24. Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Four
W e’re in Finn’s office, which is a first for me. Unlike Lorcan’s gray tones, his decorating tastes run much darker to shades of black and bloodred. It’s not as big, either. There’s no workout space, but there is a giant wooden table with maps of the city spread out across it.
Their makeshift war table makes me appreciate why Finn wanted Lorcan on his side. His mind works the opposite of Finn’s. The ideas and tactics he’s coming up with on the fly are impressive. Could I turn him? Someone like him at my back would make me a lot safer.
Finn rubs his chin and stares at the main map as Lorcan points out a few weaknesses of the Zhang organization. “I like that.” Finn’s focus rakes over me after he looks up. “You’re being too quiet, Kimmy. It’s unnerving. You’ve always got an opinion.”
A half smile surfaces as I round the table. My shoulder brushes against Lorcan’s. He kisses my temple. With my index finger, I circle the strip club. “This is home base, right?”
“It generates enough revenue to keep it. It’s good for cleaning cash.” Finn stares at me across the table.
“I like Lorcan’s idea to draw them out. I think it’s smart.” Lorcan’s arm snakes around my waist and tugs me tight to his side. He kisses my temple again. I also like that Malik might stand a chance of surviving this. Though I don’t know what the brothers intend to do with any of Zhang’s employees who are still alive when we’re done dismantling the organization, I could guess.
“I’m more of a smash and grab man, myself,” Finn says.
“Seems like a great plan if you want to end up six feet under. Come on, Finn.” I cock an eyebrow.
“They tried to kill her. I think we should be more aggressive. Answer back harder.” He stares at Lorcan, nodding his head at me.
Holding back an eye roll is almost impossible, but somehow, I manage it. “Having one or both of you dead isn’t going to help anyone,” I say before Lorcan can respond. “Least of all me.” I glance up at Lorcan under my lashes, and he gazes down at me. Deep in his hazel eyes, I think I see a hint of amusement at the way I’m playing this.
When he turns to Finn, he switches to Irish. “You want action? We can do a roundup in a week or two after we understand the players.”
He gives a sharp nod of his head. “I’ll think about it. We need to come back strong.”
Lorcan’s phone goes off, and he takes it out of his pocket.
“You’re both being rude right now,” I say. “I’m right here. I’m part of this. Switching to Irish is a dick move.” They’ve let me into this room, but the change makes me realize neither of them quite trusts me yet. It’s unnerving. I’m never sure of Finn, but I would have bet money on my connection with Lorcan.
Finn laughs. “I never claimed I wasn’t. Who’s that?” He tips his chin at Lorcan who is engrossed in his phone.
“Carys. She’s on about some fight at The Cage.” He squints at me. “You want to go?”
“Is that a problem?”
Finn smirks. “Only if you turn up alone with Lorcan. It’s a nonissue if I go.”
“Perfect. So you’ll both take me.” Do I want them both there? Not really. But it will be a good chance to glean some information.
The brothers exchange a heated look. Finn smirks and then turns away, his lips almost forming a smile. “Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it isn’t true, brother.”
“If you hadn’t fucked up my deal, we’d be fine.”
“I sweetened your deal and then decided as an organization we didn’t need shit from Derry. We can do better with those pissant Russians.”
Lorcan stiffens beside me.
“You thought I didn’t know about that?” Finn runs his finger along the edge of the table. “You might have the better tactical mind, but I put the fear of God in people. Apply pressure.” He presses his thumb into the table. “You’d be amazed how quickly people talk.”
Lorcan’s right hand and left hand comment comes back in a rush. Was he meeting with the Russians while I was keeping Finn busy? And Finn knows? Does Lorcan suspect the Russians might have killed his father? My brain kicks into gear, churning out question after question as the two of them stare each other down.
“Are we done here?” Lorcan shifts away from me, his fists clenching and unclenching.
Finn shrugs as though he doesn’t care. “That’s up to you.”
Lorcan’s hand trails around my waist as he rounds the table and heads for the hall.
I sigh as the door clicks closed behind him.
“That seemed rather cold. He didn’t even ask you to come with him.”
Because he has some weird notion you’ll find me irresistible and tell me the truth. “I don’t get you.” I turn to face Finn. “What the hell was that? You practically beg me to tell him the Zhangs came after me and then you almost blow the truce to shit.”
Finn’s jaw hardens. “There was no begging. I asked. You did it.”
“Whatever. You need me to help win Lorcan back for some nefarious plan you’ve cooked up.”
“You saw him. You understand why I need him.”
“Not many people think like him, that’s true. If you need him so badly, why are you determined to piss him off?”
“I want him in the organization, fully in. He needs to realize he’s not in charge.”
“Seems like he should be in charge.”
Finn chuckles. “It would.” He indicates the large map on the table. “But what I said is also true. He’s smarter than me. No doubt about it. A strategist, corporate raider. He’s your man. In this business though? People fear me. I hold grudges, chase people down, do the things no one else would dare to do.”
