Page 124 of Fall Before Her Throne

I would win this war at all costs.

38

MAX

“This is looking like a proper office.” My eyes scanned Obi’s study. Mysteriously, the collection of books on the bookshelves had grown since the last time I’d looked.

“It is our home,” he said. “I intend to make it feel like it.”

Our home.

“My home, too?” I couldn’t help but ask as I perused the titles. I passed their test. He’d welcomed me into the Shadows, but his mask was almost as good as mine. I wasn’t ever sure what he was truly thinking.

“Apparently,” he said. I turned to see him smirking while he poured two glasses of liquor. He held one outstretched to me. “We are brothers now.”

I took the glass. “I’m no longer a tool for you to use however you can?”

He shrugged, holding the glass out so I could clink mine against his. “Two things can be true at once.”

I chuckled while I sipped the warm amber liquid. “This is good.”

“Ryuji and I prefer the best.”

I sat down across from him. “So how can this tool be of use?”

Obi flipped open his laptop. “I’d appreciate your input on what to do about Greco’s political connections. The contacts I have may not be in the right positions to provide defense against him.”

“I’ve heard a lot about these mysterious contacts you have,” I said. “What’s that about?”

“We took contracts from people whom I believed I could someday use in my fight against the Camorra,” he said.

I whistled. “So you took their money and then planned to blackmail them into helping you, anyway?”

He tilted his head to the side. “Feeling sympathetic, Max?”

“No,” I said with a laugh. “I’m just surprised.”

“It’s not like any of these people are good people. But every person who hired us understood the deal,” he replied. “Pay us our money, and one day I may need a favor from them in exchange. They all agreed, and we completed every single contract we ever took.”

“How many?”

“Hundreds.” He turned his laptop display around so I could see the screen. “And I kept records of everyone.”

My eyes went wide as I scrolled through the intense database. I recognized many of the names listed on it. “I’m guessing you’ve already pored over this list. Who are you targeting for their help? Last we talked, we were thinking about the police commissioner.”

He gave a curt nod. “Yes, but he’s been ignoring my outreach. We need to pay him a visit in person to remind him of our deal.”

“What did you do for him?”

“We assassinated someone who was blackmailing him with inappropriate pictures from his multiple affairs,” he replied. “We kept evidence of the contract kill, but also extensive documentation about his affairs. If we expose it, it would blow up not only his family but his entire career.”

My eyes scanned the list. “What about the mayor? If she agreed to back us, she could help us stave off Greco.”

Obi shook his head. “I don’t know her. She’s new to the office, a political up-and-comer. I’ve had Ciel looking into her, and as far as we can tell, she’s never strayed toward the criminal underground. Not like her predecessor, at least.”

“Yeah, that guy was a dick.” The old mayor was corrupt, but not even in a way that helped the Five Families. He was corrupt in the stupid, white man, political way that thought he could get away with anything, so he held himself accountable for nothing. “But if we can get her support, she can use her deputies to keep Greco off our backs. Maybe even help us get him arrested instead. If we can’t kill him, the best case is getting him deported or alienated from doing business in New York.”

“Do you know her?” Obi asked.