“Hardly, but I’m sure they’ll have their fun soon enough,” I reply, coming to a halt a few feet away. “And here I thought you were the brains of the operation. Only a fucking idiot would’ve agreed to this.”
Lance’s eyes tighten in anger. “You didn’t leave me much of a choice. What kind of man threatens another man’s brother?”
“A man who knows what needs to be done.” I draw back my jacket to reveal my gun. “If you don’t have the stomach for it, you’re in the wrong line of work.”
“You know it’s not that simple,” Lance says.
I raise an eyebrow. “Is that why Everett keeps you around? Because you like to wax poetic? That’s fucking pathetic, but I guess I shouldn’t expect more from either of you.”
“You like to hear yourself talk, don’t you? I’m here, that should tell you all you need to know.”
I move toward Lance and chuckle when he winces. “Yeah, how did you convince them to let you off your leash?”
Lance doesn’t reply.
I chuckle. “Everett doesn’t know you’re here, does he? Oh, this is better than I thought. I have to be there when he finds out.”
“Fuck you.”
I laugh harder. “Well, I’m not easily surprised, but congratulations. Not that it matters much. They’ll probably gut you like a fish for going behind their back.”
Lance straightens his back. “I’m doing what needs to be done.”
“Trouble in paradise? What a shame.”
I haven’t heard whispers about problems between the two allied families, but since Lance is there, I have to assume they’re at odds.
It doesn’t leave me a lot to work with, but I see my window of opportunity.
“Since you’re here, I’m going to do you the courtesy of amending the initial offer,” I continue. “Thirty percent of our shares from the business we conduct using the docks.”
Lance stifles a laugh. “You didn’t honestly think it was going to be that simple, did you?”
“Thirty-five percent.”
Lance rolls his shoulders. “We want half of the profit you get from the banks and forty percent of the business you conduct through the docks.’
“What makes you think I’ll agree to that?”
“We know about your alliance with the Thayers,” Lance says. “What a desperate move. You don’t have a lot of options.”
“The Paynes always have options,” I spit back. “I know business isn’t great. Got yourself into some serious debt, have you?”
Lance’s expression shifts and hardens. “Since when do the Paynes resort to spying?”
“I call it keeping an eye on our interests.”
“Stay the fuck out of our business, Payne. You’re already on thin ice with the other families. I doubt you want more trouble on your plate.”
I take my gun out and hold it up to the light. “Do you know how long it takes a man to bleed out?”
“Your scare tactics don’t work anymore. I know you wouldn’t have called this meeting if you didn’t need a truce.”
I remove the safety from the gun with painstaking patience. “I always say it’s important to be well prepared. You should’ve done your part, Fitzpatrick.”
He doesn’t flinch when I point the gun at him. “You shouldn’t have underestimated me.”
In the distance, I hear the screech of tires and the wail of sirens.
