There was no point beating around the bush any longer. Zaria drew herself up straight, bracing for the inevitable. “You want me to get that ledger, don’t you?”
“See? I knew Vaughan was right to think you clever. Yes, he wants you to get it. Once the ledger is in his hands, we can begin chipping away at Kane Durante’s control. And if we’re correct, that control will already be rather tenuous.”
“I’m not a thief,” Zaria said. A cold sweat had begun to bead along her spine. “Besides, Kane isn’t likely to let me anywhere near something so important.”
“That’s what I said,” Maisie put in, scoffing lightly. Her arms were crossed, the striated muscles stark in the dim light. “I told Evan youdidn’t have a chance. Naturally, though, nobody wanted to listen to me.”
Pritchard’s lips curved downward, a glint in his eye as he reclined in his chair. In that moment, Zaria understood why he had come to work for an aspiring kingpin. He was, by all appearances, a gentleman. He presented a facade of courteousness, an impression of a rigid moral code, in order to win your trust—or at the very least, to make himself seem like the lesser of many evils. But that was a pretense, wasn’t it? Evan Pritchard knew exactly what he was doing. He was a con.
He was, perhaps, Vaughan’s very own Kane Durante.
“I told Miss Ó Coileáin not to underestimate you,” Pritchard said to Zaria. “You claim you’re not a thief, but recent evidence suggests the contrary. If you can steal from a place like the Crystal Palace, then stealing from Kane Durante should be positively easy.”
Nothing about what he was asking of her was easy. Zaria didn’t even know where Kanewas. She doubted very much that he remained at Moore & Sons, and if he had become the new kingpin, he was almost certainly surrounded by members of Ward’s former crew at all times.
Then, of course, there was the fact that he would never ever trust her again. She’d be lucky to get near Kane without finding herself looking down the barrel of a gun.
She flexed her fingers in her lap. “I don’t think it’ll be quite as straightforward as you’re hoping. Durante and I… We don’t exactly get along anymore.”
“Then make amends,” said Pritchard. He tilted his head to one side, eyes glinting. “Patch things up, so to speak. Don’t make me remind you that your life depends on it. It sounds so dreadfully melodramatic.”
Maisie spoke before Zaria could reply. “Durante may be young, but I think you underestimate him. Miss Mendoza doesn’t have a prayer of tricking him and surviving it. Just today, I overheard two men discussing how he dealt with a couple of crew members who wouldn’t accept his leadership—rumor is he had them rounded up and executed them himself in front of everyone.”
Zaria felt the blood drain from her face. Could that be true? For reasons she couldn’t quite put a finger on, she didn’t want to believe it. Didn’t want to imagine that Kane could be capable of something like that. Fletcher’s words seemed to slam against the inside of her skull again and again, like a fist rapping incessantly on a locked door.
Kane when he’s grieving? That’s a catastrophe.
Pritchard turned to Maisie. For the first time tonight, his facade of politeness seemed to crack, the skin around his mouth tightening. “You were not asked to give your opinion, Miss Ó Coileáin. Vaughan wouldn’t ask this of Miss Mendoza if he didn’t know she could do it.”
An angry flush climbed Maisie’s face, her glare a daggered thing as she rose to her feet. “Whatever,” she said icily, her chest rising and falling in quick succession. “I’ve done my part. You can figure this out on your own.”
Pritchard lifted one shoulder, gaze apathetic. “Fine.”
Maisie flashed him a rude gesture before turning on her heel and stomping over to the stairwell. Then she was gone, leaving Zaria feeling bizarrely less comfortable for her absence. Pritchard gave a dismayed shake of his head. “Please forgive Miss Ó Coileáin. She has the unfortunate penchant for becoming quite hysterical.”
Zaria brought her teeth together. She had no love for Maisie, but Pritchard’s words set her blood aflame. “What if she’s right? If Kane really is that dangerous, maybe I’m better off facing whatever Vaughan has in store for me should I refuse.”
She said it mostly to see how Pritchard would respond, but part of her wondered if it was true. After what she’d done to Kane, who knew how far he’d be willing to go in pursuit of revenge?
“Ah.” Pritchard spoke more quietly now. “Because, Miss Mendoza, Vaughan isn’t only in the business of dealing in threats. Should you be successful, he’s also willing to offer you something I think you’ll very much want.”
“And what is that?”
The moment seemed to grow heavier around them. Zaria could sense the enormity of whatever came next. When Pritchard finally answered, her lungs ceased to function. Her heart dropped into her stomach and did not rise again.
“Vaughan knows where your mother is.”
KANE
Kane left the manor in the hour after dusk blanketed the sky, his mood as tumultuous as the clouds threatening overhead. His pace was quick, his coat drawn up tight to his neck. The knuckles on his right hand ached incessantly.
People skittered out of his path as he rounded a corner into the very outskirts of Devil’s Acre. He’d spent much of today making rounds with Adam and Elijah, visiting local shopkeeps or landlords and alerting them to recent changes. It should have made him feel something, to see so many faces shift from horror to relief and back again when they learned of Ward’s death—and then of Kane’s succession—but the frigid emptiness persisted. He hadn’t even addressed the issue of tax collection in the slums, and had shooed Adam away when he’d tried to broach the subject. How many times had Kane gone to collect money from the poverty-stricken at Ward’s behest? How many people had he run out of town when they wouldn’t—or couldn’t—comply?
It struck him as useless. Ward had left enough money in his coffers for Kane to run things without shaking down factory workers. His iron grip on the dark market proved to be a much more lucrative source of income anyway.
This last visit, however, Kane didn’t need Adam and Elijah for.
It began to rain lightly as he drew up to his destination, water trickling an icy line down the back of his neck. He’d had young Harvey Solomon watching the place all day, and once the boy delivered the update Kane had been waiting for, he knew he wouldn’t have long to strike.
