“You are recovering.”
“I am in remission and have been for over a year.” She shot to her feet and the slap across my head came hard and fast. Even though I was expecting the blow, I winced. “I am your mother, not the other way around.”
The sound of footsteps interrupted us, and we turned to see Hero and Danger stomp their way across the room.
Hero grinned. “What’d you do to deserve that?”
“He told me I couldn’t help.” She huffed. Mum was the only person who was ever allowed to smack me, and she knew when she could and couldn’t do it. It was at times like these, when we were acting like the family we were, that she got to be a disapproving mum.
Danger grimaced. “You’re a fuckhead, aren’t ya?”
“Don’t call your brother names.” Mum crossed her arms in a very motherly fashion, one that had always meant there was trouble if we continued doing something naughty.
“Sorry, Mum.” Danger came over to kiss her on the cheek while Hero did the same to the opposite side, and then they both went for their breakfast.
I shoved more food into my mouth as Mum resettled in her chair.
“Danger, what’s happening with that man from the town council?” She grabbed her tablet that sat beside the newspaper and opened the cover, waking the device. She kept my business organized as the unofficial secretary of both my legal and illegal companies.
“Hm?” Danger took a large bite of toast as he came ambling back over to the table and fell into the chair on Mum’s other side. “Oh, fuck. Yeah. Cooper. He’s budging, slowly. You know what those fuckwits are like. They act as though they’ve got a set of balls on them, but they’re cowards. He’ll come around and see our point when we start chatting to his kids as they’re walking home from school.”
“Which one is that?” Hero took the chair beside me. “The cheater or the kinky bastard?”
Danger laughed. “Cheater. He’s the one who got caught getting sucked off by Janelle at the club.”
“Ah, fuck. Righto.” Hero nodded. “That’s the bloke we’re trying to blackmail to get in our development.”
“Yep. He’s on the planning and development committee.” Danger was eating through his food like he hadn’t been fed for months, which was amusing considering he was the gym bunny out of all of us. When he wasn’t working, he liked to hit the weights. “We want him on our side if we want to build that shopping center near the new housing area in Elliot Springs.”
“Well, make sure you twist his ear andhard.” I finished off my last piece of toast and grabbed a napkin from the middle of the table to wipe my hands. “We need to get that deal before our competition does if we want to expand our legitimate companies.”
Danger nodded. “Sure thing, Boss.”
“Which reminds me.” Hero shook his fork at me. “I got a call from Reardon.”
“Daire Reardon? Killough’s second-in-command?” I asked.
He hummed in agreement. “Killough’s sending some guys over to help us with the pest problem.”
I snorted.
We’d been having trouble with some of the Italian mobsters from New South Wales. Before we’d taken over as the sole mob on the east coast of Australia, we’d had to fight it out with a lot of others, primarily the Italians, who had dominated this side of the country. For sixteen years, I’d squashed their attempts to return to their former glory, but they’d recently gotten a new leader who had more balls than anyone else who’d attempted. I had to at least respect him for that.
Sloan Killough was the Irish mob boss over in New York City and one of our allies. When he needed help, we sent men over to him, and he did the same for us.
“When will they be here?” I asked.
“Tomorrow. He sent them over immediately.”
I nodded and stood. “All right. Get some rooms sorted out for them. The higher-ups can sleep here, and the soldiers can stay in a hotel. We’ll pay for them. You organize that, Hero.”
He nodded. “Sure thing, bro.”
“What are you doing today?” Mum asked, sliding her glasses back on her nose.
I grinned. “Things a mother shouldn’t know.”
“He’s going to the brothel and finding someone to fuck.” Danger smirked wickedly, but I ignored him as I rolled up the sleeves of my dress shirt to my elbows.
