Why did she even have to be born?
That unhappy thought ran over and over through Greg, disrupting his previous harmony. Frowning, he tried to banish the errant thought, but once it had reared its ugly head, the truth would not be denied any longer. Tired of the entire mess, Greg sighed and admitted to himself the one thing he had fought against for many years.
His sister was the root of all his problems.
Therefore, she had to die.
It wasn’t a decision Devlyn came to easily. Ever since they were young all three boys, Kevin, Matthew, and he tormented their sister, so obvious and different from them but always up to their games. When their mother took Cassie under her wing to protect her from the older and rougher boys, Greg hurt the most. They were all mama’s boys angry over the loss of Ryn’s affections, but Greg as the youngest boy was the most injured. So he targeted Cassie. As a team, though since Kevin became buds with Sean he’d changed, content with his wife and comfortable life. But not Greg.
Classic middle child with mother issues, that’s what the shrinks all said in the aftermath of his attack on her after high school. Toxic to his sister was directed straight at Greg’s psychotic emotions, made more volatile with drugs and alcohol. He remembered sitting in all those sessions and staring at Cassie with a blank expression while he denied every one of her accusations. But she never recanted, never wavered in her story of what transpired that night. While his father denied the police their investigation Greg had eventually acknowledged to himself Martin knew Cassie was telling the truth. Greg caused that accident, killed an innocent girl, and got away with murder because of who they were.
This time, when Cassie and Sean disappeared after the kidnapping and Martin called him to the office in downtown Atlanta, he knew it wasn’t going to be good news. There, in no uncertain terms, Greg was given his punishment for his many transgressions. This would be his last year at the financial helm of Devlyn Industries. ‘Early Retirement’ was the term Martin threw at him, health reasons would be the public announcement. He was to retire, exiled to some remote area away from his sister and from Sean and from the rest of the Devlyn business. He would be taken care of, but for private family only functions Greg was to consider himself uninvited.
Though all three boys had been punished throughout the years, Cassie’s accurate and frequent complaints painted Greg as the chief antagonist for her life. All those times he hit Cassie, ever since she was seven were recalled to Martin. She kept journals detailing her torment from the brothers just for insurance, in case she needed to have him imprisoned or worse, committed. It galled him. He knew he deserved the punishment but couldn’t help it. Cassie put crazy thoughts into his head and he wanted to hurt her to stop the thoughts. When he turned eighteen, his dreams and fantasies took flight with dreams of revenge.
He’d been the one to have Kevin hire Sean Ferguson to find her, knowing he always shot first and asked questions later. Then he told Kwan Tsi what Ferguson was doing. In the fire fight, Cassie should have been killed. But no, Kwan didn’t take the bait. Instead he’d sent instructions to Tsichevna to grab Cassie and enlighten her about the side business. Now everyone was turning against him, and all his plans were crumbling around his feet.
Sean would be a hard man to get past, but if he just turned them both over to this new handler then technically there wouldn’t be any blood on his hands. He would miss them, but Devlyn saw no other path out of his current dilemma. They both had to go.
How the hell did Cassie fall for Sean? With that cheesy accent he had? Sure it always attracted brainless bimbos, but Cassie was no bimbo. Staring out into the falling winter rain, Devlyn decided it had to be physical. He once walked in on Sean in the shower at the Devlyn home. Ferguson was made of muscle, he grudgingly admitted, and well hung, but he wouldn’t have guessed that was Cassie’s type. Of course, he saw no man as her type, and that angered him all over again.
“We’ve arrived at the yacht. Do you want us to wait for you?” Maggie laid her hand upon Greg’s arm. He shook it off. This was no time for sentiment. If he truly wanted freedom from his father’s iron rule, tonight needed to be the night he established his power.
“Go back to the apartment. Wait for me there. I will make my own way back.” His voice was rough, not because he didn’t like Maggie. She was great in bed, a wonderful cook and good sport. But right now Greg’s emotions were too embroiled with Cassie and her antics. “Take a random route to the apartment, make sure you aren’t followed.”
