by Terra Kelly
I realized at that moment my father would tap out this time. Not me.
Twenty-Six
“Charlie, maybe you should wait here,” Brooks said and sat down on the edge of the bed.
We were all in one hotel room, hashing out the details. The bar that was the alleged drop-off point for my father’s business was only five miles away. We all agreed before boarding the plane to not discuss anything. Brooks and I sucked at rules; we were whispering all the way to San Francisco about why I should not go into the bar. He felt it would put everyone in danger with me being there. I told him we would be in danger with me there or if I was sitting in a damn hotel room with a finger stuck up my ass.
“So apparently you didn’t hear me on the plane,” I said and threw on a coat. “Do you really think I would sit back here and wait?”
“Well you can’t say I didn’t try.” Brooks stood and made his way over to his suitcase.
“She’s never been any good at directions,” Jackson chimed in and handed me a piece of paper.
“What’s this?”
“Read it.”
I unfolded the mystery message and immediately crumpled it up. “Where was it?” I seethed. Jackson pointed to the pillow on the bed closest to the window. “Fuck me.”
“What was that?” Brooks pointed to the crumpled paper.
“A welcome message from Dad.”
“You’re joking, right?” He reached for the paper.
“See for yourself.” I let him take a moment to absorb the words on the small crumpled note. “I’m going, end of story.”
He wadded the paper back up and nodded. “Fine.” It was like the mystery message was the final straw.
We waited until nightfall, which gave Lily and I enough time to grab a disguise. She insisted we needed a wig and heavy makeup. I knew it was a good idea but found it difficult to concentrate at the store.
We were standing by the wigs trying to decide which look would put me under the radar of my dad’s men. Just like always, Lily had found a way to make me laugh even with my anger at a boiling point. I was running my hands through a long blonde wig when she nudged my side. “C, look, you could be a princess.” She threw on the wig I was holding. Before I could respond, she grabbed another wig and threw it on. “No, wait, you could be a flapper. Which means we would need to find the frilly dress.”
It was simple and maybe anyone else would think I was crazy, but I knew what she was trying to do. “I love you, Lils.” I wrapped my arms around her waist and dropped my head to her shoulder. “My life would suck if you weren’t in it.”
“That may be stretching things just a bit,” she teased and kissed my cheek. “Charlie, you’re going to be okay. You know that, right?”
“I hear the words and my mind is trying to agree with you.”
“But.”
“Well, my career is on hold because of my father and Mason.”
“The doctor said there’s no guarantees you have to wait a full year to fight.”
“That’s not the point.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
Why was she apologizing? “Lily, you didn’t do anything wrong. I just want that gold belt wrapped around my waist like now.”
“Okay, then let’s finish this shit.”
I grabbed the short brunette bob. “This wig will be the perfect disguise. Minus the dress of course.”
“Of course,” Lily said and reached for a pair of sunglasses. “With these.”
“So you want me to go blind in a dark bar?” I held the dark glasses in my hand.
“No, I—”
“Let’s hit the makeup aisle, gorgeous.” I bent and kissed her cheek.
My hair was brown, but it hung past my shoulders. I liked that my hair had some waves, and I was not a fan of bangs like ever. The wig would surely annoy me by the end of the night with the short hair hitting my ears and hanging close to my eyes.
“Smoky gray eyes is all the rage now,” Lily said and held up some eyeshadow.
“Well I don’t want to look outdated.”
“Right?” She threw eyeshadow and mascara in the cart. “Charlie.”
“What?” I was holding two different bright red lipsticks, contemplating on which color to buy.
“What if your dad isn’t the bad guy?”
I dropped the lipstick back in the holder and turned. Her words caught me off guard. “Care to elaborate?”
“What if you’re right and Mason is the reason for all this shit?”
“It all seems impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s my dad that always calls me and makes surprise visits to piss me off. Mason has never once stepped foot in my house or dialed my number.” I was curious where she was going with this theory. “You have a thought, though?”
“I guess I just find it odd that Mason was in the United Kingdom without your dad.”
“Well, a mob boss will have others do their dirty work.”
“Fair point.” We both had a chance to learn all about a mob family after Lily’s mom shared her big reveal.
“If my dad wants to take me down, we need to find out the real reason why.” My money and career seemed like too easy of a reason. Or was it?
“Hey, you sure you’re ready for this?” Brooks wrapped his arm around my waist and tugged me close to his body.
I placed my hands on his chest. “Well, what do you think?” I bounced my hand up and down on the ends of my hair. “We have to go now. I need to show off my new do.” He leaned forward and kissed me and then surprised me by dipping my body back over his arm. “Brooks,” I shouted and struggled to hold in a laugh.
“Listen, I know you’re Miss Independent but don’t forget you have backup.”
“I know.” He caught me off guard by his words.
“And we plan to kick much ass,” Lily said and wrapped her arms around our waists.
“So the saying go in guns a blazin’ doesn’t apply here?” Tyler said and reached for a water bottle out of the mini fridge. “I’m a little confused—what do you think we will find when in the bar? Or better yet: who?”
