“Let’s go twenty percent over asking price,” I finally said.“Thirty if we have to.”
Archer blinked dramatically.“Excuse me?”
“Are we saving neighborhoods or not?”
“That’s a lot of cash to blow.If we go thirty over on everything”—Archer gestured forcefully at the screen—“then we’ll come out with less than half of these properties.”
“I don’t see any other way to limit Sebastian’s options.He’s already got the fucking factory.Besides, you roped me into this shit.I’m getting married, for God’s sake.We’re going all the way.”
Archer worked his jaw back and forth as he assessed the screen.“So what happens if we do all this and then the inheritance falls through?”
I looked at him sharply.“You think I’m going to fuck this up?”
“I didn’t say that.I’m just looking at all the possibilities.If the inheritance doesn’t come through after all these acquisitions, then we’ve got a bunch of property in Cross territory and not a lot of options of what to do with it.Especiallyif we can’t stay competitive through purchasing more.”
I shook my head, standing slowly.“You know, you could have told me you were planning on backing out.”
“Nash—”
“No.I hear you loud and clear.”I X’d my hands in the air.“I guess I’ll just go void the contract with Clara and we can go back to square one.Is that what you’d like?”
“Jesus, that’s not what I’m—”
“You got me to enter into a contractual fucking deception, NDA, legal team and all, and now you want to jump ship,” I went on.
“Nash!”Archer’s voice came out as a gruff shout.Sometimes, it was the only way we could get through to each other—getting loud.It was either that or physically wrestling each other to the ground, which we’d done plenty of times, even in designer suits.“Will you shut the fuck up?”
“Not until you stop acting like a fucking scared little kitten,” I shouted back.“We’re here now.We’re fucking doing it.”
Archer sighed testily, his knee bouncing as he looked at me.“Loud and clear, boss.”
“I’m not your boss, I’m your brother.”
“Bossy brother,” he muttered.
“Fuck you,” I shot back.“I don’t know what else you want to hear from me.Besides, we have the Gideon project green lit.It’s in process.The money is coming for that, at the very least, even if the inheritance fails.But if nothing else, I feel secure in the knowledge that I could sell my twin on the black market and fetch a good price.I could easily pay off all our debts in a bidding war for Archer Nightingale over in Singapore or something.”
“I can’t stand you.”
“You’re such nice white man meat,” I went on.It bothered him too much to shut up now.“Those blue eyes.Goodness, Archer.Maybe we should bump that up the priority list.”
“Says the same hunk of man meat with blue eyes,” he said with a flat look.
“Yeah, but I have tattoos.I’ve ruined my skin.Yours is unblemished.Supple.Unsoiled—"
“Supple?” Archer groaned.“I’m sorry I saidanything.Can we move on now?”
From the outside, others might have thought we were in dire straits.But this was just part of our natural Nightingale expression.Let off the steam until it was gone.Besides, the start of a smile on his lips told me how he really felt.
“Fine.Let’s move on.”I cleared my throat and interlaced my fingers on my lap.
“Great.”Archer ran his tongue over his top teeth and returned his gaze to the computer screen.“So, which place are we going to scope out first?
An hour later we were in Queens alongside our beloved wall of muscle, Trojan.Despite spending the entire ride through Astoria cycling through 80s hair band hits, the mood turned tense as soon as we pulled up to the first property we wanted to scope out.
Something was wrong from the start.Trojan parked along the curb, and we all stepped out onto the cracked asphalt road.
A few cars down on the other side of the street sat a huge Cross Developments cargo van.
