Dane

All in. He'd said that he was all in. That was how he had to play it.

​​

All the way fucking in.

And his father went with it. He was armed now--prepared. But his father had been busy all morning and not calling him into the meetings, which made him nervous. So he did what he would have done if it had been his business. He strode to his father's office door and knocked until someone opened it.

Ignoring the flat glare of the spook that kept his father's secrets, and the two men who sat in front of his desk, he pushed into the room and planted himself next to the desk.

"I need to speak with you, now."

His father hadn't startled when he'd pushed in. But he had nerves of steel, so that didn't mean he'd known Dane was coming. His father regarded him, blank faced, on finger to his lips, then glanced at the men he'd been speaking to. "Boys, I think I need the room. You can wait outside."

The two men got up without question, and Dane marveled again at how men around his father bowed to his will. Even the strong ones.

Even Felix, he reminded himself.

The two men left, but the bodyguard remained, and Dane glared. "Alone," he said with a pointed look at his father.

"You want me to trust you that far, Dane?"

"You've been alone with me for hours lately!"

"Not when you were armed."

"Oh for fuck's sake, Dad, the whole reason I'm here is to protect you, not hurt you!" he snarled, ignoring the cool pressure at his lower back which was the handgun Felix had handed him the night before.

His father stared at him again, then nodded at the man by the door, who muttered something about being right outside the door, then stepped out. Dane waited until the door was completely closed and latched before turning on his dad.

"Felix is trying to remove you."

His father blinked. "And you know this because…?"

"Because he offered me a deal."

They stared at each other. His father sat back in his chair and crossed one ankle to the other knee. "And you didn't take him up on it? Why not?"

"Because I have no doubt that if I did anything to hurt you, you've got things in place to hurt Lila and I won't have that. I'm your man, dad. For real. I'm here. And I'm telling you, don't trust Felix."

His father never took his eyes off of Dane, but he didn't speak for a full minute. Dane just held his gaze and let him see that he was being honest.

"Thank you for telling me."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know yet. I need to… look into a few things."

"So you didn't know? You weren't testing me?"

"Oh, I'm testing you, Dane. But, no… this wasn't one of my plans. It may have been Felix's though. I'm… impressed that you told me."

Dane closed his eyes and rubbed his hand through his hair. "I'm not trying to impress you, Dad," he said through his teeth. "I'm trying to show you that you don't have to suspect me. I can't… it's hard enough giving myself up to this, I can't be enemies with you at the same time."

His father scoffed. "I didn't get to where I am by blindly trusting people just because I like them, Dane. If you think I'm going to just throw you a party and let you into every corner of my life because you said I can trust you, you're more naïve than I thought."

"No, that's not what I said. I'm talking about… don't let your concerns about me distract you from the normal plot and pressures that are going on in your life. Felix is powerful. If you were gone, the others would follow him."

"Felix isn't like you and me, Dane," he said. "He's a second man. A back up. He does his best work when it's at someone else's decision. He reminds me of Chris in many ways, actually. If he is truly looking to overthrow me, it isn't to take over for himself. It's because he's found someone else he'd rather follow."

Dane frowned. "I find that hard to believe. Everyone here gives Felix space."

"Because he has the weight of my authority behind him. Trust me, Dane. You'll see. In fact, I'm certain you already know what I'm talking about. Take off the blinkers of your childhood where all the men seemed strong to you. Look at those around you with the eyes of the leader that you are. You'll see it."

Dane pulled his head back, half-offended, half-surprised by his father's insight. It was true he'd had to battle the feelings of being a child again—being inadequate next to these men. His instinct had been to fall back into the role of apprentice he'd had when he was a teen. A dangerous way to think in these circles, it had surprised him.

That his father had noticed was… unnerving. He thought he'd hidden it well.

"Well, regardless," he said through his teeth, "You need to watch Felix."

"Does he know you're coming to me?"

"No. I… I just came. He thinks I'm considering it."

"Well played, son. Well played. Let's keep it that way. Continue to have your conversations with him, and fill me in on the plan. We'll figure things out as we go."

"But, he's going to hear that I broke in on your meeting this morning."

His father shrugged. "I'll tell him you were demanding to know what happened with Lila's health. She's out of the hospital and returning to work, by the way. I meant to tell you that."

Dane's heart ached and he swallowed. Just hearing her name was a spear to his gut. Her name on his father's lips… that he still had such a close cover on her. That Chris was there and he wasn't… It all made Dane sick. He did his best not to think about it because it might drive him literally insane. "Thanks… for telling me," he said quietly.

His father sighed. "You cannot hide your love for her, son. You may as well not try."

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