“Dead positive, Wes.”
Wes looks like he’s freaking out, but for once I actually think I’m more nervous than he is. If Kieran is working with this guy,or if he knows him atall, things could end up much worse than I expected.
Weston’s jaw tightens. “This person talked shit about Niko in my house? Who is he? He looks older than any student here.”
“I don’t think heisa student.”
Wes looks like he’s out for blood.
“Then he’s an alum. A former member of one of the societies. Or heworksfor one of the alumni here.”
His expression goes cold in a way I’ve never seen before, not even when he’s been angry at me, in the past.
He’s looking at the stranger like he wants him gone, staring intently at his wrists.
“What is it?”
“Shit.Shit. Where is Hunter?”
He looks all around until he finally spots his brother and flags him down. Hunter comes over with a drink in hand, nodding at us.
“What’s up?”
“Look at that guy’s cufflinks,” Wes says.
The guy has his elbows on the table right now, with his hands clasped in front of his face. His cufflinks are flashy and very visible. They’re gold, engraved with some pattern that I can’t make out from here, and there is a ruby-colored stone at the center of each one.
“Holy fuck,” Hunter says quietly.
Hunter and Wes both look like they’ve just seen a ghost.
“What the hell is going on?” I demand.
“Those are the cufflinks our dad used to give out as a gift,” Wes says. “He gave them to people who worked for him longer than 5 years and demonstratedexemplary service, which basically just meant they did dirty work for him.”
“I used to think ‘dirty work’ just meant securing business deals for Dad,” Hunter says, “but who knows what else he had going on.”
Bitterness seeps through my veins like a slow injection of poison.
Dirtydoesn’t even begin to describe it.
Wes and Hunter’s dad didn’t give a fuck if his sons lived or died, and he used them as bargaining chips in some fucked-up deal with an overseas crime family.
“Your father is dead now, but if this other guy was one of his favorites, he could have a vendetta of his own,” I tell them. “And it sounds like Niko is a particular problem for him.”
“That’swhere I remember his face from,” Hunter finally says, his eyes going wide. “That guy worked with the lawyer handling dad’s payments. I saw him once. Leaving Dad’s office. At the time I didn’t even know Niko existed, but I guarantee he was involved in paying off Niko and his mom to staysilent. So that they’d never talk to me and Wes.”
I frown. “So maybe he doesn’t have loyalty to your dad now. Maybe he just wants money.”
“No goddamn clue.”
The sound of the jazz band swells in the air as they finish a song and move on to a new one. The rest of the dinner event is still running along smoothly, with people mingling and chatting.
Wes runs his hands through his hair and the urge to pull him in close and kiss him is stronger than ever.
He looks like he wants to disappear, and knowing the mountain of trauma that this must be bringing up for him pisses me off more than anything.
“I want you to hurt him,” Wes finally says in a low tone.