Splintered Heart (Love and Other Lies)

6 | Vincent

I curl my hand into my pockets, nodding a goodbye to the lady at the front desk.

I step out of the precinct and stalk down the three concrete steps, whistling under my breath before reaching the idling car and slipping in.

Ezra grunts at me from the driver seat, hardly waiting for me to buckle in before speeding off, silent and reckless as usual.

Enzo leans forward from the back seat, elbows leant on his forearms. "What did you find?"

I glance at him from the corner of my eye, "wait till we get back."

He nods and slips back against the seat as we roll up to a red light and let the silence grow between us.

A car pulls to a stop next to us, the couple inside turning the gazes to us before lifting their noses and ignoring us completely.

"You'd think after five years, we'd get used to the animosity." Enzo mutters from the back and his twin, Ezra scoffs. "Fuck them."

It was true, even though we'd lived here for five, almost six years, half the town still stuck their noses up when we passed. It made my job infinitely harder. Especially when some of the people in this town knew I arrived at the same time as the Devils of The Bay.

They were my brothers after all. Not by blood, not our own anyway.

I shake my head as the light turns green and Ezra steps of the accelerator, speeding us away from the town and further to the outskirts and the gated mansion further away. It was flashy and fucking over the top but it suited us perfectly.

One of the patrolling guards sees the car and opens the gate with a respectful nod, letting us pass.

Ezra knock the car into park and rips out of the car like the devil himself is on his heels while Enzo leaves much more calmly, fixing his black button up like a fine gentleman.

I scoff and knock my shoulder into his, "why the fancy shirt, you planning on going on a date?"

He turns those cheeky eyes to me and winks, "yeah I'm taking your girl out for a sunset stroll, wanna join?"

"Fuck off." I huff and stalk up the steps and into the house, finding my way towards the office.

I step into the opulent room, every piece of furniture picked out by some over priced townie with a degree in shit looking good and flick my gaze to Griffin.

He slams the phone down, cracking the screen and snarling at the thing like a rabid dog.

I raise a brow and he narrows those viscous eyes on me. "Tell me what you have. Johnnys getting on my fucking nerves. He just dropped into one of the warehouses and killed three of our men, injuring seven others before dipping."

"Retribution for the murders? If so he's barking up the wrong tree."

"Try telling the psychotic fuck that."

I throw the usb I'd palmed from the precinct and settle into one of the seat before feeling both the twins enter the office and take up spots behind me as Griffin plugs the usb into his laptop and plays the surveillance footage.

The girl grinds on the man more, her face shielded from the camera, the stupid fucking cowboy hat aiding in her every move.

"She knew where the cameras were." I murmur, watching with calculating eyes as she leads one of the Jackals towards a private room and shuts them inside.

And judging by the scene I'd walked into this morning, that was where she tortured and killed him, then stuck a paintbrush through his eye, yet not after stabbing him sixteen times and strangling him. From what we'd found at the scene, his mouth had been taped shut but she'd taken the tape with her when she left, as well as whatever she'd used to strangle him, my best guess was a garrotte wire.

She hadn't let him die swiftly.

I bet the lovers quarrel is really questioning those sound proof rooms now.

Griffin grunts and pauses the screen on the woman exiting the room, head down and acting drunk and no one bats a fucking eye.

If I wasn't so pissed I'd respect the woman for the act.

"This is getting out of hand." Griffin sighs, lifting a hand to rub between his brows, his curly brown hair falling into his eyes that he sweeps away with a tattooed hand.

"Atleast she's taking care of a problem for us." Enzo mutters, trying to be helpful. It falls flat by the glare spat his way by Griffin.

"Three of our men were just gunned down by Johnny and his men, 7 more are critical or recovering. Tell me how the fuck she's helping us?"

"Okay, maybe not."

Griffin sighs. "Johnny won't listen to reason, he doesn't believe we aren't behind this when every person so far that has been killed has been from his side. He's gonna start a war again."

"We just settled it." Ezra huffs.

"She killed two of Johnny's men, and his girlfriend, they think she belongs to us."

"They think we want their man dead?" Ezra mutters.

"We do." Enzo murmur easily. "But this isn't us."

"Anyone see her?" Ezra asks.

I shake my head, "No. Any eye witness accounts start with what she was wearing and end with what drew their eyes. But at least we know it's a woman now."

Enzo looks confused.

"They only remember what her tits looked like and that her ass peeked out of her shorts every time she took a step."

"She used her body as the distraction."

"The hat stops the cameras and she put her back to them for extra measure. She knew what she was doing." I sigh.

I fucking hate this shit. I'd rather go in guns blazing and ask questions to a corpse then go through all the bureaucratic bullshit.

I pull at the tie and slip my jacket off, unstrapping the holster and laying my guns and badge flat on the desk.

Griffin eyes both with a raised brow. "You know you don't have to stay there. It's risky-"

"We need someone on the inside."

"We can pay them off, Ezra can break and threaten shit. You don't need to do it."

"That's not trust worthy. It needs to be one of us."

Griffin sighs like we've had this conversation a thousand times before. We have.

And I'm right, we can't trust anyone else. Only family.

It's how we've survived this long and it's how we'll continue surviving.