Logan looked in the mirrors again. "Heard he was headed there when I called the boys."
"Good. We need a plan."
Only once we were inside the garage with the door closed behind us did I truly relax. Someone was out for blood, and the only thing we could do was retaliate swiftly and with extreme prejudice.
Caden was just inside the doors when we entered. "What the fuck happened?"
I kept walking until I reached the liquor cabinet. "Someone tried to kill us."
"No fucking shit." Caden watched me pour a good four fingers of whiskey and down it. "Who, how, and what now?"
"Peraltas. They were waiting for us when we walked out of the bar, and now we burn them to the motherfucking ground." I held the bottle in Logan's direction, then poured into a fresh glass at his nod. "This cannot go unpunished."
"Agreed. Now, what are you thinking?"
Logan accepted the glass. "Car bombs."
"Warehouse fires."
Caden put up his hands. "All the above is fine by me, but how do we know we can get them all and not leave a pissed off third cousin twice removed to pick up the mantle?"
I shrugged. "That's why we're here."
"Meeting?" Logan suggested.
"Of all five Families." I swirled the amber contents of my second glass. "Set it up as a gesture of peace. We want to make an alliance, yada yada."
"Then, boom."
Logan nodded at Caden. "We can't attend, of course, so how do we make it look as though we will?"
I squinted. "You need a proxy, a dude who's already on his last leg. Instead of taking him out, you send him on these negotiations as your man."
"Talk it up like you're about to save his ass if he can do this without screwing it up." Logan nodded. "I can picture it."
Caden picked up a decanter and poured himself a drink. "I have just the guy."
"Now," Logan said. "In the meantime, we need more men on Burke."
"Already done."
"See, when people ask if you're only here because you're my cousin, this is the shit I point to."
Caden looked over his shoulder at me. "The fuck you talkin' about? Who says that?"
"People."
Caden rolled his eyes and continued as if I hadn't spoken. "Six of them. They have your schedule for the next month. I'm not your goddamn secretary, so I got Anna set up to update them with changes."
"Thanks."
"So, you're both okay."
Logan grinned. "You wanna kiss my boo boos?"
"You wanna kiss my ass?"
"I'm going to bed. If the two of you are going to start kissing, I don't want to witness it." I walked away without looking back, taking the stairs to my room.
