“Since Ray Forsyth warned us that the Russians were planning on putting us in our place,” Hunter says, referring to one of the men in Barrett’s inner circle who owes us his life. “As much as I hate the guy, Ray’s turned into a reliable source.”
I run my fingers through my hair. “The cyberattacks are in retaliation for messing around with the architect’s drawings and setting back his plans. So far, it’s a tit-for-tat game.If our next move is to build an army, that’s one hell of a way to declare outright war.”
Ash holds my gaze. “It is.”
“We’re not ready,” I insist. Skirting around the edges of the law is one thing, but talk of armies has my nerves twitching.
“You mean you’re not ready,” Mace says.
He’s four years older, and nearest in age. We’ve fought each other mercilessly over the years, but this jibe isn’t simply to annoy me. Mace has pushed the hardest to keep me away from this side of their business. He’s looking for an excuse to exclude me.
I glare back at him. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
“Mace does have a point though,” Hunter says, taking our brother’s side. There was a time when he’d argue with Mace just for the fun of it, but now they’re both blissfully married, they’ve become this annoying double act. “You could have got yourself killed at Poulton Springs.”
“Do you think Mace would have fared any better?” I ask. “If we’d done it his way, he would have been breaking and entering in the middle of the night, and that would have been asking for trouble.”
Mace snorts a laugh. “I wouldn’t have let the fucking housekeeper sneak up and put a gun to my head.”
“Fuck you.”
“Fuck you too.”
Ash sets down his cup. He’s the one who entrusted me with this mission, and I need his support because I’m feeling outnumbered.
“You were lucky,” he says, and my stomach lurches. It’s not a direct criticism, but Ash doesn’t like relying on luck to achieve his plans. I’ve let him down. “You were caughtattacking an unarmed woman, and if the housekeeper had been trigger-happy, you’d be dead.”
“The gun belonged to theunarmedwoman,” I clarify. “And I was restraining her, that’s all.”
“You don’t get to put forward a defense when there’s a bullet in your head.”
I go to remind Ash that I was also unarmed at that point, but it’s a moot point. He’s right. I was lucky to come away unscathed, or as unscathed as I can be after Quinn clamped a fist around my heart.
I can’t look at my oldest brother. “Sorry. Maybe I was a bit overconfident.”
“Or too distracted by Quinn’s tits,” Mace throws at me. “Nice move taking her top off.”
“It was a fucking accident.”
Mace hadn’t realized what I’d done until Clara accused me of stripping Quinn. There are so many reasons why I wish that housekeeper hadn’t interrupted us.
“Was it herrose scentthat overpowered you?” he continues.
“Just shut up, Mace. In case you’ve forgotten, you were distracted by a woman not that long ago.”
Mace fell hard for Lily, and he hasn’t let his new wife out of his sight since they married last month. Even now, she’s in the glass-fronted office on the opposite side of the corridor, working alongside Maddie. Both my brothers are deliberately sitting in chairs that face their wives.
And I’m the one who’s easily distracted?
“Boys!” Ash says sharply. “We’ve got more important things to do than trade insults. Our next move will decide our fate.” He rubs a tattooed hand over his beard, and addresses Mace when he says, “Reid makes a good point. So far, all we’ve done is cause Ilya a little inconvenience, andhe’s responded with like. If we hit him harder, we have to be prepared to face the consequences. Jake’s busy recruiting more men, but at some point, we have to decide if we’re going to use that extra manpower to undertake an offensive, or hold back and defend ourselves if necessary.” He slumps back in his seat, looking far older than his thirty-two years. “I for one don’t have an answer yet.”
“Is the cause worth it?” I ask, posing the question we need to tackle first.
Mace stares at a fixed spot behind me, and I know he’s looking at Lily. “If Ilya’s plan had been to set up a distribution hub similar to the one the McConkeys lost, I’d happily leave Barrett to deal with his own mess,” he says. His mouth twists. “But we’re not talking about the movement of drugs, or any other contraband. We’re talking about people being traded like they’re just another commodity. And given Barrett’s connections with the upper echelons of government, it won’t be easy for the authorities to investigate what’s happening on his land.”
“I hate that we’re related to that prick,” Hunter adds. “I’m going to feel guilty simply by association.”
“Could we cause another delay?” I ask, looking to Mace. Barrett’s architect has strengthened his online security, but my brother can still hack into the construction company’s systems to track progress. “Do we know where the build’s up to?”
