“We’refamily,” Lynch pleads.
This time, he doesn’t bother looking out the window. He doesn’t notice Kate standing all alone. He doesn’t see the strain in every one of her muscles, the killing instinct that vibrates through her as if she’s a hunting hound, ready to launch herself at the man who hurt her years ago.
But I do.
I see everything.
So I set the hook and pull it hard, defining Viktor in terms a layman like Lynch can understand. “It’s a decoding program.The most complicated project I’ve ever attempted. It takes any encrypted website and turns it into plain text.”
Lynch’s eyes turn glassy as he surveys his domain. “Any site?”
“Any site,” I confirm. “Banking. Telecommunications. Military.”
“All the information?”
“All the information.”
“Passwords? Bank accounts? Crypto ledgers?”
“All of it,” I lie.
His voice grows hushed. “I want it,” he says. “I need it. You and me, together… We’re going to own it all.”
15
KATE
The Bentley is silent on the long drive back from Baltimore. Granny sits in the front seat, next to Cole. She’s still too pale for my liking, and from the stiff set to her shoulders, I can tell her legs are bothering her something fierce. Walking out to the car, she needed to clutch both my forearm and Cole’s, and her right foot still dragged.
I shouldn’t have let her come to Sunday Roast. But I had no idea Da would send her from the table like she was some inconvenient toddler. I had no way of knowing Pyotr Tarasov would ruin everything.
Every mile we’re on the road, I replay all that happened. My sister, always the good girl, thinking that marrying Tarasov is what she’s meant to do. My father, signing Breagha over, surrendering his greatest prize after all his years of fighting the bratva. My mother, flirting with Tarasov as if he’s just anotherdick in trousers and not the devil that kidnapped her children years ago.
I feel battered. Bruised. I’m so tired, I can scarcely keep my eyes open.
But I see Granny into the carriage house when we get back to Georgetown. With Mrs. Watson enjoying a well-earned day off, I help Granny get ready for bed. I leave her with a cuppa and both inhalers on her nightstand, and I place her walker by the bed, for when she needs to get to the jacks. I make sure her mobile is in easy reach, my number just a tap away. Her eyes are closed before I shut off the light.
Cole drives us across the street, negotiating the guards at both gates. He parks the car in the garage and gestures for me to precede him into the house. I plant my feet on the marble floor in the foyer before I say, “I hope you’re feckin’ satisfied.”
He looks surprised, but he answers evenly enough. “Not in the least.”
“But you see the damage you’ve done.”
His voice drops a dangerous few notes. “The damageI’vedone?”
“You’re the one who insisted on doing business with that shitehawk. You set him loose in the henhouse, giving him access to Canton Crew files. Tarasov wouldn’t think he has a chance with Breagha if he wasn’t already hip-deep in the clan’s banking.”
“First—I didn’t let him anywhere near your clan’s actual accounts. He got a couple of your father’s crypto toys. That’s all. And second—Tarasov’s obviously been going after Breagha for a while. Today’s little show wasn’t something he threw together in the last seventy-two hours.”
I start to splutter a response, but Cole cuts me off before I can get a word out.
“And third. I did what I had to to protect you. And I’d do it again. Iwilldo it again. Because if there’s one thing I learned sitting at that table today, your family will donothingto keep you safe.”
His words carve far too close to bone, so I strike out before I’ve fully absorbed the sting. “You may have handed your bollocks over to Tarasov, but I won’t kiss his arse.”
I expect Cole to tell me exactly what he’ll do withmyarse. Or maybe he won’t say anything at all, just grab my arm and drag me to the dungeon. I swear to God I’ll use my safeword if he tries. I’ll shoutredas loud as I can, scream it all the way down the stairs.
But he just says, “Don’t give this round to Tarasov. Don’t let him be the reason we fight.”
