Who eyed me carefully. “I can see the meeting the other day dulled your humor.”
His tone was just as clipped as mine had been, his dark eyes finding mine. He wasn’t the kind of man or leader to take shit from anyone. Well, except for one feisty woman he’d captured, held hostage and somehow encouraged to fall in love with him.
Experts did say love was blind.
“And you have none.” My words were truthful.
He was lounging in the chair, a drink in his hand and a smirk on his face. “Agreed. Humor gets you killed.”
“Evidently anything could get us killed,” Jaxon interjected.
“What the fuck happened with the shipment that was under your control?” My brother Montgomery certainly wasn’t in the mood to mince words.
The tension in the room was palpable, my anger yet to cool. That’s why I was instantly out of my seat, ready to wring the man’s neck. “You tell me, brother. You suggested the temporary location and your men were guarding the warehouse. Maybe you need to discover who the mole is.”
“Fuck you.” Montgomery was on his feet, also leaning over the table.
“Enough!” Alexander snapped. “This is a goddamn family and we’re going to act like one.”
Inhaling, I glanced at our Don, struggling to keep from saying anything else.
Montgomery thumped back into his seat first.
“He’s right, Montgomery, albeit there could be finger pointing coming from all sides,” Alexander continued. “No one but the family and a few soldiers knew we were storing the product in that warehouse. It’s your responsibility to discover who that is.”
Montgomery continued to glare at me. “Yes. Sir.”
“And you,” Alexander hissed while turning his head toward me. “Killing the thief without obtaining a single decent bit of information means you’re fucking rusty as shit, Sin. We need to find out who the hell he was working for. Burn down the city if you need to. Pay the goddamn informants to turn on their grandmothers. I don’t give a shit how you do it, find out what the hell we’re dealing with. Got it?”
The entire time, our youngest brother was enjoying being left out of the blame game. When I narrowed my eyes and stared at him, he threw up his hands.
“Yes, sir.” Even with mostly family members present, respect was required. The tension left every muscle aching.
“Does anyone know a Vincent?” he continued. “If that’s even his real name.”
“No one I’ve heard of,” Jaxon threw in first.
Montgomery shook his head. “No, but I threw the name out there on the street.”
“So did I.” Someone had to know something.
Jacques Cornwell was hovering in the shadows. He cleared his throat, stepping closer to the table.
“I hope your presence means you have some good news on the Strathmore property.” I casually threw him a look. He’d been less than helpful the last couple of days. Although he had confirmed that Greg had been called in at the last minute.
“I wish I did. Mr. Jeffries is apparently using his contacts in the city planner’s office, pushing their concept of a project through.”
I bristled all over again. “And let me guess, pushing ours into the trash bin.”
He nodded. “I did want to commend you, Sinclair. Your method of handling Greg Franklin held all the earmarks of something your father would do.” It was obvious he’d filled in the family as to the details of the meeting prior to my arrival.
Jacques was many things, but rarely was he able to keep his mouth shut. One day, the man would go too far, and I’d put a bullet in his head. “It had the effect I was hoping for with Greg. I’m still hopeful we’ll be able to work out another deal with the Johnsons. They are piranhas.”
“Why don’t you use your friendship with Greg in our favor.” Montgomery shifted his drink back and forth from hand to hand. He was still sticking a knife into my gut.
Alexander eyed me, a reminder to calm my ass down. Right now, I could crush a bat with my bare hands.
“Don’t worry. Greg and I will talk at some point. I think Marcus is very interested in increasing his portfolio, but even though I can’t stand the Johnsons, they’ll learn quickly that our offer was in their best interest. They’re not stupid. They’ll smell blood in the water.”
