“True. I never understood it. He was a fucking snitch. What kind of father is that to be proud of?”
We all looked at each other, a rueful resignation in our eyes. Da couldn’t see the forest for the trees sometimes. He’d never think that he wasn’t much to look up to either. That would simply never occur to him.
“Well, either way, she loved him, and she’s been trying to get back at us for years,” Declan replied. “I’m just surprised she has the Italian’s ear.”
Da spun around at that. “This war’s been going on too long.”
“We’ve been thinking about that. We know Domenico Rossi is the next in line after Fieri. If we take him, use him as leverage, get them to stop the war—”
Da raised a hand to stop me. “Fuck that.”
“Da, we can’t afford to be fighting a war on all fronts,” I argued.
But he shook his head. “We don’t go in there like pussies. It’s time that fucker was taken out. Fieri thinks he can targetmygrandson?” he raged. “Then he’ll learn the price that comes with that.” He pointed at Eoghan with a hand that was stained with another man’s blood. “He’ll be well protected. You figure out a way to get to him, take him out without putting yourself at risk, and do it fast.”
“It’ll take time. You know I need to learn his routine,” Eoghan said simply, unaffected by the prospect of killing the Italian Don.
Not that I blamed him. We were all too at ease with killing. It was shameful really.
“That’s not a problem. Learn it, learn it well, but take him out. I want no mistakes,” Da rumbled as he slammed his whiskey back. “As for that bitch, kill her too.”
“No. We need to know what she knows,” Finn argued. “She’s a fountain of information that we can twist to our own benefit.”
“You’d let her live after the stunt she pulled?” Da challenged, his eyes flaring wide. “Impossible.”
“There’s a wider game at play, Aidan. You have to see that,” Finn reasoned. “People are pulling strings, and the only way to know who’s at the top is to get close to someone who’s a part of the organization. Caroline Dunbar’s been playing games throughout her entire career. We need to make her scared. We need to turn her to our side. We need the information she has.”
Da’s jaw ground down so hard it was a wonder his teeth didn’t turn to dust, but even though he was half feral, I knew Finn’s cold logic had gotten through to him.
“What if she turns on us?”
“We have leverage on her,” I confirmed, casting a glance at Conor who nodded.
Not just how she’d been blackmailing Declan for a decade or more which none of us wanted to use considering it would implicate Dec in a cover-up, but ever since Brennan had picked Dunbar up last night and stored her at the warehouse for processing, Conor had been burrowing into her life. It was a lot easier when you had the key to her house.
“We do. There’s a safe as well. She must keep a lot of information in there. I’m sure that will help tie her to us.”
Da’s shoulders bunched up. “I don’t like it. She’ll try to betray us.”
“So we have to outsmart her,” Finn countered. “I think Conor and I are more than capable of doing that.”
Because the pair of them had proven themselves time and time again, Da grunted. “The second she tries something, you slice her throat. You got me?”
“We got you.” We all said it in one voice, incidentally, but it seemed to pack a punch.
He grunted again, then made for the door. “You find out if Tony, Mark, and Paul are dirty. Let me know, because I’m in the mood for slicing some throats myself tonight.”
As he walked out, Conor muttered, “I might plant some evidence against them myself. I hate those fuckers.”
“You’re not the only one,” I said dryly, but I turned to Declan whose fists were strained as he curled them about his seat. “You doing okay,deartháir?”
His mouth tightened. “I should be at home. Either that, or I should be killing Dunbar.”
Finn shook his head. “I get it, I do. But you know why we’re doing this.”
He gritted his teeth, and at that moment, he looked so like Da it was uncanny. “Just because I understand something doesn’t mean I like it.” He slammed his hand into his fist. “Da’s going to have to share his spoils.”
When he stormed off, following Da, I watched him go.