“I couldn’t have been older than two or three… strange the way memories work. That should be long gone.”
“Were you ever… you know…” I feel stupid asking, but I have no idea how it works.
“Adopted? No, I was never the type. Too problematic as a young child and too dangerous as I got older.”
“Look at you now.”
“I met some people. They took me under their wing, taught me the business.” He glances over. “There’s a lot you don’t know about what I do, flower. It’s probably better if it stays that way.”
I open my mouth to ask what he means, but Prime rolls away, turning his back to me. The question dies in my throat, but the confusion lingers.
That makes no sense. I practically run his businesses. I brought in an outside investor almost entirely on my own. There’s nothing about Prime’s operation that I don’t know about.
Except there are meetings, large gaps in his days, random trips with no explanation, and occasionally men lurking around who don’t seem like they belong. I’ve always explained that stuff away. It’s Prime being Prime, right? He’s got shady friends and if he’s not in the office, he’s probably out banging some random woman.
But what if it’s all rationalization?
How does a man like him go from barely surviving as an orphan to thriving with multiple investment properties and more money than he needs?
Maybe it really is better if I don’t know.
CHAPTER 14
PRIME
“Did you tell her yet?” Stellan walks toward a van parked at the far corner of the lot. Weeds grow between cracks in the pavement. A chainlink fence runs along the left side, woods straight beyond them, and an abandoned warehouse looms to the right. We’re on the western edge of the city.
“There’s no point.”
“You don’t think she’ll figure something out?” Stellan casually reaches into his jacket and draws a pistol. He checks the magazine and loads a bullet into the chamber.
“She doesn’t want to know, so she’ll never see it.”
“Fair point. The girl’s smart though. Real pretty too. I was impressed when I saw her up there.”
“Did you enjoy the wedding at least?”
“Great fucking show.” He grins at me, gun pointed at the ground. “When your original bride’s family stormed out? Classic Prime.”
“That wasn’t the plan.”
“And yet it was amazing. You should have heard the other Capos shaking their heads. Like leave it to Prime to lose one woman but gain another in a matter of minutes.”
I stop walking. We’re twenty feet from the van. It looks quiet and deserted, but I don’t turn my back on it. “You don’t need to be here, you know.”
“I wanted to see how you were doing. Besides, I haven’t been on a pickup in a while.”
“That’s because you’re the fucking boss now.” I scrub a hand through my hair, scanning around for movement, but it’s all still.
I don’t mention that I have at least fifteen men ringed around the property, all of them heavily armed. There’s no way I’m going to be the guy who lets Stellan get himself gunned down because I was too lazy to set up a defensive perimeter.
Besides, Kira would cut my damn throat.
“It’s strange though. I’d been telling you for years to settle down. Maybe not get married, but stop trying to fuck half the attractive women in Philly.”
“It wasn’t half. More like all of them.”
Stellan grunts in amusement. “And now you’re tied down.”
