Page 4 of Revenge & Truth

“That’s it?” I blurted, feeling like it should have been something way more life-threatening with how they were acting.

Ryker’s jaw dropped in stunned silence while Hound tossed his head back and laughed. “Oh, fuck me. If I weren’t already in love with you, I would be after that response.” With a growl, Ryker elbowed Hound in the gut, making the man grunt and clutch his stomach.

“Fucking prick,” Hound muttered, moving back to his armchair.

Ignoring the insult, Ryker focused on me again. “What do you mean by ‘that’s it’? Isn’t that enough? Astin, if you say one wrong thing, they can use it to put you away for good. Hell, just two weeks ago, we had a pile of dead bodies and a ballroom floor covered in blood with the cops knocking on our front door. Personally, I think one close call like that a year is more than enough. Things within the Family are still unstable, and if you get locked up, they would implode.”

“Then I won’t get locked up,” I answered with a shrug. “Ryker, you’re acting like I don’t know what’s at stake or how to navigate through this. This is what I was fucking raised to do, or have you forgotten that much of our childhood together?”

I knew it was a low blow, but it irritated me to no end when he got crazy overprotective when this was just part of our lives as criminals. Risk was involved in every action we took, but it needed to happen one way or another to keep the operation running.

“Goddammit, Astin,” Ryker swore and scrubbed his face with his hands. “I’m trying to do my job and keep you safe. Why won’t you let me do that?”

The office door opened, revealing Liu and Jace, who paused, sensing the intense atmosphere in the room. “Ah…” Jace started looking from me to Ryker. “Should we come back?”

“No, come in,” I said, gesturing them forward. “I was just telling Ryker I was going to Ashgate with Liu tomorrow.”

Jace’s brows shot up as he looked over at Liu. “You are, huh?”

“Yes, I just got confirmation that we have the ten o’clock spot. Does that work for you?” Liu asked me.

I graced him with a bright smile. “See, I knew you were my favorite for a reason.”

“Hold up,” Jace jumped in. “I thought I was the favorite?”

“That was last night when you showed up at my door with a bowl of death-by-chocolate ice cream. Today is a new day, and Liu earned the title,” I pointed out.

Jace muttered something under his breath but didn’t comment further on the matter, taking a seat on the couch.

“How can you think this is a good idea?” Ryker demanded from Liu. “We all agreed Astin wasn’t going to the prison, no matter what. Even Luca felt the same way.”

That surprised me. Out of all my lieutenants, Luca wasn’t one to voice his opinions on such things. “When exactly did he say that?”

Liu slid his hands into his pockets as he let out a sigh. “Pretty much right away. He really didn’t want you anywhere near the place, but he isn’t my boss… you are.”

“Suck-up,” Jace said behind a fake cough.

Hound grabbed a pillow from the chair next to him and chucked it in Jace’s face. “Zip it, asshole. You’d have done the same thing if she asked you to take her to see the man.” Jace flipped off Hound but didn’t deny the truth of what he said.

“Look, guys, this isn’t up for debate. I’m going with Liu tomorrow. If you have strong feelings about the matter, then I suggest you kindly fuck off and keep them to yourself,” I announced. “Now, did the two of you need something?”

“I just came to confirm with you the time for tomorrow,” Liu shared, sitting next to Hound.

Over the past two weeks, I noticed Liu making more of an effort to be around the other guys instead of leaving to tend to the mountains of work I’m sure he had to deal with each day taking over Gunner’s role. I told him to find an assistant to help deal with that side of things since I needed him to focus on Luca. Thankfully, Gunner already had someone in his office who helped him with the day-to-day activities.

“What about you?” I inquired as my gaze landed on Jace.

He stood, pulled out his phone, and handed it to me. “Seems Harvey and our White Knight know each other.”

On the screen were pictures of Harvey O’Hagan, a rival crime boss trying to take over the Caprioni territory, and the man responsible for killing my father. Looking at the picture, I could tell they were at a warehouse but couldn’t see if it was in an industrial area or near the docks. The image also captured a rather stuffed envelope—full of money, would be my guess—exchanged from Harvey to Detective Kody White.

“Well, would you look at that,” I commented as I flipped through the other pictures. “This is from you guys watching Harvey?”

“Yeah, they almost lost the fucker too, with how careful he was acting about possibly having a tail. It would be easier if we could put a tracker on his car, you know,” Jace pointed out, raising a brow at me.

I looked up from the phone to meet his dark blue gaze. “And if he finds it? You and I know he has all his cars examined for trackers and bugs every night. The moment he knows someone is tracking him, he’ll start to get even more paranoid and harder to track. I get this is difficult for your people, but just think about it… would he have had a meeting this important if he suspected someone was watching him?”

Jace rubbed a hand over his buzzed head. “I know you’re right, but it’s tough to find people who can tail a guy who knows what to look for.”