Page 127 of Shades of Loyalty
Today, he’s broken. Sleep-deprived, hollow, like a man who’s already half-dead. And he forgot about his own grandchild.
I shake it off and add the kids to the list. It wouldn’t have mattered if they weren’t on the list—they would’ve come with us anyway.
They might not fully understand funerals, but leaving them behind? Unprotected? In this house, in this situation? No chance. Jennifer and Vicky wouldn’t allow it, and neither would I.
"Ah, and Daniel?" My father slides a piece of paper toward me. "Call these numbers. Your mother’s siblings might want to come. And maybe Lorenzo too. I doubt he even knows she’s gone yet."
I freeze.
"Lorenzo?"
He scoffs. "Yes. Your uncle. You forgot about him?"
If I’m being honest? Sort of.
I barely remember him at all. He didn’t exist to me for most of my life.
"Why would he come?" I ask carefully. "I don’t mean to be rude, but… haven’t you two hated each other for years?"
My father just shrugs. "Sure, we hate each other. But we’rebrothers. And this is not about us. He loved your mother. They were best friends for years. Just call him, will you?"
I push back my chair and stand up so fast my father actually looks at me with an emotion other than grief—just a flicker of something else, maybe suspicion, maybe exhaustion, before he looks away again.
Everything suddenly clicks.
My father and Lorenzo have hated each other since before I was born. Why?
My uncle has been bitter for years, pissed that my father got to be boss instead of him. And now that I’m the boss?
Of course he wants to fuck me over.
My mind spins. My mother—the most loved woman in this family—was killed.
And the man I tortured before he died?
“I—I don’t know the name, I swear! It was something—Lo? Lore? Loran? Man, I don’t know! I swear it!”
I thought he was lying.
But he wasn’t. He was telling the fucking truth.
I was so fucking stupid. How did I not see it sooner?
I turn toward the door. "I have something to take care of. I’ll call him later."
My father sighs and returns to his paperwork. He doesn’t even question me. He’s too deep in his own grief.
Good.
Because I don’t want him to stop me.
By the time I make it to my car, my hands are shaking. God, I have to focus.
I call Hayden immediately. "Track down Lorenzo’s location. My uncle. I got his phone number."
He sounds confused, but he doesn’t question it.
Less than fifteen minutes later, Julian and Hayden send me the address I needed to know.
