“Good to see your memory is intact,” I quip.
He snorts. “Give it time.”
Putting the coffee pot back on the warmer, he brings me the sugar and the cream and then sits back in his seat.
“So, what’ve you been up to boy?”
I stir my coffee with the spoon and then lift it to take a sip. “Managed to get ahold of a Bratva. Roman and Cesari snatched him up outside of a gym this morning. He’s proven to be rather useful.”
“A useful Bratva?” he scoffs. “Impossible.”
Leaning back, I rest my ankle on my knee. “He gave me some information I think you’d be keen to know.”
That grabs his attention and his brows raise. “Did he now? And what would that be?”
“Seems Viola’s traitor status goes well beyond shooting Saxon. She’s been fucking Dalton.”
Raff sputters on air. “Absolutely not. You can’t actually believe that garbage.”
“Why not?” I argue. “You said yourself, if she did this, it was on someone else’s orders. Dalton made it very clear at that meeting that he knew about the hit out on his daughter.”
“And you said she did it because she wants you,” he counters. “These are very conflicting stories.”
I throw my hands in the air. “Why does it matter why she did it? She. Killed. Saxon. You know, Saxon. Silas’s granddaughter, that you were so adamant on keeping safe, even from me. Guess that only applies to those who are your flesh and blood.”
His eyes roll, showing he’s getting frustrated with this conversation. “Don’t start that. I’m not picking sides here. The three of you are all my children.”
My body tenses as I start to get heated, but just before I open my mouth to respond, the ceiling above us creeks. It’s not loud by any means, but it catches both of our attention. I watch Raff carefully as he glances quickly at the ceiling.
“Funny. You can’t hear a knock on the front door but you can hear that.”
Within seconds we’re both out of our seats. I’m taking the stairs two at a time while Raff follows behind me, begging me to stop. He’s blabbering on about house-settling noises, but I won’t hear it. I march down the hallway and into the bedroom that used to be my own. It’s the only room directly above the kitchen.
A desk sits against the far wall, covered in paperwork of Raff’s. There’s a filing cabinet beside it with a chair and lamp in the corner, but otherwise it looks empty. Except…
I pull out my gun and aim it at the closet, firing one shot straight through the door. A loud scream comes from inside, while Nico roars in pain.
“Fuck!”
Feeling the betrayal deep in my soul, I glare at Raff. “Get them the fuck out of there, now.”
His eyes water in fear. “Kage. Don’t do this.”
I cock the gun and point it at the closet door again. “Now!”
The closet door opens and Viola saunters out, looking like she’s been very well taken care of over the last couple weeks. Behind her, Nico looks the same, except for the bullet that grazed his arm. Raff immediately rushes over to him when he sees the bleeding, but my attention is locked on the bitch who killed my baby.
“Please don’t do this,” Viola cries.
I scoff. “What’s wrong? Can give it but can’t take it?”
Nico hisses as Raff ties a ripped T-shirt around his arm. “Kage, he needs stitches.”
“He needs nothing but a fucking body bag,” I snap. “He had his orders, and he knew what would happen if he didn’t obey them.”
“She didn’t do it!” Nico yells.
I move the gun from Viola to him. “I wasn’t speaking to you!”
Viola starts to sob. “He’s telling the truth. I swear on everything, Kage. I didn’t kill Saxon!”
“Bullshit!” I growl. “I saw the tracking on your phone. It was at the crime scene when she was shot!”
“I was at the gym and someone attacked me from behind,” she cries. “They put something over my mouth and next thing I knew, I was waking up hours later in my car. Someone is framing me!”
“Then why run? Why hide?”
She looks at me as if the answer is obvious. “Because I woke up to find out that my house was burned to the ground and the girl you were fucking crazy about was in the hospital with two gunshot wounds. And when Nico found me, I knew I was being accused of it.”
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Viola, it’s that she should’ve been an actress. The little psychopath knows exactly how to play on emotions and she does it well, which is why I’m not buying this. She simply underestimated my feelings for Saxon and what I would do for her.
I move my gun slightly to the right and fire a shot through the wall. Raff and Nico both flinch while Viola screams my name.
“I don’t fucking buy it!” I roar. You wanted her gone! You made no secret of that!”
Pointing the gun right at her head, I watch as a tear streams down her face. She’s stopped panicking, now accepting her fate. She’s going to die today.”
“This is for Saxon and my baby.”
My finger begins to press on the trigger when Saxon bolts into the room, putting herself in between Viola and me.
“Kage, stop!”
Raff, Nico, and Viola all freeze at the sight of a ghost.
“You’re alive?” Nico shouts, seeming relieved by the new revelation, but it changes nothing.
“Move, Sax,” I order.
Beni tries to pull her away, but she fights him off. “No. You’re not doing this. Not to them.”
My rage is only getting worse with the realization that Viola now knows that Saxon is still alive. “She tried to kill you! She deserves to die!”
Saxon’s breathing quickens. “She didn’t!”
I’m frantically looking for any way to shoot her without potentially shooting Saxon, but there isn’t one. I need her to move. “I saw the evidence! Get the fuck out of my way!”
“Kage, you’re not hearing me!” she yells in a panic. “She didn’t do it! It wasn’t her!”
“How can you be so sure?”
Saxon’s shoulders sag. “Because I know who did!”
My arm falls to my side, an unwelcome confusion creeping in. “Well, care to share with the fucking class?”
She takes three steps towards me, putting her hands on my chest. “No, because this isn’t your battle. It’s mine.”
Viola falls to the ground, finally being able to breathe, while Nico and Raff both exhale in relief. But they’re far from off the hook themselves. Viola may be innocent, but Nico disobeyed direct orders and Raff made his stance very clear when he chose to hide them from me.
“Go get that stitched up, and then I want the two of you at my place,” I tell them both. “There are things we need to discuss.”
They both nod and leave the room as my eyes lock with Viola’s. She stares back at me with unadulterated fear, obviously afraid that I’ll change my mind and fire a bullet right between her eyes, but Saxon grabs my arm and leads me out of the room before I can. And if the sobs she lets out when I’m gone are anything to go by, the message is clear—Saxon is untouchable.