Arranged: An Array Series (Book #1)(97)

Working on this ‘Getting rid of Sophia’ plan was supposed to be just George and me. I’d no idea how this idiot suckered his way into it.

Reddington stood in front of me, waiting for some congratulations or a pat on the back—I didn’t know. I just wanted him off my field and away from me.

“We studied dozens of documents that your father signed, and they match perfectly,” he went on, as I walked away from him. I’d talk to George about this later.

He followed. “We need to come up with another plan, Garr.”

I stopped mid-step, the dumbass almost bumping into me. Turning around to face him, I scowled.

“It’s not ‘we;’ it’s me and George. Second, you don’t come out here, spilling out information in front of my men.”

Reddington sent me a sheepish grin. “Sorry.” I began to walk away again but he spoke again. “I want to help.”

I crossed my arms “Why is that exactly?”

He furrowed his brows. “What do you mean?”

I shrugged. “You don’t owe us shit. Actually, you should hate us, shouldn’t you, Red?” That only deepened his brows. “Let’s cut the bullshit. Your mother was exiled by the bitch we now call the Enduring Queen. Which, we both know is utter shit, but can’t do anything about. Cecilia sent your mother to poverty, abuse, and a life of hell. Then you show up—out of nowhere, I might add—wanting to help.”

Reddington raised a brow. “Your point?”

I took a step closer. We were just about the same height, him only a tad bit taller than me. “My point is, I think you’re playing us. Have been for a while. George is blind as hell to it; I, on the other hand, am not.”

Reddington narrowed his eyes. “The paranoia is starting to cook your brain. You wouldn’t know how to take help if it slapped you upside the head, Garr.”

I snapped. “Don’t call me Garr.”

A small smile appeared on his lips. “Fine, cousin.”

I clenched my hands into fists. “Keep it up.”

“You need all the help you can get,” he pointed out. “Loosen up on your pride. Ava is a friend. I wouldn’t surmise her happiness for the world.”

I stepped closer. “About that. Stay away from her.”

“It’s not like that,” Reddington countered, waving his hand in the air.

“Don’t like repeating myself, Red.”

“Tell her that.” He fixed his eyes on me, challenging me to be a bullheaded asshole to my fiancée and tell her who she could and couldn’t talk to. He knew I wouldn’t win.

“Go back home,” I retorted, lamely. With that, I didn’t stop walking, even though I heard him still mumbling something.

“Garr!”

Son of a bitch.

Rubbing my temples with two of my fingers, I turned to see George jogging over.

“Hey! Glad I caught you!” He stood next to the man I was trying get away from. “Got some news back.”

“I already heard.”

George looked over at Reddington. “You had the balls to tell him?”

Reddington shrugged. “I didn’t cause it.”

“Sure about that?”

“Stop it, Garr.” George scratched his head. “We need to figure out something else.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Use your kingly powers and make this go away.”

I was acting like a child, asking for something he had no power to give me, but I didn’t care. I needed to voice it. I needed him to hear me. Sophia needed to be gone from my life, so I could breathe again.

George shot daggers at me. “Asshole, I would have done that already if I could.” He shifted to his other leg. “There is something else.”

Geezus fuck.

I needed a drink.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized we needed to get out of here—me, Hara, Mama, and Ava. We needed to disappear.

“Sophia is already moving forward with the wedding plans.”

“I haven’t even seen her!”

“Do you need to?”

“Fuck no, I don’t need to. I won’t be there.”

“I can delay some of her plans,” Reddington quipped. “Buy us some more time.”

“Don’t bother,” I shot back.

George took a step toward me. “You need to go talk to her.”

“Can your kingly powers dismiss a murder charge, because I’ll kill her.”

“You need to play along,” Reddington replied.

I stilled. Did he not understand what the hell we were trying to do? I wasn’t going along with anything, let alone be left alone in a room with her.

I fixed him with a scowl. “And why the hell would I do that?”

“Because you’re going to marry her,” George advised flatly.

Confusion set in first, then anger. Then, I wanted to shake my brother and ask him if he’d been brainwashed.

“You want me to do what?” I clenched my teeth.

I wasn’t going to bow down to this shit. I wasn’t going to play along and give Sophia what she wanted; what she so patiently waited for.

Then it hit me.

Maybe she was behind this. She and her father. They killed my father, so they could make this happen. Though, I felt like I was the only one fighting now.