A Captive Situation (Kings of New York)

“Why the fuck does your family gravitate toward this club?” Ashton griped, sliding in next to where I was sitting in one of the back VIP booths. We were set back on a raised floor with enough space in front of us so we could have our own dance floor if we wanted, or if others wanted. There were other booths lining the wall. They were bigger, more private, and each booth got its own bottle service.

That’s not why I was there at Octavia, a nightclub run by the Mauricio family.

I flashed Ashton a dry grin, picking up my bourbon. “Because it’s not one of yours, and since I don’t own a nightclub, it was either this or a cop bar.” I raised an eyebrow at him, enjoying his automatic sneer. “Next time I’ll pick a cop bar. We could do the one where Trace’s woman has roots. Bear’s not there anymore, but I’m sure you’d be welcome now that you and his woman are friends. Right?”

His eyes promised me death as a server came over, sliding his drink in front of him. “Mr. Walden.” She gave him a coy and seductive smile before slinking away.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you friendly with Cole Mauricio? Why am I not surprised.” He was the nightclub owner.noveldrama

Ashton picked up the glass, sniffing at it before he put it down without taking a sip. The drink was ignored as he leaned back against the booth. “We’re not friendly, but Trace and I have businesses in the city he runs, and he has this one in our city. We have an agreement.”

“In Chicago.”

“What? Yes.” He turned his gaze back to the nightclub, measuring and analyzing each person.

I watched him do his thing for a moment.

“Are you going to tell me why you wanted this meet? You’re still alive. Lane must not know you took his obsession.” Ashton was done cataloging the people around us.

“You brought up my ex-wife and kids last year.”

He stilled, just slightly. I knew him well enough to read him. He was wary.

I liked that he was wary of me. He should be.

“What about it?”

“How’d you know about Tabitha and my son?”

His eyes widened slightly before a cool mask slid back in place. “Cybersecurity is one of my expertises. A marriage certificate came up when I ran you one time. I found her online and saw the kids.”

That made sense, but I didn’t like it. “Why were you looking me up?”

Ignoring his glass, he plucked mine up and took a swallow of the drink. “It came up the first time I ran you before I began paying you. Why are you bringing it up now?” He frowned at me. “You said you had kids. Plural. As in more than one son.”

“I have a son and he has two half sisters.” I added, “They are not mine.”

Ashton was still considering me. “I was needling you last year. The divorce certificate hadn’t come up on the first search, but her name did. And that she was related to a judge.” He took another drag from my bourbon before putting the glass on the table again, sliding it away. “I looked into the possibility if I could use him for anything, but saw he was dead. Is there a reason your son has no idea who you are?”

I gritted my teeth, but that was why I’d called him here.

I said, “It’s none of your fucking business, but I need a favor.”

He laughed, his smirk morphing into a genuine grin before he shook his head. “This oughta be good. Let me guess, you want me to make all that information I was able to unearth not be unearthable?”

“I want it to go away.”

“You haven’t made contact with Lane yet, have you?”

“Before I declare open war on Lane, I want to make sure EJ and his family are safe.”

“Why does your son think another man is his father?”

I countered, “What do you want from me in order to make that go away?”

He went still before expelling a ragged breath. “You’re kidding, right? Your divorce certificate was never put in the system. Why is that?”

I gave him a hard grin. “Because I still have it.”

One of his eyebrows shot up.

“It was one of my fail-safes against Tabitha if I’d ever need it.”

“She married.”

My grin widened. I liked hearing that, liked knowing that I had the power to fuck up her world if I ever needed to. Tabitha liked following the law. She was a rule abider.

She would never recognize me now. I was so far from the boy she knew.

I said, “I know.”

Ashton’s eyes narrowed.

If I wasn’t sure he was too sick and twisted inside, I could’ve sworn there was a flare of respect that flitted over his face before he masked it.

“I know you have the skills to make anything and anyone disappear online. I’m sure Lane would’ve done a perfunctory search on all the members in my family, but there’s a shit ton of us. He couldn’t have done deep searches on every single one of us. He might not have found my marriage certificate.”

“No, he wouldn’t have.”

I went rigid, hearing how smooth Ashton just said that.

His mouth lifted up, a cocky glint in his eyes. “Especially because I hid it years ago.”

“Why the fuck would you have done that?”

“Because you were my employee. I took it on the off chance I would need it to use against you one day. I got a good enough file on you to know that you hated your family almost as much as I did, or more, in fact. You were quite a good little asset that fell into my hands. I sent your uncle a thank-you card when it happened. He didn’t enjoy the card.”

“Which uncle?”

“All of them.”

And this was a part of the reason I felt like Ashton and I were friends sometimes, or could’ve been friends in another life. I wasn’t foolish enough to call anyone in this world a friend. You had alliances, connections, pawns, or enemies.

I grunted. “Good.”

I felt his surprise more than I saw it. No one else would’ve noticed a reaction at all.

He leaned back. “There’s nothing that can be found in an online search that connects you to your ex-wife or your son. I found the marriage certificate. You know what I did with that, and the other pieces were some high school items linking your name to hers. I can take care of those, but according to the records, she’s only married to one man. Your name was not put on any of the children’s birth certificates. The other man’s name is on the two girls’, but not your son’s. At the moment, I didn’t give it a thought, but the boy is yours. If Lane isn’t directed to her, he won’t look close enough to see the resemblance.”

Good. That was all good.

I admitted, “I don’t know what kind of monster I’m unleashing when I let him know about Green.”

Ashton didn’t reply, a calculating expression coming over his face. There was the mask of the monster I knew resided inside of him, the one that enjoyed coming out to torture people.

I wasn’t going to defeat Lane. I already knew that. I’d done more research on him since finding out his role in my life, and I couldn’t get a bead on him. Studying Ashton, I had a feeling he couldn’t either. And if he couldn’t, then neither could his best friend. Ashton wasn’t smug and if he hadn’t felt wary of Lane, he would’ve been all up in my face taunting me about my long-lost cousin.

He wasn’t saying a word.

He was worried.

Was I all sorts of fucked here? Yes.

Did I have any other choice? No.

“I’ll take care of making any connection between you and your son disappear.”

“What do you want in return?”

“Nothing.” He chuckled, wryly, at seeing my reaction. “I’m aware of what we’re about to do. This is my city. Lane’s not allowed in it.”

“The Worthings were still in Maine when he made his demands. He might just stick to Maine.”

Ashton shared a look with me, a mocking curve tugging at his mouth. “You’ve not been aware of this, but while your family was declaring war with us, Lane was also on the move. He has strongholds in Cincinnati, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Ocean City, Providence, and Albany. He doesn’t give a fuck about Maine. He wants your family’s soldiers. Why do you think that is?”

I was placing all the cities in my head, and holy fuck. “He’s surrounding the city.”

“My city is in his sights. Trace and I are aware of this. The war isn’t between you and Lane. It’s between us and Lane. I’ll do my part, but you need to do yours.”

A lot of people were about to die.

“Is that an order?”

Ashton didn’t catch the warning in my tone. “If you need that. Yes, Jake. Consider it a last order from me. Now do your boss a favor and fucking declare war on this motherfucker.”

Everything inside of me turned to ice too. It spread. “I’m not one of your soldiers anymore.”

He rolled his eyes again, shoving up, and he tossed some cash on the table. “Did you ever actually stop? Call Lane tonight. I’d like to finish this war before Lane even fucking knows it’s here. We’ll all be better off when this piece of shit is dead.”

My eyes narrowed when he stood. They turned to slits watching him leave.

Ashton just made a mistake with me. I’d meant what I said to Sawyer.

I was done with taking orders.