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Thank fuck. Not Dad.
He reached for the folder and flipped itopen. His eyes narrowed on the photograph staring back at him.Familiar cruel eyes, and a wide, cold smile.Never mind. MaybeI’d rather talk about Dad…“I don’t understand,” Dane said,meeting Adam’s penetrating gaze, the same color as the one in thephoto. “You’re putting me on Ben?” He already knew after an earlyrelease from prison, the wayward Fitzgerald sociopath slitheredright back to his old tricks. Dane had gotten several invitationsto join the shitshow. He’d ignored them all.
“I don’t want you to kill him. Not yet,anyway.” Adam reached for his whiskey, taking a generous sip.
“Then what do you want me to do withhim?”
“Watch him. I hesitated to assign this toyou, given your history. But ultimately, it makes you ideal. Youdidn’t burn the bridge. He’ll believe it if you tell him you’rethere because you want to be. You can say it’s about your dad, orsome general bullshit. He’ll buy it.”
“If he’s really running in the same circles,he knows what I’ve been doing for you since he left.” Dane turnedthe page to skim over the next.Yep. Same circles. Drew fuckingDuro? And that Albanian fuckface too? Jesus. Ben’s the only assholeto come out of prison with no new tricks.“So, I convince himI’ve turned on you.” He sighed because Adam had to know what abatshit insane concept this was. “And if he doesn’t buy theact?”
“You’ll make him.”
“Why now?” Dane sat back, his jaw tense. Theboss lounged in his massive chair, cool and relaxed as ever. “Whynot after his last mess with the Davis girl?” Ben nearly killinghis fiancée had cost the Fitzgerald family a fortune in societyacceptance and capital, and he’d come out of prison and gone rightback on his bullshit.
Adam’s eyes narrowed. “Ben’s been pokinghornet nests since his release. He’s forcing me to react to theswarms. So, I am.” He cleared his throat and stood up, grabbing hisglass as he rounded the desk and crossed to the bar. “I understandyou may be reluctant. You were his friend, after all. Maybe youstill are.”
“That was a long time ago, sir.” Danewatched his boss drop ice into a second snifter.
“The thing is, Ben won’t trust anyone else.Let alone a stranger.”
“Unless he’s figured out the exact reason hegot banished. And who you heard it from.”
“No one knows that but you, me, and thetwins. Gia asked me not to talk to the others about it, and Ididn’t want to push her.” Adam sighed, opening the crystal decanterand pouring a measure into both glasses. “This has to happen, kid.He’s fucked around with people he shouldn’t have. And he’s not theone who’s paid for it. So far.” He came back, setting the new glassin front of Dane before leaning against the desk and raising hisown. “This is the only path left.”
Dane dug his nails into his palm, turninghis head to stare out the window. “All this bullshit with theBratva really tracks back to Ben’s bullshit temper-tantrum. That’swhat you mean, isn’t it?” Adam’s silence was answer enough.“Dadwould—”
“Let’s just say we all wouldn’t have as manytargets on our heads if Ben was still locked up.”
The muscles in Dane’s arms tightened. “But Ican’t kill him?”
Adam’s lip quirked. “Not until I know justhow many hornets are buzzing. It isn’t just the Bratva and Lobos.Ben’s fucked with the Storm Crows, too.”
The Russian mob, a major cartel, and thescariest biker gang in the Midwest? Jesus, Benny. You always likedplaying with fire.Dane whistled. “This is sounding asdesperate as it is annoying. Ben’s grasping at Big Bads to see whomakes the biggest explosion.”
“Something like that. My guess? He thinkshis best chance at building something comes from chaos.”
“He’s not altogether wrong about that, ishe?” Dane took a drink.
“Mm.” Adam grimaced. “And I suspect theCrows and the Lobos might be making a truce, which Ben’s obviouslynot fucking considered. I do not need that alliance declaring waron us…” He trailed off, which didn’t happen much. Foreheadcreasing, Adam rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Which means makingsome allies of our own. And that hasn’t come cheap.”
“What do you mean?” Dane knew he’d regretasking.
“De Lucca.”
Fuck!Sawyer’s words replayed in hishead.This … no, this isn’t the fucking 1800s. Adam wouldn’t dothat to Zara. “I assume since the house isn’t on fire, youhaven’t told Gia yet?”
Adam chuckled, but the humor didn’t reachhis eyes. He was somber as a funeral. “If I send Gia, De Lucca’sgonna take it as an act of war, and we all know it. Hannah’smarried, De Lucca doesn’t have any granddaughters, and none of hisgrandsons are gay enough to marry Caleb, I suspect. Which leavesone option.”Don’t say it. Please don’t say it.He rubbedhis temple again. “Christ, I wish I could trust Gia. But only oneof the twins has the temperament to build alliances instead ofnuking them from orbit.” A long, exhausted sigh escaped Adam whileDane’s heart plummeted to earth.
I knew I should have killed him. Why thefuck didn’t I?If he’d put a bullet between Ben’s eyes fouryears ago, this wouldn’t have happened.Dad wouldn’t be dead.Zara would be with me.It wasn’t a mistake he’d make twice. Hetook a deep breath, his eyes not meeting Adam’s. “When do Ileave?”
“Tomorrow. But there’s another stickingpoint you need to be aware of.”Of fucking course. Adam drewa set of paper plane tickets and a pile of cash from a deskdrawer—they always cut electronic footprints where they could— andpushed them toward Dane, with another photograph tucked into theband on the cash.
“Boss?” Dane leaned forward to examine thepicture closer. “Are you sending Ethan with me?” He tilted hishead.Wait. When the fuck did Ethan get tattoos? Two wholefucking sleeves of them?
Adam’s smile was genuine this time. “Commonmistake. That’s not Ethan.”
“You sure?”
