Page 33

He wipes his face, then throws the towel aside. “Are ya pleased with the arrangement? Eilish is pretty and well connected.”

I pull the tape from my other wrist. “Pleased has nothing to do with it.”

“No?”

“No.” The tape rips away from my skin. “She brings Kinnane access, Art’s routes, Mara’s social reach. Once that ring is on her finger, the southern gaps close before the Crowes get in.”

“And the Tallons?”

I look at him.

Graves returns my stare; he’s too old to be frightened of my temper. His towel is loose in one hand, face red from the round. “They’re already boxed in,” I say.

“Not enough for your father.”

My father doesn’t want the Tallons inconvenienced. He wants them crushed. Every single thing under their name will burn.

That’s the plan.

I strip the tape from my fingers and let it fall to the bench. “Hennessy likes old families better when they don’t make him clean up their mess.”

Graves gives a low hum. “That sounded almost like your father talking.”

“It was meant to.”

“And what do you get?”

The gloves come off with a pull, and I drop them beside the tape. “Positioning.”

Graves nods as if the word has weight enough to satisfy him, though he has never been satisfied by one-word answers.

“Not a partner, then.”

A laugh leaves me as I reach for the towel and press it to my mouth until the cloth takes the blood. “I have business partners. That’s more than enough to deal with.”

“The Kinnane girl understands duty.”

“And so do I.”

“Aye.” Graves wipes the back of his neck with the towel. “But her friend doesn’t.”

My hand stills.

He notices, because Graves notices everything.

“If Sera comes tonight, she’s not just some mouthy girl in a party dress. She’s a risk.”

Rain ticks against the roof. Somewhere outside, a van door slams, and staff voices carry through the wet air, already preparing the house for champagne, flowers, and bullshit smiles.

Graves tosses the towel onto the bench. “Although a Tallon close to your fiancée could be an opportunity.”

My smile pulls at the cut inside my mouth, intensifying the throb.

“Let's see if her loyalty to Eilish makes her foolish enough to stand under my roof.”

Graves nods again, which is why I keep him. He is one of the few men in the Harrington circle who can make me bleed, talk through tactics, and walk out with all his teeth.

I walk to the mirror bolted against the stone wall and stare at the split in my lip. It’s small, angled at the corner, no worse than a shaving nick. By the time I’m ready for the party, no one will notice unless they come too close.