I sat down on the edge of the bed. “My dad has always liked to play dirty with his business. The little that I know leads me to believe he is involved in money laundering. There is no proof of that, but I think this bar will give us some answers. Well, I hope it does.”
“Dad somehow rose to the top of the food chain quickly and stayed the top dog ever since. Hill Enterprise had been on the top one hundred list for Fortune five hundred companies for several years.” Jackson sat down beside me. “I have suspected my dad worked off of dirty money, but I have no evidence to corroborate that claim.”
“But this bar could give you those answers?” Tyler said and took a drink of his water.
“Fingers crossed.” I stood and started to head toward the door. “After this many years, it’ll be hard to take down a man that has all the protection in the world.”
“Are you sure he’s protected?” Brooks said and crossed his arms over his chest. “Someone on the inside always flips.”
“Here’s hoping,” I teased and crossed my fingers. “Let’s keep under the radar and go in for a drink just to scope out the place. That way we can see if Mason or Dad are there.”
“After you and Lily finish your first drink, you can excuse yourself and head toward the bathroom. Right, C?” Brooks said repeating the plan.
“Yup, and we’ll look for the location of the back door.”
“Remember the floor plans we found for the bar show the door we need to enter is on the outside of the building and supposedly leads to a basement.” Julian pulled up an image on his tablet. “I know we’ve looked at this a thousand times, but it never hurts to run over it one more time.”
“If Lily and I make our way through the kitchen, we’ll send off warning bells immediately.” I scanned the floor plan again, thinking about our objective. “Maybe we need to stay in the car and wait for your si
gnal? Sitting in the bar drinking could be more suspicious.”
“That makes sense,” Julian said and flipped to the next image on the screen.
“What’s our signal?”
Jackson was fidgeting with something on the computer. “I’ll send you a text message when it’s all clear to move. Once it is clear, you both can go scope out the back of the building. There are cameras everywhere to monitor your every move. I plan to scramble the monitors for a small period of time, so you can go in unnoticed.” He had always loved technology, which was why I found it crazy when he told us he planned to be a firefighter. His house back in Michigan had every electrical gadget known to man. When we discussed going to the bar. I was cracking up when I found out he had run out and bought some high-tech equipment to monitor our dad’s place. “You’ll only have sixty seconds to act, so you need to maybe sneak close to the building and wait for my signal.”
We had discussed sneaking into the back door and scoping out the place. Lily made it abundantly clear I would not go alone. Which was why I made her get a wig, too. I knew it all felt too easy. The unknown always sucked.
Jackson invaded my thoughts and wrapped his hand around my elbow. “I need to talk to you alone.”
“Um, okay.” I didn’t dare protest because he had a good grip and was insisting we step out in the hallway. “Jackson, what the hell?” I pulled my arm out of his hold. “Care to share why you just practically dragged me out here?”
“Look.” He handed me his phone.
On the screen was a black and white video. I noticed a woman walking into a building and not just any woman. “Is that?”
“Yeah, I think it is.”
Twenty-Seven
“Well, looks like plans have changed.” I pushed the phone away. “She left and never looked back years ago.” The she I was referring to was my long-lost sister, Grace.
I could still remember the day like it was yesterday. My sister was a dancer and talked about going to Juilliard after graduation. When she turned eighteen, there was no cake or balloons. The only image I could see of her was when she popped her head into my room and said she loved me. I never saw her again after that, but Jackson and I assumed she went to New York. This was the life my dad had created. He surrounded us with so much hate my family wanted out. Or did they?
I opened the door to the hotel room and had all eyes on me as I made my way inside. “We have a hiccup in the plan.”
“What are you talking about?” Brooks stood up from the couch.
Discussing Grace in this way felt weird. My mind was trying to replay when we all were back home together, pretending to be happy. Grace hated drama and avoided my dad’s evil ways by going to dance class almost every night.
“My sister just made an appearance at the bar.”
Brooks scowled. “Which sister are we talking about?”
“My older sister who left and never looked back.”
“And now she’s at the bar that could potentially be—” Lily said and stepped closer to me.
“The place that takes down my dad, or should I start saying family?”
Lily grabbed my hands. “C, if she’s involved, the plans don’t change.”
She was right. Grace would be just as much of a problem as Mason or my father. I was struggling with this new reality. Did my sister get pulled into my father’s world, or did she go willingly? I let myself take a few deep breaths. “Yup, you’re right, Lils. We have to stick to the plan.” I turned to face Jackson. “Do you agree?”
“Yeah, if she’s in deep with Dad, then nothing changes,” Jackson said and leaned against the wall next to the door. “If this is going to happen tonight, we need to leave soon.”
The moment he said we needed to leave soon, my insides turned. It was like the full reality of the situation came crashing into me. Six fighters trying to take down a man who acted like a mob boss and ran a shady company; that scenario was insane. Who else would do it, though? Dad had been dirty for so long people just overlooked the illegal business ventures. I mean how else was he able to get to the top of the food chain?
