“And you think they’ll acceptthis?” Liam’s expression is doubtful. “Connor, what you’re saying is a fantasy—”
“They’ll accept what we tell them to accept. Our father did many things wrong, but there’s one thing that I think we can learn from his example.Welead the Kings, Liam.Us. We can and should take advice from those we respect—but we should make the choices that are best and enforce them. We are the ones who hold the position for a reason. We will find a better way forward, and they can fall in line, or they can leave the table.”
“Graham won’t stand for it.”
“My father will accept it, or he will go,” Saoirse speaks up, coming to stand next to me. “Connor’s right, Liam. The two of you, together, is the best way forward for the Kings. If the old guard can’t agree with that, then they have no place there anymore.”
“Graham will not rule through the McGregor at the head of the table any longer,” I say firmly. “If you will join with me in this, brother, we will succeed—together. We’ll make a new future for the Kings and keep our family whole in the process.”
I step closer to my brother, reaching to put my hand on his shoulder. “We don’t have to repeat the sins of our father. We don’t have to let our pride and arrogance be the ruin of us. We can apologize, make things right, and move forward. I believe that, Liam. Do you?”
The silence that hangs in the room for a long moment is heavy. Liam glances at Anastasia, and something passes between them, a look that only they understand. It’s in that moment that I fully understand why he chose her and risked so much.
She was meant for him. They were meant for each other. Anything else could never have brought anything but pain.
When my brother looks back at me, his green eyes, so very much like our mother’s, are calm and sure. “Yes,” he says, reaching to lay his hand over the top of mine. “I believe that, Connor. And I am sorry, too.”
“I think I have something that could help the Kings and us,” Liam says after a moment’s silence. “I’d planned to use it as a last-ditch effort to hold the seat myself before Ana’s illness and the attack on you. But now—I think we can use it together to strengthenourposition.” He takes a breath, looking at me with an odd, keen expression. “I’m trusting you, Connor, not to take this information and use it for yourself. I’m trusting that you mean this.”
“I know,” I tell him quietly. “I hope I can show you that I’m worthy of your trust again, Liam. And that we can work together.”
“I have a friend in Washington D.C.,” Liam says, sinking into the chair next to Ana as Saoirse and I sit back down on the couch. “Her name is Beth. She’s helped me in the past, trying to find information—when I was looking for Ana, for example. She tried to help me look for you early on after our father’s death, but she wasn’t able to track any sign of you.”
“I did my best to cover my tracks.”
“And you did a good job,” Liam says ruefully. “Anyway, Beth came across some coded messages being sent by the Santiago cartel in Mexico. They’re feuding with the other big cartel in the region again, and that one—the Gonzalez cartel family—is starting to press a bit too hard. Taking out their mules, hitting their soldiers, etcetera. The Santiagos are weakening, and they need reinforcements. Men, guns.” He lifts an eyebrow, and I immediately catch his meaning.
“An alliance with a criminal organization that sells weapons—like the Kings—could be highly useful to them.”
“Exactly.” Liam nods. “We could profit greatly off of it—even Luca might be able to get in on it, if they have an interest in the drugs he sells or if he could source anything from them. It has the potential of an excellent partnership. We’d need to send someone trusted to negotiate with them.”
“Niall,” I suggest immediately, seeing an opportunity to get him out of our orbit for a little while. I know I can’t remove him forever or avoid having him be a part of our lives, but there’s something to be said for space. Some breathing room to let Saoirse and I strengthen our foundation without him there to remind us of the mistakes we’ve made. “You trust him above anyone else, right? And he’s familiar with the workings of the Kings. He can be relied on to represent us.”
Liam gives me a look that says he knows what I’m doing, but he nods. “It’ll take some time to set up a meeting,” he says slowly. “Months, even. We’ll need to make our moves with the Kings before that. But we’ll do it together, Connor. You and I, as brothers. And we’ll change the way things are done in the Kings forever.” He smiles. “We’ll be our own men, staying true to our own values, as we’ve both wanted to be all along. Not a shadow of our father and other men. A real legacy, one that we can both be proud of.”
“We’ll present this decision to them at the next meeting,” I say firmly. “I’d planned for that to be my coup—but instead, we’ll go together. We’ll do thisourway.”
Next to me, Saoirse rests her hand on my thigh. When I look at her, I can see the pride in her face—pride forme, her husband.
It’s then that I truly feel I have a chance at being the man I’d hoped I could be—for her, for my brother, and for our family.
---
My next order of business, after receiving a text from Jacob, is to go to the warehouse. Saoirse protests, worried that I’m not up to the trip, but I’ve wasted enough time already in the hospital. “It’s not as if I have to walk there,” I tell her wryly. “I’ll be fine, and I’ll be back home before you know it.You,” I add, resting my palm on her still-flat stomach, “stay here and rest.”
Saoirse narrows her eyes at me, but she just leans up on her tiptoes, giving me a firm kiss that sends an ache of lust through me. I haven’t gone this long without touching her since we met again, certainly not this long without fucking her since we’ve been married. It’s enough to make me want to stay home instead of going to find out what Jacob has discovered. Still, I have a duty to myself and my family to make sure that this problem of the traitor is solved.
“Be careful,” is all she says, and I return the kiss, running my fingers through her hair before going out to the waiting car.
Saoirse is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the woman I need. I don’t know how it took me so long to see it. She’s tough, brave, and strong, raised in this life, and unflinching when it comes to what it takes to survive it. She will never flinch or be afraid of the things I have to do to lead, never fear me or be disgusted by me for it. She will never shrink at the hard choices that might have to be made.
The ride to the warehouse feels long, especially when it’s the last place I want to be going right now. When I open the door, Jacob comes to meet me, his hands streaked with blood and his grey t-shirt sticking to him with dark stains that look like sweat and other things. His dark hair is a mess, clinging to his forehead, and he looks exhausted, but there’s a grim look of satisfaction on his face as well.
“Quint and I have been at it all morning,” Jacob says tiredly. From the room just past the doorway behind him, I can hear the sound of low, keening moans of pain and then a grunt, as if someone’s delivered a blow. “We tried not to get rougher with anyone than necessary until we figured out who it was. The innocent men didn’t deserve this much pain. But Quint’s good at his work.”
I know that’s true. Quint is the reason I rarely ever have to get my hands bloody, a master at prying information out of men just enough to know if more torture is warranted or not. Based on the sounds coming from the room just beyond us, he’s uncovered the traitor.
“I thought you’d want to know before you went in there,” Jacob says, his tone guarded as he glances briefly behind him. “Less of a shock.”