Page 31 of Blacklist

“What’s fun about that for you?” Luca asks me. “It’s not usually how you operate. You prefer to go for the jugular.”

“I guess I’m taking a page from your book,” I tell him. Luca prefers to play with his prey. It’s more about slowly torturing someone until they self-destruct than blowing them up.

“Having a lot of money wrapped up in a failing company isn’t my idea of a good time. No matter who I’m fucking with,” he says dryly.

“Not everything is about money.”

“That’s not the Sterling Ford I know.” Luca narrows his eyes before he finally shrugs. “Suum cuique.”

Translation: he’ll respect my wishes. Despite his more sociopathic tendencies, Luca can be democratic as well. I don’t know what fire burns inside him or what fuels Jack. I know enough about my friends to guess what drives them, and I know they have my back. They’ve never questioned why I hate the MacLaines. It’s enough that I do. We each have our own black list of names. We don’t have to explain those lists to one another. Not after what we’ve been through together. Not with the secrets we share.

“When do you want us to move on it?” Jack asks. I know he’s less comfortable with this arrangement despite what he says.

“We wait. I’ll decide what we do with them later.”

“What does Sutton think?” Luca asks.

Jack bites back a grin. He knows Luca is purposefully goading me.

“Sutton has nothing to do with this,” I say, straining to keep my cool. It will only fuel Luca’s enjoyment of his little joke to do anything else.

He doesn’t hide his disappointment nearly as well. “In that case, there were other matters to discuss. I spoke with my uncle regarding the London accounts.”

“That’s my cue.” Jack stands. “I need to get the bar ready to open.”

We still haven’t gotten used to Jack’s desire to stay out of our other business affairs. There was a time we partnered on everything, but we’ve been going our separate ways for a while. I went independent years ago. Luca went back to his family. Jack is trying to be legit. That’s going to be harder while Luca and I are in town.

But as Jack reaches for our dishes, he looks at the tattoo on his forearm. The one he knows is under my shirt sleeve. Luca’s, too.

Nothi in infernum.

We might have made good, but we still have debts to pay.

Luca and I discuss the issues concerning his uncle, Marcus DeAngelo, who I’d only left in London a few weeks ago. “He doesn’t need to worry. There’s no way to trace that account.”

“That’s what I told him,” Luca says.

“He says that MacLaine is reaching out, trying to find out which private investors are holding the shares Angus sold. He wants to invite them to Windfall to discuss options. Apparently, Malcolm MacLaine wants the estate and the company to remain with the family.”

“He’s going to be disappointed,” I say calmly.

“He’s trying to figure out who the largest holder is so that the family can regain a majority of the holdings.”

“He’s going to be disappointed when none of the investors will sell.”

“Rumor is that he isn’t looking to buy.” Luca’s mouth twitches. “He’s apparently old school. He’s offering his family’s reputation in trade.”

The bastard had gotten the idea from me. “I guess he isn’t above selling his sister.”

“Did you ever think he was?” Luca scoffs.

“He seemed to think so.” I hadn’t bought Malcolm’s gallant display of fraternal concern for Adair then. He’s not looking out for her now. He only wants to make certain he’s hooking the biggest catch.

“If he finds out about Jack or me?” Luca asks.

“He’s not going to find you,” I say, fiddling with my cufflinks. I’d carefully run every transaction through back channels. No one can question my discretion when it comes to ensuring client anonymity. I suppose Luca’s concern lies with whether I’m being careful with my own privacy. He doesn’t need to worry. “At least, he’s not going to find anyone I don’t want him to find.”

“He assumes the DeAngelos have some of them. Marcus told me as much. He wants me to deal with it.” Luca’s stormy eyes glitter with possibilities.