One Last Rainy Day: The Legacy of a Prince(113)
“I’ve lost every fucking thing right along with you, you selfish prick!”
I see it the second it registers with him.
Delphine.
I swallow as what strength I have disperses. Aside from watching the woman I love lose her battle to a sickness I couldn’t fight for her, my brothers are all walking shells at this point. His eyes slick over with grief as he studies me.
“Tyler, I know that I’m—”
“If I don’t ever get my brother’s back, I guess that’s one thing, and maybe, one day, I’ll make peace with that.” I relay, choking on the fact that may be the truth. “But that’s not happening today. So, I’m not carrying out another fucking task for this ink until I have the man back who put it there. Wake the fuck up, T,” I stalk over to the door.
Gripping the long handle, I glance back to see him looking at me. If anything, I’ve earned his attention. “You take for granted the breath in your body while I watched her struggle for every single one. She wanted those breaths because it meant having another day—with me. You want to line up with the rest of your family, go right on ahead, but I will not fucking be there to witness it if you don’t fight for your own breaths anymore. They deserve better . . . I deserve better. So, if you give a fuck about me at all,” I plead with him for the last fucking time, “wake the fuck up!”
To my surprise, Tobias texted me back to the hospital the next day. Sadly, my plan to motivate him with Dom’s laptop and target list bit me in the ass when Tobias was unable to crack into it.
Eight years later, we’re no closer than he was the day I delivered it, hoping it would restore his fire and give him a renewed sense of purpose.
He’s found that purpose and is more determined than ever to see the rest of his mission through. But knowing Tobias, he won’t be able to rest until he’s made good on the promise he made to Dom years ago.
To be fair, we’ve already seen a lot of those through. If he is watching, I doubt Dom would be disappointed. Tobias’s renewed sense of mission has him anxious to get started. One is because of the position we’re in with the US Government. Two, so at one point, he can claim his newly architected future with Cecelia.
I can’t blame him at all for the selfish quest to end it prematurely. I had the same selfish need in savoring the seconds with the love of my life.
If given the chance, I’d do it all over again—even knowing the outcome. Though, I went in knowing it.
After years of selfless deprivation, Tobias is wise to that—of how precious a currency time is, and in no way do I disagree that we need to see the last of this through before either of us can hang it up.
Our sacrifices are too fucking many, too great—it’s our time to reign.
This time, with the addition of a queen.
Her wings and upgraded status rightfully earned.
Even as Dom’s plan to overthrow Antoine took a back seat to our war with Miami, the reforming of our organization, the election, and the destruction of loose ends—Julien never forgot. Tasked with the unimaginable, Julien recruited carefully and masterfully, strengthening the birds hidden in Antoine’s ranks. Dom’s plan hatched just in time for Cecelia to swoop in and set off a chain of events to take Antoine down.
In our short stint working together since, Julien has quickly become one of our most trusted assets, surprising us all with his capabilities. Though Dom is irreplaceable, Julien has proven to be worth his weight in fucking gold.
We’ve been maiming those remaining in Antoine’s defective army in the months since Cecelia took him down. Clearing a path for the next phase.
Some of the fuckers Antoine had under his rule were ruthless to the point they in no way wanted to change their ways to suit having wings, and so, we’ve had to put a few down. Thankfully, through Julien, we’ve been able to track down the hardest cases.
But because we’ve had to wipe so many of Antoine’s thugs from our docket, we’ve made new enemies, and they’re making their presence known.
Many of them have become bold in their quest to retaliate. As a precautionary measure, we’ve moved residences every day for the last week. Tonight, we rented out an entire boutique hotel and have armed French ravens on watch taking sweep shifts on every floor. We also have Secret Service on every block within a quarter mile—added aid from my boss and our current President.
We have no plans to go quietly, or for that matter at all, especially with the recent drastic increase in the size of our movement.
After pulling on a T-shirt, I tuck a gun in the back of my jeans and exit my room, nodding at the two birds standing guard just outside their suite door before knocking.
Seconds later, Tobias answers in nothing but his pajama bottoms, his posture wary from another day of clean up.
He opens the door just enough for me to slip in with his whisper, “Cecelia’s sleeping.”
Nodding, I bend to greet Beau, allowing him to sniff my hand before scratching behind his ears. As cute as he is, he’s a temperamental, needy little shit who will make a fuss if he’s not acknowledged or doesn’t get the love he feels he deserves. He is also the second apple of Tobias’s eye.
Scanning the large suite, I spy the open laptop at the end of a solid oak dining room table that seats a dozen and make my way toward it. Tobias takes a seat behind the table and types in the first of two passwords. The first password he created was enclosed in the note the day I delivered it.