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“Fuck yes, I’m letting him go,” Griffin said firmly. “And good riddance. Once I ship him off to Chicago, I can promote you to Duke.”
“Wait,” I said, blinking in confusion. “You’re demoting him?”
“I thought you didn’t give a damn about anyone but Kenny,” Griffin reminded me.
“I don’t,” I said. “But moving him down to promote me is going to put a giant target on my back. The grunts will think I orchestrated his take down and they’ll be gunning for me.”
“Well, I wouldn’t worry about that. I’m not demoting him. He’s choosing to leave. So it’s up to him if he wants to stay Duke or if he wants to be with his girl.”
I rolled my lower lip between my teeth as I stared at our hands, which were still entwined and resting on my thigh.
“What is it?” Griffin asked, reaching out with his free hand and lifting my chin to make me meet his gaze. “You won’t have to get branded again.”
“Fuck off.” I laughed and knocked his finger away from my face. “Look, I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this. You’ve been here for nine years. I thought I’d be out in one. I don’t want to be Duke.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not an enforcer. I can’t just—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Griffin interrupted. “Enforcer? Eddie isn’t an enforcer. All he does is cut my product and collect my money.” His brow furrowed. “You’ve never said anything to me about Eddie killing people.”
“Yes, I did,” I said, pulling my hand away from his and crossing my arms over my chest. “Three years ago when I told you he said he took out a bunch of the grunts that were involved when that job in Corktown went bad. And you said you didn’t need me to report that stuff to you, because you already had eyes on it.”
“Oh fuck.” Griffin shook his head. “I meant not to worry about that single event, because he was boasting and hadn’t actually killed anyone.”
“And you don’t think that was information I needed?” I said, my tone incredulous. “Why would he lie about that?”
“Instill fear?” Griffin offered. “Make himself seem bigger and badder than he really is.” He sighed. “We have no records of him actually killing anybody.”
“Well, he tells people that he’s doing it on your orders. Why do you think people are so fucking scared of the Prince? Eddie’s got them all convinced that if they fuck around, you’ll send down an order to take them out. And that he’s more than willing to oblige.”
“Damn,” Griffin said. “That’s smart as hell. Blaming it on me ensures it doesn’t get back to me. And he gets total obedience from the crew.” He huffed out a laugh. “Eddie’s smarter than I ever gave him credit for.”
“Yeah, he’s pretty smart. So tell me again why I shouldn’t worry about you pushing me up the ranks over him.”
“You’re right,” Griffin agreed. “I may need to rethink this. But I’ll figure it out.” He cupped my jaw in his palm and held my gaze. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I can take care of myself,” I said, running my fingers over the back of his hand. “Just save Kenny.”
“I’ll do what I can,” he promised.
We sat there for a full minute, staring at each other, my face in his hand. The tension between us was palpable and if I hadn’t been so angry with him, I probably would have tried to kiss him.
But I was still pissed, so I just pulled away and got to my feet.
“Where the hell am I?” I asked, glancing toward the windows that were looking out over a dark back yard. “I need to order a car.”
“I’ll take you,” he said.
“Really?” I scoffed. “You’re the Prince of the city. You think they’re going to accept you playing chauffeur?”
“They’ll accept what I tell them to accept,” he insisted. “Besides, best to start our cover story now.”
“Cover story?” I felt my brows furrow as I watched him collect his keys from the desk.
“I told you, I’ll figure out a way for us to see each other.” He shrugged into his jacket. “I’m a man of my word, Matt.”
“If you say so.”
