“And?” I bark.
“And,” Xavier smirks, seeming awfully pleased with himself. “They didn’t find him in any of the hospitals... but they found someone called Xander, with no last name, in a mental institution a year after the fire.”
“A mental institution? You mean a fucking asylum?”
“That’s right,” Xander nods. “He was there for years. Until he turned eighteen.”
My jaw tightens. This makes it obvious just how deranged Xander is. If he was committed to a mental institution as a teenager, something must’ve been wrong even back then. But now he’s fought his way to the top, into a position of power. And it makes me really fucking worried about what he’s done to Rain since he got his filthy fucking hands on my woman.
“And after that?”
“All traces are lost again for many years,” Xavier mutters. “The rest is not documented. It’s based on whispers and rumors passed around my men and the other cartels. I’ve heard of the Dragon cartel before, but only in passing.”
“It seems they’ve come up in the past few years,” I mutter. “They’ve built up their position. In my corner of the world, everyone knows them. We’ve been trying to work with them on our shipments. They have most of the policemen in this city on their fucking payroll.”
“That means those cops won’t talk either,” Xavier mutters. “Which puts us right back where we were—at the fucking beginning.”
“We need to go to the asylum,” I mutter.
“Why?” Xavier argues. “All the staff would have changed by now. No one will remember Xander.”
“Then the orphanage.”
“But it burned down.”
“There has to be something left there,” I hiss. “What happened to the property?”
Xavier shrugs, vaguely pointing to some documents laid out on the desk before us. “Someone bought the land the asylum was on. It’s been privatized. Found little information on that.”
A lightbulb goes off for me and I knit my brows together as I say, “What are the chances that Xander bought that land himself?”
“Why would he?”
“Because it seems like that orphanage shaped him?” I shrug, knowing I’m playing a guessing game. “I don’t fucking know, he’s your goddamn brother.”
“Watch your fucking mouth with me, Heath.”
“Or else what?”
“Or else I’ll fucking show you the full extent of my wrath,” Xavier hisses. “I’ll fucking hurt you.”
“Your empty threats mean fuck all to me,” I snarl. “And you’ve hurt me enough over my life to strengthen me. I’m not fucking afraid of you.”
“You should be.”
“I think you’ve got it all wrong,” I hiss. “I think you’re the one who should be afraid.”
Xavier laughs heartily, his eyes shining with hatred as they meet mine. “I’m not afraid of a little boy.”
“I’m not a little boy,” I bark. “And I’m done with you stealing what’s rightfully mine. My house. My family. My fucking wife.”
“Stole that one back, didn’t you?” Xavier says bitterly.
“Actually, you gave her back to me,” I laugh. “Fucking idiot.”
“Don’t you fucking insult me, Heath.”
“Or else what?” I repeat, picking myself up from the chair and approaching my uncle. “You going to kill me right here?”
“Why shouldn’t I?”
“Because without me, Rain will never come back willingly,” I spit out. “You think she wants to be with you, you sick son of a bitch? She fucking hates you.”
“Why should that matter to me?” Xavier snarls. “She doesn’t mean shit to me. All I want is an heir. A Castellamare heir.”
“Seems like you’re failing there too,” I smirk. “How long has it been, Xavier? Eight years? And no heir? You might not be the virile man you think you are.”
“Fuck you, you piece of shit.” Now his eyes are burning with anger and I can tell Xavier is eager to hurt me.
But I will not stop just because he’s losing his patience. I’m going to push him until he fucking loses it, and then I’m going to use his moment of weakness against him.
“That the best you got?” I bite back. “You can insult me all you want, but it won’t change the fact that you couldn’t fuck a single baby into her while she was with you. Maybe you should get your dick checked, uncle.”
“Shut your goddamn mouth before I cut your tongue out,” he snarls, and I smirk, knowing I’ve hit his weak spot. Now I know exactly how to push his buttons.
“You know I fucked her, right?” I ask. “Maybe I knocked her up already. Wouldn’t that be fucking fun, Xavier? If she gets pregnant with me after only a couple of months by my side? You tried to breed her for years but your dick is fucking useless.”
“If you don’t shut your mouth right fucking now, I’ll make you pay for every one of those insults you just snarled at me.”
“Go ahead,” I spit out. “I’m not fucking afraid. You do not know what I’ve been through because of you.”
“I can make you take worse things than whatever loser shit you went through at the docks.”