“I’m not going anywhere,” London says quietly. “You trying to push or scare me away won’t work. No one made me stay.”
I eye her. “It’s not like I’ve made it easy for you to leave, with a target on your back.”
“You’d find a way to keep me safe if I wanted to leave.”
I sigh. “I already told you that I’m not a hero, London. I am not the man who will do the right or selfless thing.”
“I don’t need you to be.”
I drum my fingers against the desk. “I have business that needs tending to. Send Katia in on your way out.”
London leans back and stares at me for a long, tense moment.
Eventually, she moves to the door and steps past Katia.
“Bring me Olivia.”
Katia nods.
When Katia returns with my irate-looking sister, I push the chair back and stand up. Then I give Katia a meaningful look, and she exits the study, letting the door click shut behind her. Olivia shoves her hair out of her eyes and scowls.
“I’m not a lap dog you can summon.”
“Whatever you’re planning, you will put an end to it.” I pause to give her a long, measured look. “I know you’re not stupid enough to think it will work.”
Olivia’s eyes flash. “I might not have climbed the ranks, but I still remember a thing or two about how this works.”
“No, you don’t. What you’re doing is going to get us all killed.”
“It won’t—”
“Back the fuck off, Olivia,” I snap. “I don’t care what the hell you think you’re doing, but I don’t need one more problem to deal with. I already have enough on my plate.”
“Did you ever think that there might be another way to do this?”
I cover the distance between us. “You willnotuse your history with Michael Everett to get their attention.”
Olivia’s eyes sweep over my face. “Who told you?”
“It doesn’t matter. This ends right now,” I repeat. “Donotgo behind my back, Olivia.”
“Don’t try and scare me, Mason. I’m not one of your lackeys.”
“If you were, you’d be in the basement right now, begging for your life.” I ignore the pounding in my ears. “The only reasonthis hasn’t blown up in your face is because you’re a Payne. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that makes you invincible. Pull the fucking plug, or I’ll do it for you.”
When our father steps into the study a short while later, we’re still staring at each other. He gives Olivia a pointed look, and she stalks out with her head held high. The door barely closes before Jack advances on me, a dangerous glint in his eyes. I roll up my sleeves and look directly at him.
“Go ahead.”
Jack stops in front of me and frowns. “You’re not going to deny that you went behind my back and orchestrated a meeting when I explicitly told you not to?”
I square my shoulders. “No.”
He and I both know the truth, and I’m not going to walk back anything about my meeting with Fitzpatrick, not when it’s shed some light on a few things.
Our enemies aren’t as united as they’d like us to think.
All I have to do is strike them where it hurts the most, and the rest will fall into place.
