Page 32 of Gilded Lies

They wanna play? Well, they’ll have to catch me. And if they do, heaven help them because the devil is on my side, and I’ll see them dead before they ever lay a hand on me again.

Six

Danika

It’s been four weeks since we’ve seen Magnolia. Four fucking weeks and it feels like a damn year has gone by.

High beams bounce off the first-floor windows. Every Sinn enforcer makes a wide berth when I shove our SUV into park and usher Oliver into the safe house. Tucked into the crook of his arms is a small bundle. He whispers soothing words to the toddler.

Rune brings up the rear.

“Mr. Sinn.” A seasoned guard who worked under the Sinn family back when my father held the reins waits for my orders by the front door.

I take two steps and stop in front of him while Oliver and Rune go ahead of me.

“Secure the compound. No one comes in and no one leaves without seeing me first. Lock it the fuck down. Understood?” I want to know how the Hightowers gained access to my cousin’s family. No one leaves until I get answers.

Had these fuckers done their job in the first place I wouldn’t have had to witness my cousin’s wife get executed at point-blank range or use my time rescuing their daughter from those depraved, murdering, abusive fuckers. When I get my hands on my little cousin, he’s going to wish it was him the Hightowers kidnapped and killed instead. The little weasel will pay for not protecting his goddamn family and forcing me to do it for him.

I shove open the wrought-iron gate on the front door. It bounces off the back wall sending chunks of stonework tumbling to the entryway. Moving through the large, expansive rooms I come to a set of wooden doors. Guards stand on either side with grim expressions to match their black suits. They open the doors and I step inside, their eyes pinned forward.

I crack my neck and roll out the pain buried in my left shoulder from a fresh bullet wound. Motherfucker hurts like a bitch. I’ll have to see the doc, but first I have a man’s face to pummel.

Four damn weeks. Thirty-one days to be fucking exact. We missed Christmas and New Year’s. Fuck me sideways. She has to be worried sick and already deleting us from her life. I would. I won’t blame her if she is erasing us like we never existed. Did we not promise her she was our everything? And then we ghosted her like the rat bastards we are.

I scrape a hand over my face, the weight of my last name heavier than it has ever been.

I spot Oliver’s retreating back heading up the stairs to give the girl to her grandmother, no doubt. Good. The girl doesn’t need to see the violence I am about to unleash on her father.

We rounded up the extended family and brought them to one secure location until we sorted out the problem with the Hightowers.

Except Magnolia. She doesn’t know the full extent of our depravity and my family doesn’t know about her. It is safer that way despite what Rune argues.

Truth be told, I prefer keeping her presence in our lives a secret. If no one knows about her, no one can hurt her.

Now there is only one more asshole to deal with and then we can go to Magnolia and beg for her forgiveness. I hope it takes days of groveling if it means we can lock ourselves away in our penthouse with her.

At the core of my rage, is the fact I never wanted to be the head of the Sinn syndicate. It was meant for my older brother. A heroin overdose took him too soon, putting me in line for the Sinn throne. He couldn’t handle the pressure of taking over for our father which moved me up the chain. I’m never one to balk at responsibility. But I did something my father never contemplated when he wore the Sinn crown—I brought on my trusted friends to serve as my equals alongside me. We share the crown, the weight of its burden, and the sin that comes with keeping the criminal empire strong and our family safe.

My father was too power hungry to think past his own greed.

I’m not him.

And because of that, I would do anything for my family. I’d give up my life to protect any of them, but this shit show was avoidable and cost everyone more than they can ever get back. Namely the little girl clinging to Oliver. No one had to die, and a little girl did not need to lose her mother if my cousin kept hiswandering dick in his pants. I should cut it off and do us all a favor.

I find Rune in the middle of the front office, gun raised with murder in his eyes.

Fuck.

He ditched the bullet-proof vest, and the state of his body matches the fury in his expression. Blood seeps into his white shirt where he caught either a blade or a bullet. Dirt, debris, and someone else’s blood stains his pants and hands. He doesn’t seem to fucking care.

“On your knees, motherfucker. You don’t deserve to be a father.” When Aaron doesn’t fall in line with Rune’s command, he puts a bullet in my cousin’s knee. Screams slam into the vaulted ceiling and bounce off my eardrums.

Aaron falls to the floor in a crumpled heap. “Cousin, aren’t you going to do anything?”

I huff out a grunt. “Give me a good reason first. When he’s done, I’ll put a couple of my own in you and then raise your child and be the real father she needs.”

Eyes the color of swamp water find mine. Hope dies a quick death in the other man. His expression turns grim. He probably realizes we know all his dirty secrets.