I can’t even react, not outwardly at least. In my head, though...So, Colby wasn’t too far off with his predictions.
I thought I knew all of Harry’s secrets. I thoughtIwas his biggest secret. Of course, Harry being Harry, he doesn’t even give me a minute to process.
“A Crawford has always been the leader of the Turris.” I think that’s more than apparent, considering the scene in Brent’s office, but I stay quiet while Harry waves a hand carelessly. “I’ll spare you the details for now because time is of the essence, but here are the basics. Turris means tower. The Crawfords are the foundation, the Walls are the steps, Altons the pillars, and the rest are each a block in the tower to make it tall. At least that’s the bullshit they came up with hundreds of years ago. In any case, we’ve had the mayor as our roof for around a hundred years, to keep everything safe and in place, and whoever the mayor has been, he’s always been our man on the inside, you could say. Tonight’s events changed that, not only because Brent is already in the custody of the FBI, but because I’ve learned a lesson from this, so whoever the next mayor is, they won’t be involved in the Turris. Which means we need a new roof.”
He makes a marked pause, and even though I know it’s coming, my breath still gets stuck in my throat when he confirms it.
“I choose you.”
“What?” I demand, my voice going embarrassingly high-pitched. “You want the mob to keep you safe?” I scoff. “I recognized those pompous asses, Harry. There’s no way they’ll agree to that.”
He raises his arm to rest on top of the couch and tilts his chin up. The pure entitlement in the curve of his brows, the smirk, the confidence in his eyes... I’ve seen all of those things in him at one point or another throughout my life, but put all of them together and it packs a powerful punch.
“They don’t have a fucking choice.”
“Jesus you’re an arrogant asshole, Harry.” I can’t stop myself from saying what I think, and wouldn’t even if I could.
“I don’t care how arrogant I sound, Eian. There are very few times I’ve laid down the law with the Turris. This will be one of them.”
Snorting seems wrong, but how the hell else am I supposed to react?
“And you expect them to just go along with that?” Incredulous is too mild a word for my tone. There’s just no way?—
“Yes,” Harry says simply, his expression not varying in the slightest.
“Why the fuck would they do that?”
“They don’t have a choice,” he repeats, and sighs like I’m the one who’s being totally unreasonable, but the next look he sends me has me holding my damn breath. “I own them, Eian. I own everyone in this city.”
“Not me.” I reject that idea, firmly.
“Yes, you too. You think the land this house sits on is yours? You think the buildings for your brothels, the ones where your casinos are, you think those are yours?” I open my mouth to answer but... can’t. “They’re not. You only think they are because my dad made Uncle Ronan think so. Practically everything in this city is mine, and the sooner you understand that, the less painful this will be.”
He doesn’t look... happy about this. Not arrogant or entitled like before.
“What the fuck, Harry?” I whisper after a stretched silence. I honestly don’t know what else I could possibly say. “You just trying to let me know how much more power you have?” We’ve joked about that all our lives, but this...
I don’t even own my house?
“I’m not,” Harry says, voice as hard as the set of his jaw. “You care far more about being the big bad wolf than I do,Eian. This is your chance to actually be that. To finally have control over the other families.”
“As long as you’re the one holding the leash?” I ask, then laugh sardonically.
“I don’t want to act like this, Eian, but it’s my duty. The reason a Crawford has always ruled the Turris is because the first one who came here and took control of all the damn territory realized he couldn’t act rashly. Since then we’ve all been taught the same things. We don’t demand often, we don’t threaten in vain. We hold so much power that the only way to keep it is to restrain ourselves. We work for the greater good of this city and nothing else.”
I can’t fucking believe this, it seems so...
Fuck, I knew he owned a lot of fucking buildings, but most if not all of them?
I think about the people who were there with him tonight.
My impression was that they owned... well, Wall Street, arenas, stadiums, hotels, museums, theatres, whole media conglomerates. I guess they own...what’s inside? Maybe the buildings themselves but not the actual land?
“Now.” He speaks again but immediately pauses to take a deep breath. “Every Chair in the Turris has an heir, and though the mayor didn’t, you have to choose one person who will take over for you eventually. I doubt you have that figured out yet, since you don’t want Bran to take over.For now you can choose another heir. Ma was my heir when I took over, before Iris turned eighteen and I brought her in. This person will not only know every one of your secrets, they’ll be obliged by a scary number of contracts.” He pauses to wave at the stack of papers still sitting there. “They will basically promise their life to the Turris, as will you, and they’ll also know about us being cousins. You need to think about this carefully. Iris isn’t my heir because she’s my literal heir, she’s my heir because out of the people I trust the most in the world, she has the temperament for the Turris. So who do you trust the most in the world, Eian?”
Earlier tonight that was you, I think.
But now . . .
