Wrong Family
I frowned. It just had to be them, just like I’d suspected.
“Yes, I do. Gigi is my ex.”
Cedric raised a brow. “So you’ve had the misfortune of getting that close.”
“And Lucious Davenport is my grandfather’s old enemy. Man’s hated my family since before I was born.”
Cedric gave a cold chuckle and moved back to his desk. “Then you already know they’re not people who act without a reason. Their ambition is cancer. And thanks to the information I’ve gathered... I know exactly what kind of hell we’re dealing with.”
He opened a drawer and brought out a second folder, thick and worn. Tossed it across the table. I opened it.
“Gigi Raphael,” Cedric said, leaning on the edge of his desk. “Twenty-nine. Grew up in one of the poorest slums in the city. No money. No food. She clawed her way out of the gutter with nothing but a pretty face and a mind like a blade. Her younger brother died when she was a teenager. Couldn’t afford a doctor. She’d begged for help outside a Vaughn-owned restaurant. One of the staff threw change at her feet. That was the day she decided we were all enemies.”
I clenched my jaw. I’d never known that part.
“She’s smart,” Cedric went on. “Very smart. Every move she made from that point was calculated. First jobs. First relationships. All picked to push her up the ladder. Then she met you. A Vaughn.”
“I thought she loved me,” I muttered.
“She didn’t. She saw opportunity. She used your name, your access, your resources. When you picked Remi, I believe she thought she was done picking That was war.”
I flipped to the next page. Surveillance photos. Her and Lucious. Dinners. Meetings. Secret trips.
“And then,” Cedric continued, “she met him. Lucious Davenport. You know what happens when two snakes meet in the dark?”
“They coil around each other,” I said quietly.
“They plan who dies first,” Cedric corrected. “Lucious is fifty. Former shipping magnate. Once had power close to your grandfather, until the tech boom left him in the dust. Vaughns rose. Davenports sank. He blamed your for it. Especially your father.”
I remembered my dad always saying Lucious was a two-faced bastard. Guess he was right.
“He used to be friends with the Vaughns,” Cedric said. “Until jealousy turned him into something else. He’s the one who arranged the accident that killed your parents. He’s the one who paid off the men that nearly got you killed when you were a child. Your airplane accident with Remi. Gosh you really should be dead with the amount of attacks.”
I ignored his statement but the mention of death made gooseflesh appear on the back of my neck.“And Gigi’s his spy?” I asked.
Ueahl.” Cedric’s voice hardened. “She got close. Got into the system. Fed him information. Accounts. Security flaws. Weak spots. Even now, she’s probably manipulating members of your family you don’t even know are compromised.”
I closed the folder and looked up.
“So what do we do?”
Cedric stared at me for a moment. “Now? Now we return the favor. I’ve already handled the driver who hit Remi. Traced his employer. Followed the chain. But this thing? It’s bigger. It’s going to require something more dangerous than revenge.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“Strategy,” Cedric said. “And silence. Gigi and Lucious think I’m still in hiding. They think you’re weak and broken. We use that.”
I met his eyes. “And you’ll help me?”
He hesitated. “I still don’t like you.”
“Fine.”
“I still don’t trust you.”
“Good. I don’t trust you either.”
“But,” Cedric said, walking over to pour a glass of something strong and clear, “my daughter loved you enough to risk everything. I may not understand that... but I’ll honor it.”
I let out a breath.
“You’re going to wish you never left the mafia,” I said.
“An
d you’re going to wish you never got involved with a de Luca.”
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