the elderly man, and in a second, he had his gun out. Two steps and he brought the butt of the gun down on the back of the man’s head.
No one said a word. No one.
The elderly man fell forward, his head hitting the table hard, but he lifted a hand to the back of his head. “What the—” He pulled his shaking hand back, blood on his fingers. “Why the hell did you do that? Randall was my son!”
Tanner growled, taking the man’s head and grinding it into the table again. “My mother, you old fuck! You killed them, didn’t you?” He scowled at Kai. “You knew about this? THE WHOLE FUCKING TIME?!”
Kai didn’t respond, only turned to Levi. “Finish. Tell them the rest.”
Levi let out a long-suffering sigh. “You’re going to kill me after this, aren’t you? Don’t matter if Brooke loves me or not.”
In response, Kai pulled out his gun. He pointed it at him. “Tell them.” He cocked the gun. “Now.”
“Yeah.” He raised his voice. “Yeah, the order came down from the Ritzo family. It was his son. We didn’t get the purpose of killing your own kid, but whatever. Families have done worse, especially in our world. So yeah. My uncles killed ’em. Both.” He scowled right back at Kai. “That order came down from your dad too. Both your fucking families were behind it.”
“And one was already dealt with.”
Kai didn’t take his gun away. Instead, he stepped even closer, putting the muzzle right against Levi’s forehead. “Finish. Once and for all.”
Levi’s eyes closed then opened again. He looked tired, gaunt.
He stared past Kai, past the gun. “A deal was struck afterward. Your dad, Ritzo, and the other broad’s family all went in together with a side business. When you killed Senior Bennett, his end was scooped up by Dick Delaney there.”
The Richard guy scoffed, but he tugged at his shirt. “You’re lying now, Barnes.”
“You’re a rat.” The Rose woman seethed, but she was nervous too, shifting in her seat, still eyeing the guards closest to her.
The only one not raising an argument was the elderly man, who Tanner had let lift his head back up. Blood trickled down his forehead. He tried to wipe it away but left a smear across his entire face.
“What was the trade?” Kai narrowed his eyes. “I’m getting fucking tired of prompting you for this shit. You want to live, you spill everything. I won’t ask again.”
Levi’s eyes jumped to his. “You’re going to let me live? After all this?”
“I care about my sister.”
Renewed hope lit Levi’s gaze, and he straightened up in his chair. “Yeah. Uh. For all those up there who don’t know what our trade was, it was…” He chewed the inside of his cheek. “Sex trade. Illegal porn. All that shit. I was the pointman down here. My family didn’t want to deal