Opening the door, Devlyn got out and began walking toward the marina parking area by the family yacht. He barely heard the roar of the limo’s engine as it sped away back down the pier. Parked in the secure lot for owners, he spotted his cousin Nikolas Devlyn’s black Lexus. He frowned at the expected complication. Nikolas knew Greg was in town, he’d invited him to the docks for one reason only—Nik knew where to get the items he needed to complete this assignment. But what to do with him if he refused to leave was a bridge Greg didn’t want to cross.
Nikolas was the only son of Martin’s younger brother, Thomas Devlyn. Tommy ran a metal fabrication shop where the struts and wings of MM Air crafts started their journey. Not as imposing as Martin, Tommy none the less was a giant of a man whose constant scowl gave the impression of permanent irritation. Nikolas bore a close resemblance to his father, without the scowl.
Inside the car was a briefcase with seven explosive devices which Devlyn was to plant on the family’s yacht. Later tonight, Cassie and Sean would be coming into town in order to take the yacht down to San Francisco as a favor to Kevin. Trusting, loyal Matthew emailed him a copy of their travel plans from Joe Callahan. Greg planned that once they were well away from the harbor, the devices would trigger and all aboard would be lost at sea in a tragic disappearance. Kwan, and by extension, Greg, would be free.
His cousin, Nikolas was already on the boat, a glass of blue agave tequila in his hand. “Well Greg, I brought the C4, as requested. What the hell is going on?”
Ignoring the disdain in Nikolas’s tone, Greg poured himself a glass of the tequila. Turning around he remembered all the times they spent together in their childhood. Close, they were only three weeks apart however, Nikolas was the quiet one, more of a thinker than a doer. Greg was the one with the macabre sense of adventure. Matthew had been neither with them nor directly against them in their war games. Just like his oldest brother; Kevin was unpredictable that way. Until Cassie, that had been the dividing point. Kevin always protected Cassie.
“Greg, I asked you a question. When you came to me and asked me to meet you here, I agreed without too many questions because you are family. You had a need, and I was glad to provide. But I need to get back to my own wife and kids. I mean, it is Christmas and it’s taken me a long time to get back into Dad and Uncle Martin’s good graces. I don’t intend to blow it, so if you don’t tell me what you want, I’m taking my shit and going home.” Nikolas downed the remaining tequila and slammed the glass down on the coffee table.
“Patience cousin, patience, I have much to tell you.” Greg smiled, an evil sneer that reminded one of a cornered animal.
Nikolas sighed and sat down on one of the bar stools. “Go ahead, I’ll give you ten minutes, then I’m gone.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk Nikolas. Remember the days when we used to be inseparable? Those were the good times. When everything was still simple.” Greg’s eyes were slightly unfocused as he lost himself in the past.
“Those days are long gone. You can’t go back in time. Believe me, I know. I spent five years in prison for nothing.” Nikolas poured himself another finger of tequila. “Why are we here?”
“I’ve made some poor choices in the past few years Niko, and now the consequences of those decisions have come back to haunt me.” Greg continued to stare off into space. His voice was filled with regrets and depression.
Niko paused with the glass halfway to his mouth. Lowering it slowly, he gawked at his cousin. In a quiet, fearful voi
ce, he asked, “Greg, what have you done?”
“I made some mistakes Nikolas, big ones, and I got caught. I got caught by the worst of all possible people—a group of Asian businessmen looking to get into the weapons race in Southeast Asia.”
“Jesus Greg, what the hell…?”
“Just let me finish Nik, I need to get through this.”
Frustrated, Nikolas sat down and stared at Greg like he had never seen him before. Greg poured himself more tequila and continued.
“They told me if I played along nothing would ever be released to Dad. So I played along, passing non important information in exchange for silence and money. Then, about three months ago, they started putting on more pressure for me to persuade Cassie to vote a certain way over some patents she owns. Patents they want to control production of. The partners weren’t getting anywhere with Martin and thought with my ‘relationship’ I could force Cassie to sell them cheap.
