“What would you do?”
I fell silent. I hadn’t expected that question. “What do you mean?”
“Come on, Carter.” He smiled, shaking his head. “You’ve worked your way into a powerful position with both families. I know you’re the lone wolf. You do your own thing, but you’re the smartest guy I know. You think seven steps ahead of everyone else. If you were me, what would your first move be?”
“My first move would be to find out if that bomb was meant for Emma or not.”
“And after that? What if it weren’t, and it was a bomb sent against your family. What’s the next step?”
“You need to gather information. Find out all the key players and the alliances between them. Know them better than they know themselves.”
“And if that was currently being put together? What’s the step after that?”
“Find out all their businesses. Everything. Even the houses where they take their mistresses.”
“Already being done. After that?”
I shook my head, grinning. “Why are you picking my brain? You’re making all the right moves.”
“Because I’m missing something, and I don’t know what it is. But I think you do. I think there’s a difference—one small step—that I’m blind to.”
I knew what he was getting at, but it was simple. He made it sound complicated. It wasn’t. It was just a quality I had that Cole didn’t.
I shook my head. “Cole, you can plan all you like. You can set up all the targets and hope you’ll hit them when you shoot, but there’s a point where you can’t plan anymore. I plan. I set up safeguards, yes. That’s what I was doing at home, but eventually you just have to strike the match.”
“What do you mean?”
“The difference between you and me: I’d go in there and kill them all myself. And no matter how much I’ve trained you, that’s a quality you don’t have. You’re smart. So am I. You plan. So do I. But while you wait to make sure the whole team will back you up, I’m already in there and doing it no matter who’s with me and who isn’t.”
He wasn’t going to make the first move. His method of testing the elders would take too long. This war, if it spilled over to me, was going to be my own. I wasn’t going to wait for Mauricio family approval. I would do the same thing that had happened after AJ. If they came for mine, I’d go for theirs—all of theirs.
“So I should stop wasting time? That’s what you’re saying?”
Suddenly I heard Cole’s measured words. He was watching what he said and being very careful about it. It all clicked, and I wanted to hit him. “You’re an asshole.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, but I could tell he knew I’d figured it out.
“I’m your weapon, aren’t I? You’re waiting for me to get fed up so I go and do your work for you. That’s your genius plan?”
A bright smile stretched over his face. “It was until you figured it out.”
“You’re a dick.”
His eyebrows raised, but I didn’t yell. I didn’t curse. I didn’t lunge at him. I was pissed, but he was doing what was right for the family. He was utilizing the best weapon in their arsenal, and that was me.
“I’m not doing a thing unless I know they intend to hurt Emma.”
He nodded. “I can respect that.” He watched me, still waiting for anger.
“You can’t control me,” I told him.
“I know that.”
“Good.” Then I moved. My fist was up and hitting him square in the jaw before he saw me coming. As his body dropped to the ground, I knew he was unconscious, and I turned to leave. I had been a weapon for the family before, and if Cole wanted to go that route, fine by me. But if I was going to be used as that weapon, he’d have to deal with the damage I inflicted.
I wasn’t sure if he was ready for that.
As I got into the car, my phone buzzed in my pocket. Pulling it out, I found a text from Emma: Coming back. We can go home. I’ll get to know Andy when it’s safer. A second text buzzed through as I watched: I love you.