By My Rules - Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Drake rushed straight up to the second floor. However, before he could even reach me, the projection screen in the center of the estate lit up. What played across the white wall wasn't wedding blessings. It was accounts, consisting of page after page of offshore transactions, falsified customs declarations, warehouse transfer logs, and records of his meetings with outside crews, complete with dates and locations. There were even summaries of recorded conversations, proof that he'd been trafficking drugs behind the family's back.

At first, a few people downstairs forced themselves to speak up for him. However, when the third page flipped, the entire hall fell silent because those shipping routes were too familiar. Familiar enough that quite a few people present had taken a cut from them and accepted his favors. "Turn it off!" Drake lunged forward, grabbing the man at the control panel, his eyes bloodshot. "I said turn it off!" Irested a hand on the railing and started walking down. My heels struck the wooden stairs-not loud, but steady. The sound cut through the strained breathing that filled the hall.

"What's the rush?" I looked at him, a faint smile on my lips. " Isn't there a wedding to finish? The guests should at least see what kind of man the groom really is." Drake spun around, his voice low. "Violet, you've lost your mind." "Lost my mind?" I stopped at the final step. "When you used my family as your stepping stone, when you turned our marriage into your cover, and when you made the family's ports and warehouses your personal vault, why didn't you say you lost your mind then?" He stared at me, eyes locked, like he was trying to figure out whether I still had more cards to play.

"Do you really want to take this all the way?" "T didn't do this." I lifted a hand, signaling for the next file to be displayed as I said, "It was you. You walked yourself into a dead end." Another clip appeared on the screen. It was surveillance footage, and in it, Drake was meeting two unfamiliar men ina back warehouse by the docks. One of them was a known arms broker-someone the federal authorities had been watching closely. Aripple of hushed shock spread through the hall. One of the senior members beside the Godfather spoke, his expression grim.

"Drake, is that you?" Drake didn't answer right away. Instead, he looked at me, like he was finally beginning to understand what tonight really was. "When did you start digging into me?" "The first time you picked out that necklace for Lina." I said calmly, "You thought you were challenging me, but every step you took, I was watching." He let out a cold laugh, but the vein at his temple tightened. "So you just pretended not to know?" "What else should I have done?" I met his gaze. "Throwa scene over a woman, like you wanted?