Criminally Insane

Betrayal

"Do you love my brother," Cassius asked me with a stern look on his face.

I nodded without even thinking about the question. "More than any normal human being would."

He glanced at Cassia as he set his glass of Scotch down on the table in front of us.

"The little stunt that was pulled for your birthday can not happen again until we are sure you're both going to be okay," Colton spoke up.

I knew that he was referring to Rowan surprising me. He was also referring to the events that, later, led to my pregnancy.

"When will I be able to see him again?" I asked Cassia.

She cast me a sympathetic glance before returning her gaze to Colton and her brother.

Here I was, dumbfounded as ever.

The glances, hushed conversations, and nervous looks were starting to piss me off. The three of them had been tiptoeing around me for the past three days.

Cassius cleared his throat before speaking again. "As you already know, Rowan has returned to his manor."

"He wished for me to return to the States as soon as it was safe," I said.

Even though he had impregnated me, I was still going to respect his wishes. I told myself that it would be better for everyone. No one had told him the truth yet, and I wanted to keep it that way until I was too far away to do anything.

I loved him, but I wanted him to be safe as well.

"That is not why you are not seeing him at this present time," Cassius said, shaking his head.

I looked up at him in confusion. "I know that Santee is a problem."

"Rowan has become unstable."

"Rahat," Cassia mumbled under her voice in disgust.

Whatever that was supposed to mean.

I looked at Colton who pretended that his ceiling was more interesting than my confused facial expression. "W-what does he mean-what do you mean he's unstable?" I nearly yelled.

My question was targeted at Colton, but I knew he wasn't going to answer because he couldn't even look me in the face right now.

Cassius took a sip of his liquor before plopping down in the seat across from me.

No one said a word for several minutes.

I couldn't imagine Rowan freaking out. I couldn't imagine him losing his mind; not right now. While so many things were on the line, he wouldn't.

I couldn't even imagine him as a psycho. Not when he had his reasons for doing what he does. It was more than the what justice system could provide.

Not unless he was ambushed with something. There was something that happened that threw him completely off guard.

There was only one thing strong enough to make him lose his mind.

"You told him."

My voice came out in a hushed whisper of disbelief.

None of them said a thing as they looked down.

"Fucking look at me and tell me you didn't!" I screamed, bouncing up from my chair. I heard it hit the ground behind me.

"Scarlett-"

I cut Colton off. "You said you weren't going to tell him." I looked at the siblings. "You said that we were going to figure this out on our own." I looked at Colton who held a sad look on his face.

"We don't know what we're up against," Cassius said.

I noticed that Cassia had barely gotten a word in. I scoffed as I looked at her. "You told him that I knew about Santee."

She opened her mouth to explain, but I didn't want to hear it.

I marched upstairs to my room and slammed the door behind me.

Betrayal.

She was the one who said it was best to figure Santee out, try to handle it, and then tell Rowan before the shit hit the fan.

I stilled in my spot. Had shit hit the fan?

Instead of me storming out, I should have tried to understand the situation and hear their side of the story.

Sighing, I made my way back down the stairs.

Whatever conversation they were having ceased when I walked into the living room.

"Does he hate me?" I asked after their eyes met mine.

"You already know the answer to that," Colton mumbled.

His answer and the sibling's nods of agreement settled my upset stomach.

For a moment, I wondered if this was the final straw for Rowan. He'd finally admitted that he loved me, only to find out that I was holding out on him.

I was sure that he understood why I was so hesitant to tell him about Bulgera, but I was hoping he wasn't thinking it was some attraction-based reason. After I found the second identification card in his drawer, any thoughts of possibly being attracted to that man went out the window.

"I did some research," I stated quietly.

This caught everyone's attention. "Research on what?" Cassius asked me.

"Santee."

Cass and Cassius looked at Colton who grabbed his laptop and put it on the kitchen table.

"I did too, come," he said while waving his hand towards me to follow him.

When I was in view of his computer, I saw a black screen with neon green lines and a lot of green numbers. I didn't understand what I was looking at. "What is this?" I asked Colton.

"Wired money. I've been tracking the process for days." I looked at Cassi since she was the one who answered the question. A look of anger was on her face.

"Someone wired money to Santee?" I asked, looking at the computer again.

Colton mumbled a 'yes' as he walked over and placed a hand on Cassi's shoulder. Her angry look went away.

I turned away from the computer and it went off. "What's happening?" I asked Colton.

In two, long strides, he was in front of his laptop. "Holy shit," he mumbled.

I felt the siblings' presence behind me. They both swore in their own language.

"What's going on?" I asked.

A black box popped up and green letters appeared in bold brightness.

"Thirty million dollars," Cassius mumbled.

ASSASSINATION.

I felt my stomach churn.

"Did they just-"

"Caesar King is paying Bulgera to murder our brother," Cassia said.