“I told them no, that no one knew where she was, that she was in hiding. My contact replied that he was sure I could ‘push her to make the right decision’. I didn’t know what to do, because there’s no way Cassie is going to give up those designs, so I panicked.
“Dad had already shipped me off the radar, so I’d no idea if he knew where she was or not. When she was kidnapped in Atlanta, I’m the one who urged Kevin to call her husband, Sean Ferguson. He’s a mercenary who would rather shoot than talk and a cocky son of a bitch. Messing with him was a calculated risk, but I knew he would search the world over until he found Cassie and killed whoever took her.
“I called Kwan Tsi’s people and told them who to follow. I figured when the two sides caught each other, Cassie would just be another casualty in the fire fight, and all my problems would be solved in one neat package. No more Cassie messing with my mind, no more partners blackmailing me to Dad. It should have been my return to the heart of the family.
“Then that Irish bastard up and takes Cassie away and now I’ve lost her again.” Greg began laughing, a high pitched crazy sound that marked his leap from sanity to the madness which had threatened to engulf Greg his entire life. He poured another shot of tequila and threw it down his throat in one smooth motion.
Nikolas stared at him closely, as if certain his favorite cousin had lost his mind. “What are you saying? What have you done now?”
“The Asian partners want Ferguson dead. They want Cassie as leverage against Dad, but they would rather she die than live to use her patents against their version of the technology. So we are going to rig this boat and tomorrow when they are sailing off the coast, the bomb will trigger and everything will sink deep into the ocean. No more problems, no more Cassie—everything will be right again, just like when we were kids.”
Nikolas was appalled at Greg’s actions. While Nikolas’s hands weren’t clean by any stretch of the imagination, this was family Greg was talking about. The more he talked, the deeper the look on Nikolas’s face turned green as his nausea grew. When he realized Greg had finished speaking, Nikolas began pacing as his brain kicked into gear, and the orderly methodical side took over.
“Bro—hang on a second! You really think I’m going to help you sink a boat? What are you smoking, crack? Listen, when we were kids, it was different. I was different. Then, it was a way to bond, you and me against the others. But I’ve turned thirty-five, things have changed. Cassie is a smart woman, and extremely loyal to the Devlyn family. She could have taken her work and gone straight to Nishamora, but she didn’t. Everything, all her patents, were signed over to Devlyn Industries. Recently, I told Kevin I wanted to change things with her, make it as right as I could, just like he had.”
“You WANT a relationship with that bitch? After the way we were thrown aside like used towels? I can’t believe what I’m hearing!” The madness in Greg’s eyes was tinged with fury. How dare Niko deny him!? “Don’t you remember how we were treated once she came along?”
“This has gone far enough Greg, I’m outta here. Soon as I can, I’m calling Sean and Cassie and warning them what you are up to. You need help man, you’re crazy!” Nikolas turned to walk out of the salon and back to his car. The fury grew in Greg’s eyes. Without a second thought, he reached into his coat pocket and drew a small Beretta 8000F Cougar and fired three quick rounds. The first hit Nikolas in the kidney, the second and third scored the back of his head. Without another sound, Nikolas lurched forward and fell onto the steps which led down into the ship’s galley, dead before he hit the ground.
Greg’s eyes grew momentarily wider as he realized what now had to be done. Cassie and Sean would have to wait for Kwan Tsi’s new handler to arrive; he could deal with their downfall. The boat had to burn now, to point the finger of blame at Nikolas once his charred remains were located in the burned out hull. It wasn’t as planned, but Greg was nothing if not adaptable.
Quickly he set to work, shoving the devices from inside the briefcase into various places around the expansive yacht. As he left, Greg grabbed the remote detonator to take with him. Across the gangway, taking care not to touch the railings, he left as calmly as he could, given the amount of adrenaline running through him. He debated about taking Nikolas’s Lexus and ditching it somewhere out in the country, but decided to leave it in the lot. It would bring the evidence around to a missing person, which meant the case would go away, just leaving the Ferguson’s deaths to complete his plans.
