Page 74 of Deathless & Divided

“Doesn’t apply to her, right?”

“He was dirty, maybe that’s why she overlooks it,” Damian suggested.

“Probably.”

The conversation still happening drew in Damian’s attention again.

“They drew blood first,” Joel said. “I want to know who it was and soon.”

“Patience comes in handy for times like these,” Terrance replied. “You’ll do well to remember that.”

“He has a point, Terrance,” Ben said. “Doing nothing feels like we’re sitting ducks waiting for the next bullet to hit one of us. Perhaps Mia was just an accident, maybe whoever it was had been aiming for you.”

Riley choked out a pained sound in the corner. No one paid him any mind.

Ben continued like he hadn’t been interrupted. “Who’s to say? What if the next mistake is one of your granddaughters, hmm? You’ve always got them around and close. The next stray bullet might just have their blood all over it, Terrance.”

The boss barely reacted to the idea of Abriella or Alessa being caught in the crossfire of another shooting, but Damian knew better. Terrance’s gaze narrowed and his lips twitched, fighting to pull into a sneer. Anyone else probably overlooked the small ticks, but not Damian.

Terrance was worried.

As he should be, Damian mused.

“What about the Poletti kid?” Theo asked as he took a seat across from Terrance.

Damian froze in place. How in the hell did Theo know about the Poletti hit? Theo asked his boss about it like he knew Terrance had been the one to make the call. But that was impossible. Damian hadn’t said a word to his friend about the hit.

Dino knew …

Damian passed Dino a questioning stare.

Dino simply shrugged and lifted his beer to his lips without a word.

“What about the Poletti kid?” Terrance asked.

“Are we looking at a situation of retaliation here?” Theo asked back.

Joel’s stare snapped to his grandfather. “What in the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” Terrance muttered with a wave of his hand to dismiss the concerns.

Theo didn’t relent. “You put that hit out on him, didn’t you, Boss?”

“What did you just say?” Joel asked, his tone taking on a threatening edge.

“Just what I fucking said,” Theo said without any heat to his words. “You’re not deaf or stupid so clean out your ears. Boss decided to cull that issue before you got a big head and invited the enemy in. Shit like that happens when you think you make all the calls and you don’t, Joel. Welcome to the big boy world where you are not the most important person in the room. I imagine that must be hard for you, but grin and bear it, yeah? God knows we’ve done it enough for you.”

Ouch.

“Damn,” Dino whispered like he was fucking proud or something.

Damian figured it out then. Terrance had told Joel of the hit on James Poletti, but he obviously hadn’t explained to his grandson that he was the one who made the call for it.

Terrance opened his mouth to speak. “I—”

“Did you kill James?” Joel demanded, cutting in on the boss.

Terrance heaved a sigh. “Joel, you are one more word away from getting my boot in your teeth.”