“So you’re telling me that the Ross family is part of the Irish Mafia?”
“We are one of the families that rule over the criminal underworld, correct.” His voice was smooth while running over my pulse. His words should have sounded ridiculous or made me laugh, but instead I felt a chill roll down my spine, realizing just how serious he was. I inhaled and then nodded in understanding, a few things fitting together for me.
“Well, that would make sense why you have enemies then.”
Surprise coated King’s face as he shook his head. “I shouldn’t be surprised by how you are reacting, but I am. I’m really fucking surprised. I’m also concerned about why you aren’t mad that I didn’t tell you sooner.”
“How did you want me to react?” I questioned softly.
He ran a hand over his jaw and frowned. “You realize what comes with this lifestyle, right? You understand what this means? For us? I can’t avoid this life, Dahlia and I am not giving you up. I’m selfish when it comes to you.”
I cupped his jaw, understanding in part why he was concerned. “I wouldn’t want to avoid this lifestyle, King. If it’s part of yours, it’s part of mine. I’m upset a bit that you didn’t tell me, but I imagine you had a good reason… I think we’ve been keeping a lot of secrets lately, but we are clearing that up. I trust you. I’ve always trusted you; that won’t change. The fact that you are telling me all of this right now proves my reasoning to.”
King let out a low rumble. “I love hearing that you trust me, you have no idea. I want to keep your trust, Dahlia, which is why you have to understand just how bad all of this is. Okay?”
“I’m listening,” I promised, leaning into him.
“Our family conducts illegal trade all across the world, so I suppose we do, in fact, do international shipping, but that is mostly a cover and makes it convenient to move things back and forth. We work with other families like our own and government institutions that aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty, which are unsurprisingly most of them. Some of the families and groups we work with, though, are far worse than us, and that is what I hate touching you in any way. I know they will have gotten wind of you already by now, and I know they are going to realize how important you are to not just me, but all of us. There is nothing I can do about that, but the idea of someone targeting you makes me see fucking red, princess.”
I ran a hand over his jaw in a soothing motion. “How bad are these other families?”
“Each family seems to draw the line somewhere,” King began. “We don’t fuck with anything relating to human trafficking or sex trade. But some of the people we work with do exactly that, and while we try to avoid associating ourselves with them, it’s somewhat impossible. We are all stained and our hands are covered in blood; the only difference is your poison. Ours happens to be large international gambling circuits and weapons.”
I hadn’t considered what crimes their family would be involved in, but I felt instant relief to hear it was weapons and gambling. Don’t get me wrong, obviously none of it was good, but I would take that over sex work or human trafficking.
Christ.Talk about a reality check about how the real world worked.
“Gambling circuits?” I asked softly.
“Fixing large-scale events and the like.” He smirked. “That part is more fun than anything.”
I narrowed my eyes in thought, “Does that have anything to do with why you took a sudden interest in race horses two years ago?”
King’s smile grew. “Maybe.”
“And that’s the reason why we went to Dubai that one year?”
“Yes,” he answered seriously before adding, “We had fun though.”
We had, and I totally had thought that it was weird that he was suddenly into horse racing, but now it made much more sense. I nearly swallowed at that, realizing how much money we were talking about. The grand prize had been upwards of thirty-five million… I mean, that was insane, even to me.
“So why did the FBI reach out then? Why would they be willing to work with you?” It was the one aspect of this that was still confusing me.
“We have information on everyone, not just the people in this town, and the American government knows that.” He shrugged. “I’m sure it’s a case of ‘keeping your enemies closer,’ but to go against the Ross family would be suicide. Not only do we have information on all of their backdoor dealings, which would damage them far more than us if they got out, but a large amount of the placements in Congress and high-level office positions have been filled by our people. It wouldn’t be smart for them to try something.”
“And what part do you personally play in all of this?” I had a feeling, but I still needed to confirm.
His eyes darkened. “My father is passing the responsibilities to me, that’s why I went to Ireland this summer and why I am working with the FBI and not him. We have officially started the transition of power.”
“For you to be in charge of the entire thing?” I swallowed, realizing just how much power he was talking about. How much danger that would put him in. Holy crap. This was becoming more real by the second.
“That is a bit more of the reaction I expected.” He winced, looking frustrated.
“I’m just considering all the danger that is going to put you in,” I admitted softly as his eyes warmed in realization. “And Dermot? Is he part of all this?”
“Yeah, my uncle was as well, but we have essentially removed him from the equation because he’s a piece of shit,” he muttered. “But yes, Dermot knows. He better, since he’s my second in command.”
“Okay,” I murmured, nibbling my lip. “The only thing that scares me about this, King, is that you will be in more danger than ever. But this doesn’t change anything between us. Why would it?”