The temptation of my brother-in-law-Chapter 145 - One Hundred and Forty-Five

Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Five

Tyler’s POV

I sat in the dark room, swirling wine in my glass and watching the deep red liquid catch what little light filtered through the cracks in the boarded windows. The warehouse was cold, damp, exactly the kind of place someone like me ended up after being erased from existence by their own family.

I’d just come from the Blackwood mansion. Well, the garage technically. Close enough to smell the money and privilege I used to take for granted, close enough to remember what it felt like to belong somewhere. My father had been predictably paranoid, constantly looking over his shoulder, desperate to make sure no one saw us meeting.

That’s when I’d caught sight of her. Sasha. My little sister. She’d looked right past me like I was another shadow in the darkness, but I’d seen her clearly. Seen how much she’d grown, how the brightness I remembered had been replaced with something harder, sharper.

I missed her. Missed the way her tiny fingers used to curl around just one of mine when she was small, how she’d follow me around the mansion asking endless questions, how she’d looked at me like I was someone worth admiring.

Before Pa Wood decided I wasn’t.

Before everything fell apart.

The door opened and Marcus walked in, bringing a gust of cold air with him. He moved like someone who’d spent time in places that taught you to be quiet, to watch, to never fully relax.

"Missing home?" he asked, leaning against the wall.

"Hmm."

"That’s not an answer."

"It’s the only answer you’re getting."

He studied me for a moment. "You know, in all the time we’ve been working together, you’ve never told me. Why did the old hag banish you? What did you do that was so terrible Pa Wood erased you from the family?"

Images flashed through my mind. Burgundy hair that caught the light just right. Dark eyes that held practiced smiles and carefully constructed lies. A voice that could sound warm while planning cold things. Someone who’d been everything and nothing, real and fake, mine and never mine.

A small smile tugged at my lips. The first real smile I’d managed in years. Not the bitter smirks or cold expressions I’d perfected in exile, but something genuine, even if it was wrapped in pain.

Marcus’s eyebrows rose. "That’s the first time I’ve seen you actually smile. Must be some story."

"It is. But not one I’m telling tonight."

"Fair enough. Everyone’s got their secrets." He pushed off the wall, pulled out his phone. "Preparations are in motion. Everything’s set for phase two."

"Timeline?"

"Two weeks. Maybe three if we want to be extra careful."

"We don’t have three weeks. Two is pushing it already. Pa Wood’s not stupid. He knows something’s coming."

"Then two weeks it is." Marcus pocketed his phone, looked at me carefully. "What about your sister? Sasha. Think she’ll tell Mario what she saw?"

I took another sip of wine, considered the question. Sasha had changed, that much was obvious. The bright little girl who’d followed me around was gone, replaced by someone who looked like she’d learned all the wrong lessons from this family.

But underneath that hardness, underneath whatever mask she’d built, she was still the same person. Still someone who’d loved me once, who might still love me even after years of absence.

"I trust Sasha with my heart," I said. "She might seem cruel on the outside, like she doesn’t care about anything. But she’s easy to coax. Always has been. She won’t be a problem."

"You sure about that? Because if she tells Pa Wood you’re here—"

"She won’t. Sasha hates them as much as I do. Maybe more, since she’s had to live with them all these years while I’ve been free."

"Free in exile isn’t really free."

"It’s freer than being in that mansion, suffocating under Pa Wood’s rules and expectations." I finished my wine, set the glass down with deliberate care. "Sasha will keep quiet. And if she doesn’t, we’ll handle it."

Marcus nodded, accepting my assessment. "Speaking of handling things. The blonde heir from Dark City. He wants to meet with you. Says he has information that could be useful."

My smile deepened, spreading across my face in a way that probably looked unsettling in the dim light. Zhao Wei. The man who’d been laying groundwork in Dark City for years, building power in the shadows while everyone focused on the Blackwoods’ empire in Silver Lake.

He was dangerous. Calculating. Exactly the kind of ally I needed if this was going to work.

"Yes," I said, standing up. "Let’s go meet him."

"Now?"

"Why not? I’ve been waiting years for this. A few more hours won’t make a difference, but I’d rather not waste time."

Marcus led the way out of the warehouse, through the dark streets of the industrial district where no one asked questions and everyone minded their own business. We got into his car, a nondescript sedan that could have belonged to anyone, nothing memorable or traceable.

As we drove toward wherever Zhao Wei had designated for this meeting, I stared out the window at the city passing by. Silver Lake looked different from this angle, from outside the protective bubble of Blackwood wealth and influence. Looked almost normal, almost like a place where regular people lived regular lives.

But I knew better. This city was built on secrets and lies, on families like mine who controlled everything from behind closed doors, who decided who succeeded and who failed, who lived and who got banished into exile.

Pa Wood had made his choice five years ago. Had looked at me with those cold eyes and decided I was expendable, that whatever I’d done was unforgivable, that I needed to disappear.

He’d never asked for my side of the story. Never wanted to hear my reasons. Just made his decree and expected everyone to fall in line.

They had. Even my own father had accepted it, had watched me get erased without protest. Only Sasha had cried, had tried to run after me when they’d escorted me out, had screamed that it wasn’t fair.

She’d been twelve. Too young to understand that fairness had nothing to do with how the Blackwoods operated.

Now she was seventeen, hardened and angry, probably planning her own rebellion. I could work with that. Could use that anger, that resentment, that desire to hurt the people who’d hurt us.

"What are you thinking about?" Marcus asked.

"Revenge."

"Good. That’s what keeps you sharp."

We pulled up to an upscale restaurant, the kind that required reservations weeks in advance and had a dress code that kept out anyone who didn’t look like they belonged. Marcus had connections though, had arranged a private room in the back where we could talk without being overheard.

Zhao Wei was already there when we arrived. Sitting at a table with a bottle of expensive scotch and two glasses, looking relaxed and comfortable like he owned the place. Maybe he did. That’s how men like him operated.

He was younger than I expected. Mid-thirties maybe, with that polished appearance that came from money and careful grooming. But his eyes were cold, calculating, the eyes of someone who’d done things most people couldn’t imagine.

"Tyler Blackwood," he said, standing to shake my hand. "Or should I say, Tyler the ghost? The son who doesn’t exist?"

"Tyler works fine."

"Please, sit. We have much to discuss."

I sat across from him while Marcus took up position near the door, watching and listening but not participating. This was between me and Zhao Wei. This was about building alliances and planning destruction.

"I understand you want to destroy the Blackwoods," Zhao Wei said, pouring scotch into both glasses. "That we have similar goals."

"Similar maybe. But I want to know why. What did Pa Wood do to you?"

"It’s not what he did to me. It’s what he did to people I cared about. What his empire has done to Dark City, to Silver Lake, to everyone who gets caught in his web." Zhao Wei’s expression didn’t change, but something flickered in his eyes. "And I have personal reasons. Reasons involving someone connected to your family now."

"Alicia."

"You know about her?"

"I know she’s Travis’s wife. I know she came from Dark City. I know there’s something about her that has everyone’s attention lately."

"She’s more than that. But we can discuss details later. For now, I want to know if you’re truly committed to this. Because once we start, there’s no going back. Pa Wood will come after us with everything he has."

My smile returned, that genuine expression of anticipation I’d been suppressing for years. "I’ve been waiting five years for this. I’m not backing out now."

"Good. Then let’s discuss phase two."