Page 117

“Let me introduce Viper Veylor. Youngest son of Vince Veylor, half-brother to Vernom and Serenity. You never heard of him because he stayed out of Emberwick, living in Newfoundland and Labrador with his uncle after Vince killed his mother. He kept tabs on Emberwick through me. He’s here to claim the seat that’s his by blood.”

We were all stunned.

Viper walked up to me, that crooked smile still on his face.

“Brother-in-law, I thought I’d get a warmer welcome after saving your ass the other night. If I hadn’t brought back Valery onto that yacht and given orders to keep you alive, my uncle’s men might’ve put you down. I figured you’d be a little more grateful,” he said, mocking.

This guy really got under my skin. I’d sworn I’d make him pay for putting a gun to my wife’s head and scaring her, even if it was just a setup to catch Valery. I still wasn’t over it.

“I don’t give a damn what you did for me. You put a gun to my wife’s head and made her cry.”

“Oh, come on, no hard feelings. I’d never hurt my little sister. I just like a dramatic entrance, nothing serious,” he said, grinning wider. “Let’s put it all behind us, alright? We’re family now, after all. And with things the way they are, we’ll be seeing each other a lot more. You’re not going to sulk at family dinners, are you?” He stuck out his hand.

He really pissed me off. But he was right about one thing, if he was now the Veylor head and Serenity’s brother, we were going to have to deal with each other. I couldn’t say if I liked him or not, but the fact that he’d slipped Serenity a gun that night, so she could defend herself, made me give him some grace. He looked out for his sister, and I respected that, even if I’d never call him a friend. We’d never be tight, but I understood his move.

I took his hand and squeezed it.

“I don’t trust any Veylor, except my wife. And she’s a Korven now, so that doesn’t apply to her.”

“Good, because I don’t trust anyone either. Well, except for my favorite four-eyes over there,” he said, pointing at Crowhurst, which confirmed what I’d suspected earlier. Those two knew each other, and that’s how he and his uncle slipped into the city without being caught by C’s security. Crowhurst gave them the access. That told me, whatever their exact ties, there was a strong alliance there.

Viper let go of my hand and walked to the center of the room to address the council. He looked at each of us, then spoke, voice solemn.

“My father was a bastard. A son of a bitch I would’ve killed myself. My older brother was the same kind of vermin. Twopeople I never wanted anything to do with. The Veylor empire meant nothing to me. For the record, that whore Vince Veylor spread his seed everywhere, and to avoid bastards, he killed every woman he knocked up. My mother escaped him for a while and gave birth to me. She felt threatened and left me with my uncle, War Windson, who protected me from Vince by hiding my identity. My mother died when I was young—killed by Vince, just like every woman unlucky enough to cross him. The only one who ever got a break was Serenity’s mother, and only because she was fucking a Korven. It was just a way for him to satisfy his obsession with the Korvens. Long story short, I never wanted a part of that toxic family, and the Big Six business never interested me.”

We listened, taking in his story, which made his claim to the Veylor seat legitimate. But even after all that, one question hung in the air.

“Why now?” I asked. “Why claim the Veylor seat now when you never cared before? What changed?”

He gave a slight smile and held my gaze.

“Because it’s time for me to find her,” he said mysteriously.

His answer only made me more curious, because I could see the fire in his eyes. Who was he looking for? And why?

I glanced around at the rest of the council, and I knew they were all wondering the same thing. This guy was intriguing as hell, and one thing was clear, bringing him into the Big Six was about to shake up the balance of this group.

When he walked to the seat with a V engraved next to Crowhurst, it all became clear. The council was now split into three alliances: Korven-Draven, Marquette-Hollister, and Crowhurst-Veylor. Something told me that Emberwick’s first law—thatno one interferes when two families go to war—was about to crumble.

Through all of this, the only thing that mattered, and wouldalways matter, was keeping my wife and my kids safe, no matter what, because they were my everything.

The End