To that, I do have an answer. “Yes.” No hesitation.
The corner of his mouth curves upward and he nods. “Then, that’s what I’m doing here.”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“I’m here to give you that chance, Juliet.” He steps away from me again and turns to face the guys. “To give all of you that chance.”
Lex glares at his uncle. “Why?” he demands.
Viks sighs, the action lifting his shoulders and lowering them again. “Because when I needed an out twenty or so years ago, someone gave me one,” he replies. “Now, it’s my turn.”
“So, it has nothing to do with me then?” Lex narrows his eyes.
“Oh, it’s definitely about you.” Viks doesn’t even bother to hide his intention. “Yes, you’re my nephew by blood, but you’re also the Scorpion…” Viks pauses as shock ricochets through the room, and then he smiles. “Did I forget to mention I knew that little fact?”
“Yes.” Nolan hisses the word out, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. “You did.”
Viks shrugs, unrepentant. “Well, now you know. Eastpoint University is interested in potential students that have particularly useful skill sets and they’ve had their eyes on the Scorpion for a while. Imagine my surprise when I find that we have something in common.”
Gio is the first one to point out the obvious flaw in Viks’ words. “That still doesn’t explain why you’d be willing to help the rest of us.”
Fabric tightens and stretches taut over Viks’ large body as he crosses his arms. “There are a lot of things at play here, the first of which is the Scorpion, and the second—Darrio Vargas’ intention of running drugs through my fucking city.”
“What?” Whipping towards Nolan and the others, I glare at the three of them. “Drugs running in Eastpoint, are you fucking serious?”
Nolan bares his teeth, but he doesn’t deny the accusation. Weed is one thing. A few Xanax or Adderall pills here or thereto students in need of a little extra help on their finals, but… Eastpoint is a city of the top one percent. They aren’t the kind of drug users that want cheap-ass grass. Their drugs of choice would be far harder, something like…
“Cocaine?” Nolan flinches as I voice the question, and I know I’m right. Not just no, but fuck no. “Nolan.” I step towards him. “You can’t do that. Is that why we went to Eastpoint?” I ask him. “It wasn’t for the tour, was it?”
Viks brushes past me. “Yes,” he says, answering me when Nolan doesn’t. “He was there in Eastpoint to meet with a prospective contact on behalf of the Vargas gang. Tell me something, son.” Viks stops in front of Nolan and though I can’t see the older man’s face, I can see the glower that Nolan shoots up to him. “Did Darrio tell you why he wanted you to be the one to go, or did he merely tell you to do what you were told?”
Silence descends in the room and it only breaks a moment later when Gio releases a low curse. “Mierda.” He rakes a hand down his face. “He knows.”
Without stepping away from Nolan, Viks raises a hand and points his way. “Bingo, kid. Your old man knows exactly what the three of you were planning. He has for a long time.”
“How would you know that?” Nolan demands, expression growing darker by the second. My insides churn with untapped dread. I’ve never asked about the guys’ work with Darrio Vargas.
Sure, I’ve known about it, but I’d always assumed that, other than Gio being Darrio’s son, the three of them were just low men on the totem pole. Small-time drug dealers. They’d obviously stop when they moved away, but if they’re traveling to Eastpoint to set up work with drug runners, then things aren’t as simple as I thought.
“Oh, I know a lot more than you think I do,” Viks says, his voice rather stony. “But then you expected that, too, didn’t you?”Viks turns to the side, casting a look back at Lex and Gio and then me.
Nolan meets his eyes when he turns back to him, but I’m not so certain we should be here anymore. It’s clear that whatever the guys talked about with Viks over the weekend, none of it included this. We might be in over our heads, and with Morpheus we can’t afford to add more problems to the mix.
“I know you work for a very powerful man,” Nolan states. “It might seem like you’re no longer on his payroll, but if you know the goings-on at Eastpoint University when you’re neither an instructor nor a staff member there…” He pauses, letting the words drift off as a meaning only the two of them recognize passes between them. “You’re still just as much the bitch of the rich and powerful as we all are.”
At that, Viks releases a bark of laughter so loud it makes me jump. The laughter quickly morphs into low, male chuckles and when Viks finally looks at Nolan again, it’s with clear amusement. “Is that what you think you know?” he asks, then shakes his head.
“Am I wrong?” Nolan bites out.
“Yes, actually,” Viks replies. “But I can see how you might think that. The Carters are much better at covering their tracks than all that and they don’t work alone.”
Turning away from us, Viks drifts back to the wet bar and refills his glass. Only once he’s set the decanter back into place does he return to leaning on it and gazing at the rest of us. Somehow, dressed down as he is with a plethora of tattoos lining the muscular ridges of his forearms, disappearing into his shirt and reappearing at the collar to cover much of his neck, he strikes me as both endearing and… dangerous. Perhaps… is Viks more dangerous than Morpheus Calloway?
Have we traded one monster for another?
“Now, sit down.” Viks lifts his glass and sucks back a gulp of the amber liquid. “And let me tell you how the fuck I’m going to get your dumb asses out of this problem.”
“Are you going to get rid of the Vargas gang?” Gio asks, his tone tight. Not a single one of us takes a seat despite the order.