I closed my eyes and counted to ten. When I felt ready, I clapped my hands. “All right, let’s try not to get killed.”
“Way to stay positive, C.” Lily shoved me to the side. “I think we need to say, ‘let’s kick some ass and take names.’”
“Fine, but how is this situation even remotely positive?”
Lily placed her hand over my mouth. “Hush, woman, and just get your cute ass out the door.”
The bar was in a ritzy area of town, which surprised me. I would have thought Dad would choose a location less obvious. We were all sitting in a van that Julian rented earlier. “Anyone feel underdressed?” I teased and looked down at the holes exposing my knees. “Maybe jeans were a bad option?”
“Do you think they will deny us business because of our clothing choice?” Lily said and grabbed a pair of binoculars. “Okay, maybe they will. Everyone in that place is wearing a tie, polo shirts, or dresses. Shit.”
I held my hand up.
“You know you don’t have to raise your hand to talk.”
“What? Right. Okay.” I clasped my fingers together and placed them in my lap. “What about skipping the sitting in the bar part and jumping to the end of the plan?”
“And just go through the back door when I say go?” Jackson turned toward me.
“Yeah, let’s use your fancy equipment and these binoculars to scope out the place. Then pull around back and park in a spot that hides the van. There has to be a dark spot back there for us.”
“I’ll go check,” Tyler said and hopped out.
“He just does his own thing doesn’t he?” I was looking at Julian and Brooks.
“Usually. It works in our favor because then we don’t have to draw straws.” Brooks shrugged his shoulders.
It was funny how different all three brothers were, and yet they all had the same passion. When I first met Brooks, he seemed to be all about himself. He liked to talk about how good he was at Muay Thai. He even took the time to discuss every win he had ever had, and that included his fights in high school. Then something shifted, and our conversations were less about him and more about my goals. That may have been around the time I realized we needed to connect outside of the gym.
I inched over toward Brooks and rested my head on his shoulder.
“You okay, sunshine?”
“Yeah, I am.”
He wrapped his arm around my waist and brought me even closer.
I watched Julian help Lily with the binoculars. He was not all about his wins and didn’t like to talk about himself or even his career. Lily had found a man like her dad who cared about family and wanted to give the person they loved the world. I smiled at the thought that Lily would probably marry Julian someday.
“What are you smiling at?” Lily turned my way and winked.
“Nothing.”
“Right. When you say nothing, I know it’s a whole lot of something.”
“Whatever.” She reached for my hand and kissed the top. I was so lucky to have met her all those years ago. Thank goodness she was okay with sharing her crayons in kindergarten. We did fight over the purple color, though. I won.
The passenger door opened, and Tyler hopped in and turned to face us. “There are limited places to park behind the bar that could go unnoticed.”
“Let’s keep the van parked here, and we all get out at different times? We could meet at a designated spot. Everyone needs to have a phone on them?” I looked around, waiting to see the overall thought of that idea. “Well don’t all speak up at once.”
“What other choice do we have?” Lily said and patted my leg. “It’s the best option we have.”
“There was a woman outside,” Tyler said and leaned his head back. “She was barking orders at two young guys unloading a truck.
“What did she look like?” I sat up.
“Like you.”
Tyler knew how t
o knock all the breath out of my lungs. He was a no-bullshit kind of guy. His words made me go ridged, but I managed to lean back against Brooks for that extra support.
If my sister came back, when did she make that appearance? The first thought that popped in my mind—my dad had something on my sister that caused her to come back. My siblings would never choose to work daily for my father, well, all except my one brother. Mason was crazy like my dad.
“Charlie.” Brooks lightly shook my leg.
“Huh, yeah.” I sat up and turned to the Brooks. “What’s wrong?”
“Well, I was wondering the same thing about you. Tyler asked you two questions.”
“I’m sorry, Ty. What’s up?”
“What does your brother Mason look like?”
I was scared to answer. Why was I so freaked out? If I wanted to take down my father once and for all, I needed to grow a pair. “Remember the photo of my dad I showed you earlier?”
“Yeah, where he had his arm around a young guy?”
“That’s the one. Mason was beside Dad.” I knew I looked curious by the scowl on my face. “Why?”
“He may be there, too.”
Well, tonight was already going as planned. “Did you see what they were unloading?”
“No, the boxes were unmarked.”
I loved the fact that Tyler made the trip with us. He was very observant. I thought about how Zoe would complain because he never really talked while training her. Tonight I noticed how he paid attention to every detail. I wondered if that was the same situation when training someone back at Fight It Out, where he was less talk and more focus. I knew he was a good man. He always helped with my fighting moves and made sure I had good form. I also knew he had a passion for MMA. What I didn’t have a clue on was his personal life. You never saw him with a woman. Which made me wonder. Was there someone he cared about currently? Or maybe he had a special someone that had recently left, and he was struggling to get over the loss.