At Devil’s nod, introductions resumed. Everyone sat down, but the air in the room was decidedly on edge although Sutton was unarmed. Tall, dark-haired, and menacing, Jasper Sutton ruled over his portion of the East End with an unforgiving fist.
“Well if it isn’t Devereaux Winter ’imself.” Sutton grinned, pleased. “Finally, a meeting.”
Winter’s dislike was ill-concealed. “Let us make this meeting quick, shall we? I know what you want, and you know what I want.”
“Right.” Sutton’s eyes narrowed. “But what’s the other Winters got to do with any of it?”
“You want to buy a warehouse Mr. Winter owns by the docks,” Dom said. “But Mr. Winter is family.”
Sutton’s look was one of ill-disguised disbelief. Like any common surname, the sharing of it did not necessarily signify a familial relationship, and he had done his damnedest to keep his family separate from the legitimate Winters ever since discovering the connection.
“The fancy cove Winters and the East End Winters.” Sutton guffawed.
“Yes,” Devereaux Winter confirmed.
“We shared a sire,” added Blade, who had begun spinning the point of his dagger upon the polished surface of Dom’s desk.
Dom would box his ears for that later.
“All of you?”
“Every, last one, you spider—”
“All twelve of us,” Dom interrupted, shooting his sister a warning glare.
One wrong word, and this entire deal could be over before it had begun. He had promised Adele he would find another way to solve his problem, and this was the way,damn it.
“I will give you the warehouse in question in exchange for the Sutton Waterworks and the promise you will cease all further attempts upon the Winter family and our properties,” said Devereaux Winter, likely seeing the need to propel this meeting forward before it grew any more untenable.
“That’s too high a bloody price,” growled Sutton. “And I ain’t taking the blame for the fires set here. That wasn’t me. I will sell you the Waterworks. Only you, Winter. Not the rest of these twats. For two thousand pounds and the warehouse.”
“Five hundred pounds and the warehouse, along with your promise,” Devereaux Winter countered.
Dom had known, all along, that Sutton would not sell the Waterworks to anyone other than Deveraux Winter. He had known, too, his rival’s keen interest in Winter’s dock warehouse. In turn, Devereaux had agreed to divert the funds which had been held in trust since their father’s death to the purchase of the waterworks and the sale of the warehouse. It would all be legally binding, but Sutton would not be pleased when he realized he had been outfoxed.
A problem Dom would deal with later, if the time came.
“One thousand, the warehouse, and I promise to stay away from The Devil’s Spawn,” Sutton said. “All of you.”
“Done.” Devereaux nodded. “I will have the papers drawn up.”
Bloody hell.
It was done.
The waterworks would be theirs, and Dom could make peace with Adele’s family as she wished.
“This better be worth it,” grumbled Genevieve sourly.
It would be. Dom had no doubt.
* * *
Adele was having the most divine dream.
The sun was bathing her in a golden light, and her husband’s hand was moving up and down her spine in a warm, steady caress. His lips were on her ear.
“I love you, angel.”
