Lily |18+ [Paraíso, #1]

ten

|J A K E|

"What's this?" David holds up an ornamental mug he's picked up.

I'm not happy he's here to be honest, that too with Luke, who may or may not be dozing off on the couch at the corner of the room, under the pretext of texting on his phone.

It's nearing dusk now and you can only imagine my surprise and annoyance— mostly directed at David—when a black SUV pulled up right in front of my house.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love my brothers, but sometimes I just can't stand them. Especially when I know why they're here in the first place.   

"I don't know. A mug?"

"Mind explaining what the hell happened at dinner that night?"

"I pulled out a gun and aimed it at Aunt Eve."

He exhales a sharp breath. "We've talked about this, Jake. Rashness will get you nowhere with grandpa."

"Thought I was doing everyone a huge favor."

"Here's a little thought. Why don't you quit being a clueless fuck and do the smart thing this once? Just this once."

"Leave me out of the little band you've formed with Luke. If I wanted to kill grandpa, I would've outed the old fucker a long time ago but no." I spread out my arms. "All you insist on is more time."

David turns to me, livid. "Oh, I'm suddenly the irrational one. The one who goes around killing people who wronged me, burning their houses just cause I feel the need for revenge. I'm the one who refuses to let go of my fucking past." He pauses. "People get hurt, Jake. Every day, all the time. You're not the first one and neither will you be the last."

Is fucking kidding me right now? "You know what he did—"

"Yes, I know what grandpa did. What Eliza did. But if you want them to pay for it, you're going to have to start being smart."

"How about we start with you getting out of my house. I was working on something before you two came here."

"We hit him where it hurts the most," David announces. "Infiltrate and destroy Paraíso."

Paraíso hospital is one of the infamous landmarks in Northlake. So much that the fucking name is featured on the board announcing that you've just entered Northlake, a paradise town on Earth.

It's also the hub of one of the most heinous crimes ever, human trafficking. You'd expect a place like that to be a hotspot for police investigation, but it's a different story when the police chief himself is involved in the trade.

"That place is a fortress. It's suicidal and you know it. I say we paralyze his election bid."

"That won't do anything. His source of wealth comes from Paraíso. If we find a way to bring it down—"

"It will do nothing," Luke says. It's the first time he's said anything so it kind of throws both David and I off for a second. "Destroying Paraíso is not the answer to grandpa's downfall."

"Then what is?" David asks him.

"We know that grandpa took up Julia to mess with Jake's head and it's clearly working." He casts a pointed look at me and I glare at him in return. He needs to watch what he fucking says next because I'm about to clock him.

"Jake can handle Julia," David says.

"Don't you think there's an ulterior motive to her agreeing to grandpa's offer?"

David nods. "There has to be. I mean, think about it. She has a fallout with her father prior to the job offer and is now siding with her dad's frenemy.  That's suspicious as hell."