The temptation of my brother-in-law-Chapter 155 - One Hundred and Fifty-Five

Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Five

Zhao Wei’s POV

I was in my Dark City office when the call came. One of my informants, voice tight with the kind of tension that meant something significant had happened.

"Malachi Blackwood is coming back. He’s moving operations to Dark City. Bringing his top people with him."

I leaned back in my chair, a smile spreading across my face. "Is that so? How generous of him to come to me."

"Boss, this could be dangerous. He’s not coming for a visit. He’s coming for war."

"I know exactly why he’s coming. I’ve been hitting his shipments, disrupting his operations, making him bleed. Of course he’s coming. I expected nothing less."

I hung up and stared out my window at the city below. Dark City. The place where both Malachi and I had built our foundations, where we’d learned to be who we were. He’d left years ago, moved to Silver Lake, thought he could leave this place behind.

But Dark City never really let you go. It stayed in your blood, shaped who you became. And now it was calling him back.

My phone buzzed. Text from little ghost.

Malachi’s en route. ETA tomorrow morning. He’s bringing Violet, Rose, Dante, and Mavis.

I texted back.

Let him come. Make sure our people are ready but don’t engage yet. I want to see what he does first.

Understood.

I poured myself a drink and thought about Malachi Blackwood. We’d never met face to face, though I’d studied him extensively over the years. Knew his patterns, his weaknesses, his pressure points. Knew that he was dangerous and smart and utterly ruthless when he needed to be.

But he was also distracted. The reports I’d been getting suggested he was falling apart over some woman. Alicia. His brother’s wife. The woman who’d disappeared and sent him spiraling.

The same woman who was currently hiding in Italy, though Malachi didn’t know that yet. My people had been tracking her since she ran. Not because I planned to do anything with the information, but because knowledge was power and you never knew when information might become useful.

Alicia. I’d been surprised when I’d learned who she’d married into. That little girl with the silver hair, the one whose mother my father had employed, the one who’d run through our mansion’s hallways while I’d glared at her with childish hatred.

She’d grown up beautiful. Strong. Nothing like the scared little girl I remembered. And she’d somehow ended up married to a Blackwood, caught in the middle of family drama that made my own childhood look simple.

I didn’t feel sorry for her. Couldn’t afford to feel sorry for anyone. But there was a certain irony in how our paths had crossed again after all these years.

Another text from little ghost.

The woman in Bellagio. The one who called Alicia a ghost. Should I investigate?

I frowned. That was an interesting development. Someone in Italy had recognized Alicia. Or thought they recognized her. Called her a ghost, said she should be dead.

Who had they thought she was? And why did they think this person was dead?

No. Focus on Malachi for now. But keep monitoring the Italy situation. If it becomes relevant, we’ll deal with it.

Copy that.

I stood up, walked to the window. Dark City sprawled below me, a maze of streets and buildings and secrets. This was my territory now. I’d spent years building my power base here, creating networks that ran deeper than anything Malachi had left behind.

He was coming back thinking he still knew this place. Thinking his old connections and knowledge would give him an advantage. He was wrong.

Dark City had changed in the years since he’d left. New players, new rules, new power structures. And I was at the center of all of it.

My second-in-command, Marcus, knocked and entered. "Heard the news about Blackwood."

"Everyone’s heard by now. I’m sure he wants us to know he’s coming."

"What’s the play?"

"We wait. Let him make the first move. He’s emotional right now, off balance. Emotional people make mistakes."

"You think he’ll actually attack us directly?"

"I think he’ll try to reestablish his presence here first. Shore up old alliances, remind people who he used to be. Then he’ll come for us."

"And we let him?"

"For now. I want to see how far his rage takes him. Want to watch him overextend himself trying to prove he’s still the man he was before he left."

Marcus nodded. "The hits on his shipments worked. Got him angry enough to abandon Silver Lake and come here. What’s next?"

"Next we make him chase shadows. Small provocations. Nothing he can definitively trace back to us but enough to keep him frustrated. Keep him focused on revenge instead of strategy."

"That’s playing with fire. Malachi Blackwood isn’t someone you want as an enemy."

"I’m already his enemy. Have been since I started moving into his territory. This just makes it official." I turned from the window. "Besides, he’s not invincible. He’s just a man with resources and a reputation. And right now he’s a man whose judgment is compromised by emotion."

"The woman. Alicia."

"Yes. He’s obsessed with her. Can’t think straight because she ran from him. That obsession is going to be his downfall."

"You sound certain."

"I am certain. I’ve seen it before. Men who build empires, who pride themselves on control and power, they all have the same weakness. They can handle business competition, rival organizations, even betrayal. But they can’t handle losing someone they love. It unravels them."

Marcus looked thoughtful. "Do you plan to use her? Alicia?"

"Only if necessary. Right now she’s useful as a distraction. She’s already in Italy, already hiding from him. Why interfere when she’s doing such a good job of driving him crazy all on her own?"

"And if that changes?"

"Then we reassess. But for now, Alicia Blackwood is exactly where she needs to be. Far away from here, making Malachi question everything, keeping him off balance."

My phone rang. Another informant.

"Zhao, we’ve got movement. Some of Malachi’s people are already in the city. Setting up at the old warehouse district."

"The one on the east side?"

"Yes. They’re being obvious about it. Want everyone to know they’re here."

"Good. Let them settle in. Monitor their movements but don’t engage. I want to know everyone who comes and goes from that warehouse."

"Understood."

I hung up and smiled. Malachi was making this easy. Setting up in a location that was easy to watch, announcing his presence like he wanted to provoke a response.

He was too angry to be subtle. Too focused on revenge to think strategically. Exactly what I needed him to be.

"Marcus, I want surveillance on that warehouse twenty-four seven. I want to know every person who walks in and out. Every shipment, every meeting, every phone call if we can manage it."

"Consider it done."

"And increase security at our key locations. Not because I think he’ll hit us immediately, but because preparation prevents problems."

"What about our other operations? The ones that don’t involve Blackwood?"

"Continue as planned. Don’t let his arrival disrupt our normal business. We’re not hiding from him. We’re just being smart about how we engage."

Marcus left to implement my instructions. I stayed at the window, watching Dark City’s lights flicker in the growing darkness.

Malachi Blackwood was coming. Bringing his rage and his resources and his need for revenge. He thought he was coming to destroy me, to reclaim his territory, to remind everyone who he used to be.

But he was really coming to his own downfall. He just didn’t know it yet.

I raised my glass toward the window, toward the city that had made us both what we were.

"Welcome home, Malachi. Let’s see how long you last."

My phone buzzed one more time. Little ghost.

One more thing. The recordings sent to Alicia. They weren’t from us. Someone else is playing this game too.

I stared at the message. The recordings of Malachi torturing people, the ones that had sent Alicia running to Italy. I hadn’t ordered those sent. Hadn’t even known they existed.

Which meant someone else was targeting Malachi. Someone else wanted to destroy his relationship with Alicia. Someone else was moving pieces on this board.

Interesting.

Find out who sent them. Quietly. I want to know who else is playing.

Already working on it.

I set my phone down and thought about the implications. Multiple forces moving against the Blackwoods. Tyler with his plans for revenge against Pa Wood. Me with my territorial ambitions. And now someone else, someone who’d gone to the trouble of recording Malachi’s darkest moments and using them to drive away the woman he loved.

The Blackwood empire was under attack from multiple directions at once. And they didn’t even know it yet.

This was going to be even more entertaining than I’d anticipated.