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“And clearly a prick given you killed him. You don’t need to tell me what he’s done for me to know you’d only ever off your boss because he’s done something unforgivable. So, I’ll ask again. Why would Grim shoot you when we all know that girl is head over heels in love with you?”
I heave out a sigh. “I wish I could say that was still true.”
“Are you still in love with her?” Joey asks me pointedly.
“Yes.”
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph! She shot you, Beast. Are you gone in the head?” Connall yells, shaking his head in frustration. “You know what, don’t fucking answer that.”
“So you’re running?” Joey asks, moving the conversation along.
“It’s complicated.”
“So UN-complicate it for us because as much as I like Grim, I don’t like the fact she nearly killed you and you’re leaving like a beat-down dog.”
“Number fucking one, I’m not a beat-down dog! Number fucking two, if she wanted me dead, I’d be dead. We were five feet apart, there is no way she would’ve missed from that distance. No fucking way,” I say, pointing to my bandaged shoulder.
“He’s right. Even if she wasn’t a trained markswoman, which I understand that she is, there’d be no missing. So do you want to tell uswhyyou killed Carter?” Joey asks.
“Because the cunt was going to use her to pay off his debts to the King.”
“Thefuckyou say?!” Connall yells.
“You heard me. Carter got into a lot of trouble fucking his way around the escorts at The Crib Club, not to mention racking up a substantial gambling debt. I found out about his plans and made the King a better offer.” Drawing in a deep breath to fend off the queasiness, I continue, “I would kill Carter if he backed the fuck off from Kate. He agreed, providing I stay quiet about his involvement, and he could remain a silent partner in Tales.”
“The conniving bastard. Why didn’t you just kill the cunt as well?” Connall asks.
“Because, as you well know, he’s powerful. Much more powerful than me on my jack jones and far more powerful than one woman with a dead dad. She needs him… For now.”
“And you’re okay with that?” Joey asks this time.
“Of course I’m not, but equally she’s backed into a corner. The King has a forty-eight percent share in Tales, he has a big army behind him and lots of fucking connections. She can’t go up against him. This way she keeps his protection and a share in Tales whilst she establishes herself, and we find her a way out of this mess.”
“And you believe he won’t go back on his word the minute you're gone, and take her for himself?”
“I know he won’t. Kate shooting meprovedshe’s tough enough to run Tales. Besides, the King doesn’t want a woman who’ll fucking shoot him when he tries to raise a hand to her. Kate is too much of a handful, and one he ain’t willing to mess with, thank fuck.”
“So let me get this straight,” Connall tries to rationalise, pacing up and down as he gets all the information straight in his head. “Carter was in debt so he goes to the King for a loan, the payment of which is his own fucking daughter and a share in Tales.”
“Yes,” I say, the pain in my head, shoulder and ribs easing a little now the medication is doing its job. Doesn’t stop the ache in my heart though, or the constant feeling of nausea when I’m reminded of how Kate had looked at me as though I’d broken her heart as surely as her banishing me had broken mine. She had to do it, I don’t fucking blame her for it, but it still fucking hurts.
“You find out and cut another deal with the King,” Connall continues, “You kill Carter and the King backs off from Grim, acting as what, a silent partner in the club?”
“Precisely, he’s also got connections with some of the best clubs in the world. He can bring in the fighters. She’s smart, she’ll grow the business, and won’t throw it down the drain alongside whisky and stripper cum like her dad did.”
Connall raises his brow at that. We both know Carter wasn’t the type of man who cared about a woman’s pleasure over his own.
“Turn of phrase,” I mumble.
“So the King gets to sit back and reap the benefits whilst you take the blame for killing Carter, am I close?”
“I don’t know about that part. That all depends on what happens now, but I’m not sticking around to find out whether Kate grasses on me. Though I wouldn’t fucking blame her if she did.”
“She won’t,” Joey says, sounding far more certain than I feel.
“And you know this how?” Connall asks.
“As you well know, there are rules we all live by, unspoken ones, but ones weallobey. No fucking police. However Grim chooses to deal with this is up to her, but that girl has grown up in this life and she won’t be pulling the police in unless they’re bent and she’s using them to cover her back.”