“Including murdering your father?”
His attention snaps, and his posture stiffens. “We’re back to that old chestnut?”
“You haven’t given me a list yet. Why stall if you don’t have a reason to hold back? Why wouldn’t you want to know who killed your father?”
“I’m busy sorting out this other shit.”
“Some of which you’re actively creating.” It’s a challenge, but sometimes I can’t help myself. My mouth runs away from my brain.
Finn comes around the table so he’s closer. His icy gaze searches my face. “Why are you so interested in The Cage?”
I laugh, the tension going out of me. “That’s your follow-up?” Inside, my stomach is doing somersaults. I need to back off, control my mouth, if my attitude is going to raise his suspicion even more. Having him grasp I’m the rot he needs to dig out of his house wouldn’t be good. Before I go down, I need to understand what happened to Chad.
“Whenever you get a chance, you circle back to it. It’s very curious.”
“Fit men. Hot. Sweaty. Fighting for money and honor. Name a woman alive who wouldn’t be interested.”
“You sound like Carys.”
“There’s a reason we’re friends.”
He hums and narrows his eyes. “I cannot decide whether I trust you, Kimmy. My brother clearly likes you. Everything seems golden for a while, and then there’s this moment where you’re a little tarnished.” He holds up the gap between his index and thumb to my eye level. “Something you say or do doesn’t quite add up. And a voice in the back of my head whispers to me.”
He’s so close his breath stirs the tendrils of my ponytail that have come loose. Inside my chest, my heart races, and my fingers itch to release one of my guns. Fight or flight.
“Perhaps that whisper isn’t what you think it is.” I narrow the gap between us, my chest brushing against his. My gaze flicks to his, building an air of sexual attraction instead of letting fear win.
“That’s why you’re not dead yet.” His voice is a hair’s breadth from my ear. “I don’t mind the whisper of danger. It keeps me on my toes. If the whisper becomes a roar, you’ll be dead before you realize the volume has skyrocketed.”
Pulling back, I offer him a lopsided smile which goes against everything inside me. “Save yourself a bullet. What you see is what you get.”
His thumb grazes my cheek. “It’s a very pretty package, I’ll give you that. I highly doubt that’s all that’s underneath.”
“You like what you see?”
Finn’s lips quirk up. “Very much.” He moves away, and cool air rushes against my body. “But I’ve screwed my brother too many times in too many ways to do it to him again regardless of how attractive the package might be.”
Now he’s farther away and my head is clearing, I’m not sure I like the implication behind his words. “I’m not some object you can pass around. I get a say in who I’m with and what I do.”
He chuckles. “Oh, I’m well aware.” He rounds his desk and shuffles some papers, organizing them. “I’m probably more than you could handle anyway.”
“Not to mention you slept with one of my best friends last night.”
“Wasn’t the first time that’s happened. Carys and I go way back.”
“As evidenced by the scar on her chest.”
He pauses his sorting and presses his fingers into the wooden desk. Looking up, his eyes are steel again. “What happened between us back then is none of your business.”
“She’s my friend. I look after my friends.” Guilt pricks at my insides. I also gather evidence on them for an ongoing investigation.
“You’ve been spending too much time with Lorcan.” He opens the top drawer of his desk and takes out a piece of paper. Handing it over, he says, “You know who I look out for?”
I take the paper from him, scanning the handwritten list of names and wait for him to continue. Sometimes I swear he likes the sound of his voice better than anything else.
“Me.”
Glancing up, I frown. He’s lying, and the only person he’s fooling is himself. “And Lorcan. Whether you want to admit it or not, you care.”
His bulky shoulders rise. “Lorcan needs saving from himself. He doesn’t know when to let things go.”
“You do?”
With a chuckle, he shakes his head. “Nah. If I was Lorcan, I would’ve killed me by now. He wants proof, vindication, to be right. Sometimes you gotta pull the trigger and deal with the fallout.”
The whisper doesn’t always become a roar.
“Watch your back. Some people on that list don’t even like a whiff of trouble.”
I nod and fold it several times, shoving it into my back pocket. I cross the room to the door and reach for the handle. Before opening it, I half turn to him. “You know, you see Lorcan’s hesitation as a weakness. But he doesn’t want to believe you killed your father. He doesn’t want that outcome.”
Finn laces his hands together and places them behind his head. “That’s the thing. You can’t let it be about what you want. You gotta let it be what it is. No emotion. Raw facts.” Releasing his fingers, he says, “Go get him what he wants.”
Yanking open the door, I start down the hall to my rooms. I need to photograph this list. Finn’s words echo in my head. Part of me can’t help wondering if Lorcan’s right, if maybe Finn killed their father. Coming to that conclusion doesn’t protect any of us. Given the impending war with the Zhangs, a split could kill us all.