I exhale. One less fire to put out.
He walks us to the door. Hand on the frame, he stops. “But Blackstone? You and I both know what this makes you...”
I don't give him the satisfaction of a response. But Williams isn't finished.
“Your father would be proud,” Williams says, trailing behind us.
I stop, backtracking into his personal space. “I don’t give a shit what he’d be proud of.” Shaking my head, I turn back to the door. “And that’s the difference between him and me. I’m not proud of what I’m doing, but some things have to be done.”
Williams holds my gaze. "Maybe there's hope for you yet."
“Doubt it.” I walk out.
Voss catches up to me on the driveway. “What happened to letting me do the talking? " He glances back at Williams's house, then at me. "What you said in there was explicit quid pro quo. That's not defensible."
"He needed to hear it from me."
"What he heard was a confession to witness tampering." Voss's jaw works. "I checked him for a wire, but I didn’t check the whole house."
"If he were recording, he wouldn't have taken the deal."
"You don't know that."
"No," I agree. "I don't." I get in my Audi.
My phone lights up. More texts from Ivy. The dashboard clock reads 12:47 a.m.
I silence it.
She'll have questions. Where I've been. What I've done.
But the less she knows, the cleaner she stays if this goes sideways.
She won't like it.
But if the FBI comes calling, they'll find me. Not her. Not Sebastian.
Just me.
Chapter Twenty-One
Thorne
I arrive home close to 2 a.m. Moonlight turns the limestone facade corpse-pale. It’s fitting for a house built on old money and older sins.
Shutting off the car, I don’t go inside. My hands grip the steering wheel, staring at nothing. I should go to my room. Shower. Sleep.
But my mind won’t shut off. I need a distraction.
I did the right thing.
This is my mantra as I pull through the gates.
But the truth is, I did what Dad would have done. I handled a problem the Blackstone way—with money, leverage, and a handshake that bordered on extortion.
The only difference is I tried to make it cleaner. Tried to leave Williams with options, with a defense attorney, with something resembling dignity.
Dad would have crushed him completely. Would have enjoyed it.
