one card to play, so I played it. “Vaughn would never forgive you, and then he’ll never be Father.”
“He’ll never know. You and my son have been friends since before either of you even knew how to tie your shoes. I’ve gotten to know you very well without your or my son’s knowledge, so I’m willing to bet you didn’t tell him about our meeting.”
Fuck.
I knew Franklin would carry out his threat if pushed—you don’t earn the throne he sat on by making empty threats—but I wasn’t about to beg for my life like a fucking chump, so I sat very still and considered my only option.
“Who?”
Franklin nodded behind me to the gunman I’d yet to see, so I twisted in my seat and found myself staring into the smiling face of a ghost.
“Hello, Danny Boy.”
“Siko?”
“Thought I was dead, huh? Nah…Eddie and I set the whole thing up,” he boasted.
My mind raced until one question pushed through the chaos. “Why?”
“We were trying to take out Shane and Wren, make it look like a job gone wrong, but there was a last minute change of plans, and Shane sent you in instead.”
“And you helped Harlan escape,” Franklin accused. “Why?”
“I told you I didn’t want to be responsible for anyone dying. Vaughn thought he could trust you,” I lied. “Clearly, he was wrong.”
Vaughn had actually been against telling his father anything, warned me not to trust him, but like a fool I had insisted.
Rage deepened the lines marring Franklin’s face as he leaned over his desk with his fists planted against the wood. “Don’t lecture me about my son. His loyalty should be to me and me only. I couldn’t give a shit what you wanted.”
“Then find someone else to be your mole.”
“Kid…I’ll have your brains splattered on the wall before you can take your next breath.”
“Then do it. If I were afraid of dying, I wouldn’t be Exiled. I wouldn’t be hunting Fox, and I wouldn’t be telling you to go fuck yourself as I am right now. You came to me because you obviously need me. Siko and Eddie are dead as far as Fox is concerned and getting someone else that close to him will take too long. So here’s the thing—I don’t work for you, so I don’t take orders from you. You want my help, then convince me to spare the fucking time or else, in two seconds, I’m gone.”
The room fell so silent that you could have heard a pin drop down the hall. Any second now, I expected Siko to send a bullet through my skull and end it all. Franklin seemed to stare right through me as if he’d been transported to another place.
Just as some of my bravado started to slip, and I begin to think I really was going to die, Franklin sighed as he sat back down. He nodded to Siko, and I felt the pressure from the gun lift. “I’m not going to kill you.” He waited for a reaction. I didn’t give him one. “Because you’re right. I do need you, but you also need me. You’re in over your head.”
I shrugged, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
“If you agree to be my eyes and ears, I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you stay alive. It’s the least I can do for my son.”
“Don’t pretend you’re doing it for him. Thirteen comes first, and it always has. Just ask him.”
“Enough, kid. You’ve made your point.” He waved me off, making it clear he had no intention of changing. “We’re finished here.”
I didn’t waste time making for the door just in case he changed his mind and decided to kill me.
“Son.” My hand fell from the knob, but his leaden tone warned me not to turn around. “If you succeed, you’re going to find a lot more than what you were looking for.”
“I told you I’m not afraid of dying.”
When he didn’t respond, I ripped open the door, ready to bolt, but then he sighed and said, “You’re going to wish it was that simple.”
One Month Later
IT WAS HOMECOMING, AND TYRA had succeeded in dragging me to my first Brynwood football game. I didn’t understand where her sudden fascination came from, but anywhere was better than another evening in the palace. It had been a month since Ever tried to spank me and when he failed, kissed me instead. We’d pretty much gone back to pretending the other didn’t exist, but there had been a lingering look or two.
The