My Oppenent: The Stone Brothers, #2

By Rachel Foster

Dante Stone is a shark in the courtroom. He's even more dangerous outside of it. The family attorney has protected them from facing the consequences of what they've done for far too long. It's time they all paid the price. And I'm the one who will bring them down. In theory. In reality, the man's charm is too much even for me to resist. My career and my mission are my life. But that silver-tongued devil has managed to derail them both with a quick smile and well-played hand. So much for the ethics I've always hung my hat on. They went out the door the moment I fell into bed with Dante Stone. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: 3rd Publishing
• Release date: Mar 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215231739

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My Oppenent

Rachel Foster

Copyright © 2018 by Rachel Foster

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Contents

My Oppenent

My Oppenent

1

D

ante

What did you want me to do? You were pissed that I was seeing Ariana, Dad was pissed things weren’t going as quickly as they could have been, and you were telling me to get this figured out, Deacon pointed first to Gabriel, then to me as he spoke.

You could have had a little more communication with the rest of us before you went in there and offed the guy, I said. I had no idea you were going to do something that rash.

So, you just told Ariana that I was going to act on behalf of the family for shits and giggles? he accused.

No, I knew you were going to do something, but I didn’t quite know what. My jaw dropped when I heard that you killed the senator. You’re lucky you didn’t get caught outright, I said. You know how hard it would have been to get you out of jail – if it was possible, at all?

You knew I was going in there to get him. He now turned his attention to Gabriel, our half-brother. You were the one who turned off the security cameras so I could.

I knew you were going to do something, but like Dante, I had no idea you were going to actually go through with killing the bastard. Come on, you were fucking his daughter. How would I know you were going to go that big? Gabe shot back.

You certainly seemed supportive enough at the time, Deacon argued. Gabe gave him a look.

I was all for the original plan, but you went and fucked that up, too, he said.

I’m glad you didn’t cut the fingers off my girlfriend, and I’m not going to apologize that you didn’t get to. Deacon gave our brother a look, and I shook my head.

You just really complicated shit for the family with that little stunt you pulled, I said. You might have stopped the bill from going through, but you made my life a lot harder for the time being.

It’s a good thing you’re a good lawyer then, isn’t it? he said, giving me the same look he had just given our brother. I have faith you’ll wrap this up just fine.

I shook my head. There was just no arguing with my twin brother. We were close, sure, but he had just pulled a stunt that put the entire family in the spotlight.

We were already infamous for our money laundering, but when he murdered Senator Maldonado for the sake of stopping a bill the man was trying to push through to the Senate, he really made our lives difficult.

The plan had originally been to kidnap the senator’s daughter and hold her for ransom. But, the plan fell through when my brother fell in love with the girl. He stood up to our father and Gabe, causing both to feel like he was turning his back on the family. To remedy the situation, he chose to fly down to DC and take care of the issue himself.

I felt like Gabriel had known more about the situation at the time than he was letting on now, but I wasn’t going to get into a fight of semantics with him. The fact of the matter was that he and I were both pissed with our older brother for killing the man without having more support from the family, and Gabriel was pissed that Deacon had fallen in love with Ariana.

Tensions had run high over the past few weeks, but now I was doing my best to act as mediator between my two brothers. Not that I was any happier with Deacon for the murder, but I knew if we were going to make it through the mess we now found ourselves in, then we were going to have to be united.

It didn’t matter to me that Deacon had fallen in love with Ariana. It didn’t make sense since none of us had known anything but the harsh coldness of our father and the stiff politeness of nannies most of our lives. But, if he was happy, I was happy for him.

Our mother had passed away giving birth to our youngest brother, Caleb. At the time, Deacon and I were just eight years old. Our father never remarried, but he did hire plenty of nannies to care of us in our younger years – and he made sure he turned us all into cold, calculating businessmen.

None of us were afraid to get our hands dirty, though it often fell to Gabriel to do the dirty work since he was the one with military experience. We worked closely with the cartel and the mafia, securing funds and laundering money, dealing with drugs or even weapons from time to time.

If there was good money in it, it wasn’t below our efforts, and all was carried out under the watchful eye of our cruel and heartless father, Alastair Stone.

He hadn’t been involved in our lives much over the past few weeks, which was just as well with the tension between the three of us oldest brothers. Still, I felt it was time to put the nonsense behind us and figure out how to get out of the mess created by the murder. It wasn’t going to be easy, but with my lawyer skills, I was confident in my ability to handle it.

All I’m asking is that moving forward, you keep me in the loop of what you are going to do, okay? I asked. If I’m going to be your lawyer in this case, I’m going to have to know every time you eat, sleep, shit, and breathe.

It’s not even an official case yet! he protested. They only have suspicions that I’m involved. There’s nothing to prove that I was there!

Oh, isn’t there? I asked, looking down at my phone as it rang. We’ll have to see about that.

I rose and stepped away from the table, leaving my brothers to their bickering so I could take the call in private. I recognized the number as one of my FBI informants, and I had a feeling the news wasn’t going to be anything I wanted to hear.

Talk to me, I said.

You alone?

Yes, I replied. What’s going on down there?

You’ve got a federal prosecutor on your tail, he said. She’s sniffing around trying to get more information on the Maldonado case.

Fuck, who is she? I asked, my heart sinking.

Temperance Kennedy, he replied.

Fuck, I said again.

You know her?

I more know of her than know her personally, I said.

