Deciding Their Fate

ZANE

We all made our way back to Forest’s place, and I trailed behind him into his office. I closed the door behind me with a soft click and turned to face Forest.

“Killing them isn’t an option. They’re my employees, and Reggie is married to my cousin.

“I believe they’re telling the truth. Reggie and his wife have been together for five years and have two little kids. He’s clean, but I had no idea he was in witness protection. He hid it well.”

Forest’s eyes narrowed, his face hardened. “So you’re okay with letting these two off the hook for what they did to a woman you care about?”

“To keep peace in the family, I don’t have a choice. Reggie’s wife is my uncle’s daughter. He’s a powerful man in Italy, and if I kill his son-in-law, he’ll come after me and everyone I love.

“He wouldn’t think twice about torturing my love, then killing me after forcing me to watch him slowly kill her. He’s as ruthless as I am, maybe even more so.

“If I go through with this, I’ll be starting a massive family war with a lot of bloodshed. My family always says, ‘Protect your family at all costs.’ This is one of those costs.

“I don’t want to do this, but he’s family. I don’t have a choice. You can’t kill them either, because my uncle will come after me for not protecting family.

“I’ll move his position to the warehouse on my property. That way, I can keep a closer eye on him and his family.

“He was already supposed to move here to work closer with me. They just closed on their house. I’ll just have to speed up their move.”

“You realize how this will make you look? Like a weak man who can’t handle his family and is scared of them.” Forest’s gaze was so intense it felt like he could kill someone with just a look.

“It won’t make me look weak—it’s about protecting the family. That’s the story. He stepped out of line, and I had to move him to keep them safe. It’ll blow over and everyone will forget.”

I rubbed my temples. This was a serious blow to my pride.

Forest was clearly agitated; he got up from his chair and started pacing. “What if I said no and killed them myself?”

I felt a surge of anger, but I quickly pushed it down. “Then we’d be at war. My family from Italy would come down on you so hard, you probably wouldn’t survive.”

He let out a cold laugh. He turned to me and smirked. “You think your family is that powerful? You’re sure they’d win?”

“I do think highly of them, but you don’t know them like I do. They have three times the contacts and forces we do. Even if we teamed up against them, they’d outnumber us by four thousand.

“That’s why I moved here to start my own group. I was tired of being under my father and uncle’s control, being second-in-command and taking orders from them to gather forces against people.

“I wanted to run my own group, but we’re no match for him. He has almost the entire country—and the neighboring countries—in his pocket.

“Trust me, you don’t want to go up against them. It’d be better to shoot yourself than suffer what he’d do to you,” I said, trying to make him see that killing Reggie would be pointless.

He finally stopped pacing and looked at me.

“So if I let them go, they’ll be moved here under your protection? Your family won’t know who took them or tried to kill them?”

“I’ll cover this up myself, and so will they. I’ll make sure my father and uncle hear a story, and Reggie will stick to the same story. He knows how my uncle and I operate and won’t cross either of us.

“The story will stick. You—and what you did—will never be mentioned. You’ll also have to keep your men quiet. This can’t get out if I’m going to cover it up my way.”

“Fine. If your family is as big and powerful as you say, I don’t want to start a war over this. Especially if it could cost me my life, or Shay’s and yours. Tell your men to take them, and I’ll keep mine quiet.”

As we headed for the door to leave, Forest stepped in front of me, stopping me in my tracks.

“Shay will have to decide what she wants to do before you leave my house. She can stay here or go with you, but you can’t say anything to influence her decision.

“Whatever she decides is her choice. Got it?”

Inside, I was seething at his suggestion, but to keep the peace—and to protect my life and the lives of my friends—I nodded without saying a word.

Forest smirked at me; I was sure he could read the expression on my face. I could feel the anger in my eyes and the heat on my face.

He opened the door. The others were waiting in the large sitting area. Shay was on the couch, chatting and laughing with Conner, Noah, and some of Forest’s men, who were keeping her entertained.

There was a single empty chair and a loveseat where one of Forest’s men was already sitting. I headed for the chair and Forest sat next to his man on the loveseat.

They looked at us as we sat down, and I let him break the news about my men who were tied up downstairs.

“Reggie and Timothy will be returning to their positions with Zane,” he said gruffly. His men turned to him in shock.

“We’ve reached an agreement, and their release was part of it. His uncle is Reggie’s father-in-law; if we kill them, it’ll start a war that we probably won’t survive.

“To avoid that and to keep peace in our homes, I’ve decided to let them go.”

He pointed to two men and flicked his wrist, signaling them to go release Reggie and Timothy. They were brought up a few minutes later. I walked up to them as they stood rubbing their wrists.

“Reggie, call your wife and tell her you’re moving up here today. She needs to get on a plane immediately.

“Your house closing will be taken care of, and your belongings will be moved to the new house I’ve had built for you on my property.

“Tim, it’s the same for you. We’ll be heading back to our house soon, and you’ll both be settled into your new homes. Your stuff will be packed up and moved for you.”

“Thanks, boss,” they both said, settling down on the loveseat. Forest and his guys pulled up some more chairs. Forest took a seat next to the couch where Shay was sandwiched between Noah and Conner.

“Shay, this choice is yours and yours alone.” She turned to Forest, her eyes filled with questions.

“What’s your next move? You can stay here with me and live a life of happiness, or you can go back to the house with Zane and live with him.

“Neither of us will push you. This is a decision you have to make on your own.”

She glanced my way, and I tried my best to keep my face neutral. Then she turned to Forest. Lowering her head, she took a deep breath and began to speak.