A Destiny of Carnage (A Violent Agenda)

After Quinn goes back to her office, I stay and drink the rest of my coffee, letting the silence and the view of the lake soothe my thoughts, trying to make sense of what Quinn just told me and Polina’s words. It all feels like an agency red herring to distract me from the real mission—killing my father. More rich prick distractions. As if I don’t have enough of them.

But.…

Something doesn’t sit right. If Tatiana is Lorcan’s real mother, it’ll mean he’s the rightful Duke heir. So why would Joseph hide that fact? Unless he didn’t, and Lorcan’s family know who his mother is. And also know that ES is his father.

I take out the new phone Lorcan got me, and call him. There’s only one way to find the truth—go straight to the source.

“Where are you?” I say to Lorcan as soon as he answers.

“We’re just leaving St Michael’s. We’ve got Byron. They released him today. Now, we’re on our way to see grandfather.”

“Do the initials ES mean anything to you? Someone important to your family, someone Joseph might want to blackmail?” I ask him.

He pauses. “My ex-girlfriend, Kat, has an uncle called Ed Savino. Joseph did business with him often.”

“The Camorra Don?” It fits, now I know who Polina was working for, but I need more evidence.

“That’s him, why?”

“I’ll tell you later.” Lorcan doesn’t need to know about my suspicions just yet. If I’m wrong then I’ll have given him concerns over nothing. At least, now I have a starting point. “Is Jude with you?”

“Right here, baby,” he drawls, obviously listening in.

“Tell me,” I say once he picks up the handset. “When you spent time with Dante. Where did he take you? What did you talk about?”

Jude lets out a breath. “Addiction mainly. And how much he cares about you and Rebecca.”

I let Jude waffle on for a bit, listening to how he bonded with Psycho Charlie. He sounds pleased with himself. I’m almost tempted to tell him ‘good boy’ down the line to see what reaction I get. “I need you to show Byron a picture of Adrien.”

“Why?”

“Show him. Ask him if that’s the man his uncle was talking to.”

There’s some talking in the background as Jude switches to speakerphone and does what I ask. Down the line, I hear Byron say, “Yes, that’s him.”

“Did you get that?” Lorcan cuts in. “Now, are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

But I don’t bother to reply. I’m already hanging up and walking toward Dante’s cell in the gym. I need to get the rest of my answers from him, and then I can explain everything to both Lorcan and Jude later. I have to or they won’t be happy. How on earth did I get to this—needing to explain my actions to the men in my life?

My gut is churning when I get to the gym, and rightly so because the store room that Dante was locked in, is wide open and empty when I get there. The fucker has gone again.

Left me.

I call Quinn to let her know so she can increase security, and then I sit there staring at the empty cell, thinking about what Polina said about Dante being on the list, and the other baby boy, the one born seven years before both Lorcan and Saskia, making their half-brother twenty-five years old….

The same age conveniently as Dante.