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“Why did you want to meet with us?” Aunt Fred asks once she takes the offered chair.
Noble drops into the spot next to her, making the folding chair creak under his muscled build.
I stand behind Aunt Fred and stare at Alec. My gaze then washes over his handful of armed men. Most are cops. A few are local thugs. They all have Brennan blood running through their veins. Somehow, I think they believe this fact makes them important.
“The Brennans, O’Malleys, and Callaghans go way back,” Alec explains and runs his hand through his short, blond hair. “Our families used to run bootleg booze together. Your pappy and my granddad did the bank job in Tempe Falls together.”
“All true,” Aunt Fred says, representing the Callaghan faction in this discussion. “Then, your family was smart enough to realize they could double-dip profits if they wore a badge.”
Alec smiles at her compliment. “We had a good setup here in Banta City.”
“Change is painful,” Aunt Fred replies and gets to the point of this meeting. “Is it worth the suffering if everyone is currently getting their fair share?”
“Our bloodlines go back to Ireland. This town once belonged to people like us. Now, it’s run by assholes who speak another language and come from a country I couldn’t pick off a fucking map,” Alec explains, barely restraining his rage. Exhaling unsteadily, he tries to put his nice-guy mask back on. “We hope to return things to its natural order.”
Noble leans back in his chair and crosses his arms. He’s wearing his own mask right now. For me, the pigs’ play is an obvious dead end. Yet, Noble shows no reaction, and Aunt Fred takes a while to speak up.
Finally, she asks in her soft voice, “Who would live at the Thibeaux Mansion?”
“That’s what you’re worried about?” Alec asks, pretending to be amused yet doing little to hide his annoyance.
“Banta City’s head boss has always lived in the Thibeaux Mansion. As soon as the Kovak family had their moving trucks parked in front of that house, everyone in the city knew who was calling the shots,” Aunt Fred explains.
“What would we want with that gaudy piece-of-shit house?” Alec lies and looks over his shoulder at his cousin, Billy. When he returns his amused gaze to Aunt Fred, Alec asks, “Do you want it?”
Though I can’t see Aunt Fred’s expression, her shoulders shrug upward, and she says, “If it won’t be a status symbol any longer, my oldest daughter is expecting her third child. I imagine Carys would like more space.”
“Then, consider it yours,” Alec replies, completely missing how he failed Aunt Fred’s test. “The Brennan family only wants what was taken from us when those outsiders slithered into power.”
“With our help,” Noble says, and Alec’s gaze hardens as it flashes to our club VP. “The Kovak family took this town with our muscle. Now, you want us to hand you the heads of the king and his princes so you can call the shots. But where does that leave the club?”
“What do you want?”
“Stability. We make money when no one causes trouble. Back when Sly Dardenne ran things, he was always in pissing matches with other crime families. Our income was constantly in flux. That hasn’t been a problem with the Kovak Syndicate in charge.”
Alec glares at Noble and spits out, “Is money all you care about?”
“We have a large family,” Aunt Fred explains, defusing the cop’s temper. “And many mouths to feed.”
Alec doesn’t respond immediately. I think he hoped the Irish thing would be enough to win the club’s support. Except he fucked himself as soon as he claimed his family didn’t want the Thibeaux Mansion.
Regaining his composure, Alec gestures to someone and tells Aunt Fred, “I brought a gift.”
“We didn’t get you anything,” Noble mutters immediately.
“No need. You agreed to this meeting. We know you go way back with the Kovak family. There’s loyalty and history there. But I think you’ll like what my people can do for you.”
Five minutes later, I stand over a dead troublemaker named Stitt. The fucker has been messing with the club’s shit for weeks, roughing up our hookers, stealing from our dealers, and starting fires outside our businesses. We couldn’t find him anywhere, and we have eyes all over Banta City. Now, the dead fuck is wrapped up in a rug.
“I hope you can see the future clearly,” Alec tells Aunt Fred, yet I feel like he’s really talking to Noble and, by extension, Zoot. “The situation in Banta City is in flux, and your people have been on the winning side since I was a boy. I don’t see why that should change now.”
Aunt Fred promises to discuss the issue with Zoot and her brothers running the Hills Chapter. Alec hears what he needs and leaves us to our body disposal.
After we move Stitt to a hearse, Aunt Fred and her escorts ride off. Noble plans to join me at the funeral home.
I consider the Kovak Syndicate’s future. Mostly, I think of Natasha. I feel like she’s whispering in my ear a lot today, both promising the world and betraying me in the same breath.
Once we’re in the lobby of the Eternal Tranquility Funeral Home, Noble stands off to the side and makes calls. I notice his body tense. Edgy now, he signals for the rest of us to huddle with him in an office.
