The temptation of my brother-in-law-Chapter 156 - One Hundred and Fifty-Six

Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Six

Tyler’s POV

I heard about Alicia’s disappearance from Sasha.

She’d sent me a single text in the middle of the night. "The silver-haired one ran. Malachi’s losing his mind."

I read it three times, processing the implications. Alicia. Travis’s wife. Malachi’s obsession. She’d actually left. Packed up and disappeared with her sister, leaving the entire Blackwood family in chaos.

Beautiful.

I was at the warehouse when Marcus found me. "Boss wants to see you. Says it’s urgent."

Boss. Zhao Wei. The man who’d given me resources and purpose when I had nothing. The man who shared my hatred of the Blackwoods, even if his reasons were different from mine.

I found him in his office overlooking the city. He poured two glasses of expensive whiskey and handed me one.

"Did you hear?" he asked.

"About Alicia? Yes. Sasha told me."

"And Malachi’s response?"

"He’s coming to Dark City. Bringing his top people. Apparently he’s decided to handle you personally instead of focusing on finding her."

Zhao smiled. "Exactly as I hoped. Emotional decisions. Strategic mistakes. He’s spiraling."

I took a sip of whiskey. "This works in our favor. If Malachi’s distracted, Pa Wood is vulnerable. The old man can’t hold the empire together alone."

"Agreed. But we need to be careful. Multiple forces moving against the Blackwoods at once could draw attention we don’t want."

"What other forces?"

Zhao pulled up something on his phone. Showed me a message. "Someone sent Alicia recordings. Of Malachi torturing people. That’s what made her run."

I leaned forward. "Who sent them?"

"That’s what I’m trying to figure out. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t you. So who else has access to recordings of Malachi’s darkest moments? Who else wants to destroy his personal life specifically?"

I thought about it. The recordings would have to be old. From Dark City probably. From the years when Malachi had been building his reputation through fear and violence.

"Could be someone from his past. Someone he wronged back then."

"Perhaps. But the timing is too perfect. Right when we’re making our moves. Right when you’re positioning yourself to strike at Pa Wood. Coincidence?"

"I don’t believe in coincidences."

"Neither do I." Zhao set his phone down. "We need to find out who else is playing this game. Before their agenda conflicts with ours."

"Agreed. What about the woman herself? Alicia. Do you know where she is?"

"Italy. Lake Como. Hiding in a villa owned by her friend’s boyfriend."

"Does Malachi know?"

"Not yet. I’ve been monitoring his search efforts. He’s chasing ghosts right now. Multiple jets, multiple destinations. He has no idea which one she actually took."

"Should we tell him?"

Zhao looked at me sharply. "Why would we do that?"

"Because a distracted Malachi is useful. But a Malachi who finds her and brings her back might be easier to manipulate. Especially if we control the circumstances of their reunion."

"Interesting thought. But no. Let him chase shadows. The longer he’s unfocused, the weaker he becomes. The weaker he becomes, the easier it is for us to dismantle what he’s built."

I nodded. Zhao was right. But something about Alicia’s situation nagged at me. This woman I’d never met had somehow become the center of multiple schemes. The key to destroying Malachi’s focus. The catalyst for chaos.

"There’s something else," Zhao said. "A woman in Italy recognized Alicia. Called her a ghost. Said she should be dead."

"What?"

"My operative reported it. Some older woman in a shop. Saw Alicia’s face and had what sounds like a breakdown. Kept saying she was seeing a ghost."

"Who did the woman think Alicia was?"

"No idea. But it’s strange, don’t you think? A random woman in Italy thinking Alicia is someone who died?"

It was strange. But I had more pressing concerns than mysterious women in Italy.

"Focus on Malachi for now," I said. "When does he arrive?"

"Tomorrow morning. He’s setting up in the old warehouse district. Being obvious about it."

"He wants you to know he’s here."

"He wants me to be afraid. To back down. To recognize that the great Malachi Blackwood has returned to reclaim his territory." Zhao laughed. "He doesn’t realize this isn’t his territory anymore. It’s mine. And I’m not afraid of him."

"What about Pa Wood? Has he made any moves?"

"Quiet so far. Probably trying to assess the situation. Figure out why both his grandsons are suddenly in crisis. Travis losing his wife, Malachi chasing revenge in Dark City."

"And me?"

"You’re still a ghost. Still officially banished. Still dead to the family."

Good. That’s how I wanted it. Let them think I was gone. Let them forget about me. Made it easier to move in the shadows.

My phone buzzed. Text from Sasha.

Pa Wood called a family meeting. Everyone’s supposed to be there tomorrow. Even reached out to Malachi but he refused to come back.

I showed the message to Zhao. "Family meeting. Pa Wood’s trying to maintain control."

"Will you go?"

"Can’t. I’m banished, remember? But Sasha will be there. She’ll tell me everything that happens."

"Your sister is proving useful."

"Sasha hates them as much as I do. She just hides it better."

Zhao refilled our glasses. "To chaos. To the Blackwoods tearing themselves apart. To our plans finally coming to fruition."

We clinked glasses. I drank and thought about tomorrow. Pa Wood trying to hold his family together. Malachi arriving in Dark City consumed by rage and obsession. Multiple plots converging at once.

