All three of my men whip their heads toward me.
“You want to take over?” Broadway asks, his eyes sparkling. “You mean it?”
Koby bursts out laughing. “Now you’ve done it, Boss. He’ll be floating six inches off the ground for the foreseeable future.”
Broadway’s been telling me to make a move on Ohio for at least two years but it’s not easy in practice. You don’t simply take over the reins. Either you kill the current boss or you force him to step down.
Until now, I’ve never wanted the main seat, perfectly content with the operation Dante let me set up in Chicago.
Things change, though. Now I have Hailey, taking charge equals more respect, fear... and an ally like Dante brings a different level of protection. Save for the morons who raidedDeltaa few years back, no one’s dumb enough to willingly get into Dante’s bad books.
Bosses who want his approval crawl out of their skin to earn it, and those who’ve got it crawl out of their skin to keep their business relationship intact.
Most threats against Dante or his wife are eliminated before they even hit Dante’s radar.
And the best part?
The small inner-circle Dante built. Six bosses, each feeding the other. They operate like one organism: the success of one depends on the success of the others.
Nothing guarantees safety in our world as much as becoming a part of their tight-knit group. Now I have someone I need to protect at all costs, taking over Columbus is my best bet.
“Let’s see what the evidence is first,” I tell Broadway. “Then I’ll figure out how to best use it.”
Hours later the sky outside breaks into dawn, Ryder’s still tapping away, and Hailey’s barely awake on the couch, staring at the TV screen.
“I’ve got something,” Ryder announces, those few words jolting everyone back to life. “Only one folder, but the other two won’t be long.”
I cross the room, stopping behind Ryder. To my surprise Hailey hangs back, watching us from the couch.
“Go on,” I urge, nudging Ryder’s shoulder. “Show me what we’re dealing with.”
He hovers the cursor over the folder, pausing for a beat. “You sure you don’t want to look through this alone?”
“Press the fucking button.”
And he does. Pictures pop up on the screen, one after another, a familiar person front and center in each one.
My brain can’t compute fast enough.
I know what I’m seeing. I knowwhoI’m seeing but it’s so fucking abstract, so far from what I thought I’d see, that it takes me a minute to snap out of the initial shock.
“Fuck,” Broadway mutters, raking his hair back. “Thatis not what I expected.”
“What is it?” Hailey asks, sitting up, her blue eyes alarmed.
I look up from the screen, my words catching in my throat. This will crush her in ways I can’t even imagine. She’s spent months piecing her past back together, uncovering the truth bit by bit, learning about the threats lurking in the shadows.
We had so many theories, so many reasons Hailey might have been thrust into this mess, all of them plausible, some so fucking close to the truth... but none quite hitting the mark.
“Carter,” she urges, getting to her feet. “Whatis it?”
I meet her eyes, my tone calm as I do my best to soften the blow. “It’s your father.”
Now I know why he wanted me to call him first. The possibilities multiply inside my head as I pull my phone out and dial his number.
He better have a good explanation. He better fuckingprayI believe it was an accident that Hailey got involved in this nightmare. That putting her through hell wasn’t a deliberate move.
I hold the phone to my ear, every ring of the dial tone bringing me closer to shattering Hailey’s entire world.
