Page 162 of Revere: A Legacy Novel

Tommas, however, navigated the large mansion as though he could do it with his eyes closed. It wasn’t long before Cross found himself sitting in a large private library, while Tommas poured himself a glass of brandy.

“Drink?” Tommas asked, tipping the glass in Cross’s direction.

“Not today, but thanks.”

He scrolled through his phone, trying to check if there were any flights that had any open seats due to cancellation. He had been checking all damn day, and still, nothing. He was right when he told Catherine he wouldn’t be back until tomorrow, it seemed.

Cross shoved his phone into his pocket as Tommas came to sit across from him in the library.

“I did not expect you back until next month, at least,” Tommas said. “That’s when the next run is, isn’t it?”

“As far as I know, yes.”

“Why the visit, then?”

“Something came up a few months back,” Cross said, deciding to just get into the meat of the matter. “I owed a favor to a Marcello, actually.”

Tommas’ face blanked. “That family does like to collect.”

Cross nodded. “I was asked to run a boat of guns down along Cancun to a drop in the Gulf. The details of what happened aren’t important, but I ended up botching the run, and dumping the guns.”

“The worth?”

“The run was a total of a half of mil. Half was already paid. I dropped the entire load—they’re out that other quarter of a mil.”

Tommas whistled low. “I would have cut your fingers off for that, Cross.”

He laughed low. “I’m sure they considered it, too.”

“Yet, your hands are quite fine.”

“I suppose they need them to be for me to keep running their guns on an exclusive basis.”

Tommas stiffened.

Cross cleared his throat, and added, “See, that was the deal made for my choice. I agreed. I wanted to let you know, so that you understand why I’ll be stepping back here in Chicago.”

“I’m pretty sure Theo made it very clear you were not to be offering your skill to any family but ours.”

“I wasn’t making money on this run—it was to repay a favor.”

“You’re missing the point.”

“I’m not, but I am a man of my word. I did what needed to be done, Tommas.”

The older boss scrubbed a hand down his jaw. “You understand that this feels like … a betrayal, to me?”

Cross lifted a single shoulder. “I’m sure it would.”

“I had hoped with you working for our side of things, and Tommaso marrying Camilla, we would not have issues between our families. New York always seems to find a way to fuck that up proper.”

Cross didn’t quite know what to say, so he chose not to say anything at all.

“And what should I do for the gun situation now?” Tommas asked with a sharpness edging his tone. “On my side of things here. What do I do?”

“I would think you could finally allow Tommaso the chance to run guns like he’s been trying to do for years,” Cross offered.

Tommas’ brow dipped in his anger. “Pardon?”