Five years. Five years since Pa Wood had looked at me with those cold eyes and declared me banished. Erased from the family. Forbidden from ever returning. All because of her. Because of what had happened. Because I’d been stupid enough to trust someone with burgundy hair and practiced smiles.

Emily. The girl everyone had loved. The girl who’d been the center of the family. The girl who’d destroyed my life with a few carefully chosen lies.

She was dead now. Had been for years. But the damage she’d caused lived on. My banishment. My exile. My burning need for revenge against the family that had believed her over me.

"What are you thinking about?" Zhao asked.

"The past. The reasons I’m here."

"Emily?"

I’d told him some of it. Not everything. Some wounds were too deep to share even with allies.

"Yes. And Pa Wood. And everyone who decided I was expendable."

"They’ll regret that decision."

"They already do. They just don’t know it yet."

My phone buzzed again. This time it was Marcus. One of Zhao’s men I’d been working with.

"Tyler. We’ve got movement. Some of Pa Wood’s people are in the city. Not Dark City. Silver Lake. They’re looking for someone."

"Looking for who?"

"Don’t know. But they’re being quiet about it. Asking questions in places they don’t usually go. It’s unusual."

I thought about it. Pa Wood’s people searching for someone in Silver Lake. Could be Alicia. Could be looking for whoever sent those recordings. Could be something else entirely.

"Keep monitoring. Let me know if you learn anything specific."

"Will do."

I hung up and looked at Zhao. "Pa Wood’s searching for someone. In Silver Lake."

"Alicia?"

"Maybe. Or whoever’s playing this game with the recordings."

"Either way, he’s reactive instead of proactive. That’s good for us."

"True. But we need to be careful. Pa Wood didn’t build an empire by being stupid. If he’s searching, he suspects something."

"Let him suspect. As long as he doesn’t have proof, we’re fine."

I wanted to believe that. Wanted to think we were safe moving in the shadows. But Pa Wood had a way of seeing things others missed. Of connecting dots that seemed unconnected.

"What about Tyler?" Zhao asked. "Your father. Mario. Is he still useful?"

"He’s scared. Worried I’ll expose his involvement. But yes, he’s still useful. He has access to family information I don’t. And he wants Pa Wood weakened as much as I do."

"His reasons being?"

"Money. Power. The usual. He’s tired of being Pa Wood’s second choice. Tired of watching Malachi get everything while he gets scraps."

"Predictable."

"Predictable people are easy to manipulate."

Zhao stood. Walked to his window. "Everything is moving. All the pieces. Malachi here. Alicia gone. Pa Wood scrambling. The family fracturing. Five years of planning coming together."

"You sound satisfied."

"I am. This is what I’ve been working toward. The Blackwoods falling apart. Their empire crumbling. Justice for everyone they’ve hurt over the years."

Justice. I didn’t care about justice. I cared about revenge. About making them feel the pain they’d made me feel. About destroying the family that had destroyed me.

But Zhao’s motivations worked for me. As long as our goals aligned, his reasons didn’t matter.

"When do we strike?" I asked. "At Pa Wood specifically?"

"Soon. Once Malachi is fully committed here. Once he’s poured resources into fighting me instead of protecting the family. Then we hit Pa Wood from the direction he’s not watching."

"And if something goes wrong?"

"Nothing will go wrong. We’ve planned too carefully. Waited too long. This is our time, Tyler. This is when the Blackwoods finally pay for everything they’ve done."

I finished my whiskey and stood. "I should go. Don’t want to be seen here too often."

"Agreed. Keep me updated on what Sasha reports from the family meeting."

"Will do."

I left Zhao’s office and walked through Dark City’s streets. The city where Malachi and I had both learned to survive. Where we’d both become who we were. Where everything had started to go wrong five years ago.

I thought about Emily. About burgundy hair catching lamplight. About dark eyes that could look warm while calculating cold things. About the lies that had gotten me banished and her sympathy that had made everyone believe I was the villain.

She’d been good at it. Good at making people see what she wanted them to see. Good at playing the victim while destroying others.

And then she’d died. Some kind of accident. Convenient. Perfect. Removing the one person who could have told the truth about what really happened.

Sometimes I wondered if it really had been an accident. If someone had known what she was. What she’d done. And decided to solve the problem permanently.

But it didn’t matter now. Emily was gone. And I was here. Building toward the moment when I could finally make Pa Wood understand what he’d done. When I could make them all understand.

My phone buzzed. Sasha again.

Malachi’s really losing it. Heard him on the phone yelling at someone about tracking Alicia. Pa Wood looked worried.

I smiled. Good. Let them worry. Let them scramble. Let them tear themselves apart.

Because while they were focused on Malachi’s obsession and Alicia’s disappearance and Zhao’s provocations, I was moving in the shadows. Getting closer. Preparing for the moment when I could strike.

And when that moment came, they wouldn’t see it coming.

Just like I hadn’t seen Emily’s betrayal coming five years ago.

Poetic justice, really.

I walked through the night, thinking about revenge and timing and all the ways this could go right or wrong.

But mostly I thought about how good it would feel to watch Pa Wood’s face when he realized his favorite grandson couldn’t save him. When he realized the family was falling and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

That moment would make five years of exile worth it.

That moment would make everything worth it.