Walden snorted.
West added, “Specifically, are you going to hold a gun to Molly Easter?”
Walden’s woman. I studied Walden, saw how he tried to keep from squirming underneath my gaze. Since I’d walked into that warehouse, saw Blake holding a gun to her own head, I hadn’t wasted energy in wearing my own mask. Dead eyes. That’s what Blake called them. To me, it was just me being me. I was letting people see me, and most times, it made them uncomfortable. It should make them uncomfortable. But Walden wasn’t restless because he was seeing the real me. He didn’t give one fuck about my vacant gaze. He’d already seen the real me.
I murmured softly, “You’re worried I’ll do to your woman what I did to you.”
He shoved off his chair in a heartbeat. “You sick fuck—”
I didn’t react. I was expecting this from him, but so was West. He jumped up as well, getting in between, but he didn’t just hold his friend back. He planted a foot and shoved him back into his seat. “He’s baiting you. It’s what he does.”
I rather enjoyed seeing this interaction. I wanted to see more of it.
West was right. I said that on purpose. I enjoyed riling Walden up. He was like a windup toy, so obvious how worried, and he should be, but with Blake so angry at me, I chided him. “You can relax. For now. I have no plans on retribution.”
West swore to himself while Walden bristled, snapping, “What the fuck does that mean? For now?”
I contemplated my response, but I didn’t see the point in hiding the reason. “I’m sure you have your own plants to get information. They’ll have reported to you that Blake isn’t speaking to me. If I harmed your woman, I’ve no doubt that she’d never speak to me again. You, though. You are different. I can harm you any day and all day—”
“Enough!” West stepped between us again, his hands stretched out as if he could physically keep us apart. When we walked into this room, our guards stayed outside. Along with our weapons. Each of us was wanded down to ensure no gun or knife or any other weapon was hidden on our bodies. But that didn’t mean we still couldn’t fight. I enjoyed ripping heads off of bodies. It’d been a while.
“We agreed at the warehouse that we would hold at a standoff. I should not have to remind either of you.”
A chilling look gleamed from Walden as he taunted me, “Creighton Lane. All alone right now. Buddy number one took a walk when you turned your own gun on him. Buddy number two is still recovering. Is he walking yet? And where’s your girl? Oh, right. She iced you out, and that wasyourdoing. You’re used to hiding behind an army, and your personal army wants nothing to do with you.”
My head tilted to the side.
Both went still at the first flicker of emotion on my face. It wasn’t anger. It was curiosity. “That’s what you think of me? That I hide behind my army?”
Walden frowned, his eyes flicking over to West before he settled back in his seat. My response surprised him. Or more likely, the lack ofresponse. I wasn’t angry. He’d been hoping to incite me, and it failed. He failed.
He replied, measured, “I mean, yeah. Why else do you recruit such a large army?”
“So I can control my environment.” I gave both a new assessing consideration. “Is that not why you have your guards?”
Walden closed his mouth and shot West a look, who flattened his mouth before speaking for them. “We have guards for protection. Power.” Both seemed conflicted by this new avenue of conversation. We’d veered into a direction they hadn’t foreseen. West asked, cautiously, “Is that not the same for you? You recruit an army to ensure your territory, and you do with that territory as you please. We’re the same, Lane.”
“You do it for money,” I said, and no, it wasn’t the same as me.
I noted this before, realizing when I saw how much he cared for his friend and how both of them have loved ones. It was being cemented all over again. I did not recruit an army to ensure territory to make money. That’s what they did. Power and money.
They used their guards to ensure their money. I used money to ensure the army.
West said, “We do it to control the city.”
That too.
“To keep your loved ones safe from other families coming to harm them.” I understood that aspect.
Both men shared another look before West said slowly, “Yeah.”
So we were similar in one way at least. “I’m open to an agreement, but first and foremost, my men, Blake, and anyone Blake cares about will always be safe. That’s nonnegotiable for me.”
“What the fu—”
West stepped forward, cutting off Walden. “You will cease recruiting in our territories, and we can agree to that.” His head lowered, more intent, and his eyes narrowed. He was now the epitome of a businessman, sensing a proposal was close. He just needed to sussit out, find the right terms, and present it to all parties, and we could have what they wanted so much. Peace.
“As long as my terms are always agreed to, yes. I will cease recruiting in your territories in this city.” I wasn’t concerned about other cities. Both the West and Walden families had always maintained they would only operate in New York City. As far as I could see, it wasn’t that they lacked ambition. It was that holding onto this city was more important. No one could blame them. It was a treasure trove for our world.