The rain was beginning to slack up, so he took off walking down the closest alleyway he could find which led away from the marina. Once he felt sure no one had seen him or followed him, with a self-satisfied smirk, Greg pushed the remote in his hand. A brief lag and the night sky was ablaze with the realization of the potential energy contained in C4. The yacht was consumed in the conflagration’s desire to grow and destroy. But Greg did not stay around to watch it sear the night with bright flame.
Smashing the remote under his foot, he then urinated on the remains, just because he wanted to, and kicked everything down into the sewer, hoping it would never be found.
Devlyn walked to the taxi stand, smiling. A ray of sunshine was breaking through his personal rain, and it was starting to look like a beautiful day.
Things could only go up from here.
****
As sunrise of Christmas Eve morning arrived on the East Coast, Sean and Cassie were boarding a plane in Bristol, Tennessee bound for Seattle. Traveling under the names ‘Robert and Laurie Harris’, Cassie’s long black hair was braided and up under a beanie while Sean was sporting several day’s beard growth and a University of Georgia ball cap.
After Pat Mitchell promised to have their weapons and clothes sent by special courier to Seattle, Sean decided flying made the most sense. Cassie owned a condo in Ballard and the family maintained a large house in Bradenton. It would be easy to stop in and rest for a few days before taking off into the wilderness. Their first class tickets allowed for privacy.
Cassie’s face was healing but she still looked swollen and bruised. Upon arriving at the airport, she’d connected her tablet to the internet and spent her time now in flight going through her emails. She sat by the window, ignoring Sean blissfully snoring in the aisle seat. She sipped a large Starbucks latte as she opened one marked ‘Urgent—from your cousin’. It was from Nikolas Devlyn, Martin’s younger brother’s oldest son.
Nikolas was a strange one, always had been. During childhood, he and Greg were always together, plotting the overthrow of the rest of the cousins. He’d done five years in prison for drug trafficking but since he’d been released worked in security at MM Air’s offices in Seattle. She wondered why he would be sending her email this early in the morning.
“Cassie—I know you have no reason to listen to me, but you must put our childhood animosity behind. There is something important I need to let you know about. Forgive me for not bringing this to your attention years ago. Greg believes he has to destroy you or be destroyed by you, and he will never stop searching for you. You must stay hidd
en until Sean can neutralize him. He’s obsessed with you, but I think you’ve always known that, which is why I haven’t spoken to Greg in years. It taints his judgment. Tell all this to Sean, he might be able to use that to your advantage. I am supposed to meet Greg at your family’s boat to help him with something. I suspect it has to do with you and/or Sean. I have a relay on this email to be sent only in case I don’t check back in after that meeting. You can rest assured Greg was involved.
“Like I said before, Greg is obsessed with you, in a very unnatural sense of the word. The torment you’ve received at his hands since we were kids is rooted in this belief. He feels you took his place in Martin and Katheryn’s hearts. He doesn’t see how his problems set him at odds with everyone else. Perhaps Sean will think of some way to use that to his advantage. I hope so. Take care, I’m sorry and good luck.” It was signed simply with an ‘N’.
Cassie debated on waking Sean but decided he needed the sleep. This could wait until they were in Seattle. Looking out the window at last, she noticed the Mississippi river passing by underneath as they streaked westward toward the fleeing darkness before them. She leaned her forehead against the porthole, feeling the chill of the outside through the insulated window.
So here at last was the explanation she’d waited for her entire life, the reason Greg chose her for an eternity of torment. It was hideous, and for a moment Cassie thought she might need to pull the airsickness bag from the seat pocket. What in the world should she do? Obviously this changed everything. But as Nikolas said, part of her already knew how twisted Greg was. She just didn’t want to admit it, even to herself.
Welcome to the Family Page 13