And, it was true. I had crossed paths with Temperance more than once in my career. I’d never said more than two words to her in the past, but I still knew she was a damn good prosecutor. We weren’t on bad terms with each other, but we weren’t friendly, either.

She was the last person I would want on the case. Things had gotten that much harder, and I was ready to strangle Deacon for what he had gotten us in to.

How much does she have right now? I asked.

Not enough, he said. I just know she’s been doing some digging, and she’s taken it on full time. I guess, she’s got nothing better to do.

Well, this would be quite the case to bring to court if she’s able to get some dirt on the family, I replied. And, it’s going to take some real skill for me to get us back out of it if she does.

I’ll keep you in the loop over what’s going on down here, he said.

Thanks, I replied before hanging up. I walked back to the table and sat down, glaring at my brother.

What? he asked.

Turns out you have a prosecutor sniffing around your case. And, she’s a damn good one, too, I said.

Shit, he muttered.

You better hope to God she’s not able to piece together enough evidence to take this to a jury, or we could really be in some hot water, I warned.

Can you do anything to stop her from looking into it? he asked.

No, I said. But, I can start working on a defense.

Do you think we’re going to need it? Gabriel asked.

I don’t know, I said. I just know if we do, we’re going to want as much of a head start as possible.

I rose from the table and headed toward the study, pausing before I walked inside. Oh, and Deacon, I said, turning slightly.

Yeah? He looked rather defeated.

Please try not to do anything else stupid.

2

T

emperance

I’m telling you, Jack, I could get easily get a two hundred count indictment if I just had enough evidence they were involved in this murder, I said. We do that, and we can take them out for good. At least, those who are in DC and New York. Think about it.

I’m not sure, he said. You don’t know they were actually involved.

Come on, you don’t think this family – the family who is well-known for murders, money laundering, bribery, coercion, and more – was involved in the murder of a politician who was pushing a bill that would have completely ruined much of what they are doing?

I think there are a lot of people who wanted Maldonado gone, he said.

Yes, but the Stones in particular are a group of people who are especially involved in crime, I argued.

Yet, they somehow are able to always stay out of prison. You know as well as I do that going after them is asking for trouble. Imagine if you do try this, and they come out on top? You might as well be poking a sleeping giant, he warned.

That’s because one of the men in the family is a lawyer! I said. And, he’s a good one, too. That’s why I want to get a jump on the case. I want to come down hard on them before they have the chance to really build the bullshit defense they would try to piece together.

It was true. I knew of Dante Stone. We weren’t friends by any means, but we had spoken a time or two. I didn’t know him well. Didn’t care to. If there was one thing I couldn’t stand, it was a crooked lawyer – and he was definitely a crooked lawyer.

For him to be able to get his family out of trouble time and time again was admirable, but not in a good way. There were plenty of times I knew they should have gone down for one thing or another, but they always managed to get out of it.

I had seen innocent men get thrown behind bars because of what Dante had done. I had seen wronged people have to live with the hurt because he was able to get his family out of the trouble they had gotten into. He was a bully, and he often used intimidation along with his defense to scare people into silence.

The problem was, it worked. It even worked on so many other prosecutors. But, I wasn’t afraid of Dante or his family. I wasn’t afraid to go up against him. If I just had enough proof, I could go after them like a fox after a rabbit.

They wouldn’t stand a chance.

Yes, I know, Jack replied. But, I worry about you. You’re ambitious, kid. I admire that you want to figure out what happened here, but I don’t want you to get in over your head. You poke the bear, and you’re going to get attacked.

I want to do the right thing, I said. My dad taught me not to shy away from what it good and true, and that’s what I intend. I would love to see each and every one of the Stones end up in federal prison for life. From Caleb right up to Alastair.

You sure seem to know a lot about the family, Jack commented. Are you sure this isn’t something personal?

Perhaps, in a way, I admitted. My dad did a lot of work on their cases, trying to find enough proof to take them down and lock them up. But, they were good. He wasn’t ever able to come up with enough to put them before a federal jury. I’m going to finish the work he started. I’m going to find a way to get these people off the streets and behind bars where they belong.

Temperance, Jack said sympathetically. I know you want to make your father proud, but you don’t have to do something crazy like this to do it. He’s already looking down on you with a smile on his face. He’s proud of how far you’ve come.

I know you don’t want me to be in danger, I said with a smile. But, I’m going to be careful. They aren’t going to come after me, seriously. They might go for other politicians, but they wouldn’t dare go after a prosecutor.

How are you so sure about that? he asked. You are talking about some of the most dangerous men out there.

Because that would definitely point to them. To get rid of someone who has been openly looking into their case? What else could anyone think, but that they were guilty?

It doesn’t matter what people think, Jack said. What matters is what they can prove. And if they are able to cover up you disappearing or something, they might be able to paint a picture of someone else coming after you. You are a federal prosecutor – it’s not like you don’t have your fair share of enemies.

You worry too much, I told my older friend. I can take care of myself. I’m not afraid of the Stones. In fact, I think they should be afraid of me.

I just want you to be careful, he said. You get a little too excited sometimes, and I’m afraid it’s going to come back to bite you in the end.

"It’s not going to. I’m going to keep looking into this murder, and I’m going to find the proof I need to take them to trial. I suspect it was either Deacon or Gabriel who pulled the trigger. Alastair doesn’t seem to do much these days besides tell his sons what to do, and I can’t see the other men coming from around the country. Those two are close, and they both have it