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Gabriele crossed himself again, and Leo turned away, swallowing hard against the sheen in his eyes. According to Mari, everyone had loved Rey. He’d been the bright, smiling joy of the family, and it was obvious his loss was still painful to everyone he’d loved.
“Will he die?” Mathias eventually asked. He seemed as weighed down as the others, his head shaking with disbelief. He didn’t attempt to argue Cameron’s innocence, and I was grateful. No doubt Mari wouldn’t handle that well.
“Not until Aislynn has had time to digest and say what she needs,” she said.
“He’ll be imprisoned indefinitely?”
“For now.” Maybe forever.
He nodded. “What about Cash?”
“We’ve got weapons shipments coming in bulk over the next few days. We’ll need any help you can spare to make sure it’s all checked and accounted for. With any luck, we should be moving on him as soon as the city’s clear.”
“How soon?” Gabriele asked. His eyes glittered with something that looked an awful lot like rage to me. I hoped he stoked it, held it close to his heart, and nurtured it, so that when we went to war, he was ready to explode and take out every Ace he met.
Mari glanced between Grey and me, knowing we’d been handling most of the shipment details for her. “Within two weeks.”
Probably sooner.
“Who will take Cameron’s place?”
It was the least of our worries, but I could understand why Mathias wanted to know.
Mari sighed. “As of right now, I have no plans to?—”
“It should be Nate.” All of us turned to Leo with varying levels of shock, me most of all.
“What the fuck?”
Whoops. Didn’t mean to say that out loud.
Leo glared at the screen—likely at me, which was exactly why I didn’t understand the nomination. The man barely tolerated my presence. “If you’re serious about having him in your life after this is over, he needs more power than your bodyguard can have. He needs to add to your reputation. He can’t be seen as the one you picked for love. He must be as ruthless as you are.”
How the fuck was I supposed to do that? How were any of us supposed to add to Mari? She’d been ruling Seattle for so many years alone. She didn’t need us to ramp up the reputation she’d built by herself. If people thought she wasn’t scary enough on her own, they were fucking stupid and deserved what they got.
The annoyed grunts of Greyson and Dominic agreed with my point, but Mari didn’t notice. She tapped her fingers on the table, though I could tell it wasn’t in annoyance. She was considering what he said.
“Nate has his own reputation.”
“His mercenary days help,” Leo admitted. “But being a Beckstrom is going to lose him credit.”
“I’m not a Beckstrom,” I interrupted. “Technically, I’m a Black.”
“Technically, you’re still not a Marcosa, and that’s a mark against you.”
Well, what the fuck was I supposed to do about that?
I was about to say as much when Gabriele cleared his throat. “It might be better to table this discussion until things quiet down.”
Yes. Solid suggestion. Let’s go with that.
“Agreed.” Mari shoved the chair back, and the others followed. “I’d like you all to make it known that Cameron is no longer with us, but leave out any details beyond that.”
“You’re not telling the rest of the family what he did?” Mathias asked, holding his hands up when she glared at him again. “Just asking.”
“I’m choosing to keep certain information that could destabilize my organization to myself, and I expect you to do the same. It does no good to tell anyone we had a fox in the henhouse for so fucking long, and I can promise if word gets out, I’m coming for you three first.”
With solemn nods and promises to keep their mouths shut, they exited the video chat.
