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I shook my head. "He's not going to make the same mistake his father did." If it was that easy, I would offer him Crimson, sit back and watch the house of cards collapse. No, there was something else going on here.
"I wouldn't sell the place to him," Cooper said. "He'd probably tear it down and make it into an apartment building."
"We might do that," I said.
"Yeah." Cooper shrugged. "But if you did, at least it would be tasteful. I could do some art for it." He seemed excited by the idea.
"That can go on the ‘maybe’ pile," I said. An expensive investment like that would require time and planning, and a lot of thought. It wasn't a bad idea though.
"So I should send a text back, saying no?" Cooper asked.
"No, just delete it," Jake said. "Don't give him the satisfaction of responding. That's what bullies want."
"I know." Cooper nodded. "I went to high school." He looked so sad I walked over and put my arms around him.
"Who would bully you?" I asked. "You're so sweet."
"If I give you a list, can you have them killed for me?" he asked. I wasn’t sure if he was joking or not. I didn’t think he knew.
That wasn't exactly how things worked though. I needed to have a better reason than that. I mean, if they beat him up…
"Make a list and I'll have Jake look into them," I told him. "Maybe you can kill one or two."
Cooper grinned. "I will, thank you."
I kissed his cheek and turned to see Hutton watching us.
"See, there's the difference between you and Dagen,” he drawled. “He would have just said yes."
"I like to be fair," I said. "Killing indiscriminately is too easy, and pisses off too many people." There was a fine line between having people scared of us, and pushing them into trying to overthrow us.
Before I could say another word, my phone rang. It wasn't my private line, it was the one I use for business. I recognised the number immediately.
I grimaced and pressed the button to answer. "Alistair Blackheart," I said with mock sweetness.
He chuckled. "Is that the best you can do, Ice Bitch?"
I snorted and rolled my eyes. "Is that the bestyoucan do?" He was obviously trying to get a rise out of me, but it wasn't going to work. Not today.
"I'll leave the insults to you, Elodie" he said smoothly. "I was just ringing up to see what you thought of my gift."
Calling me names was one thing, using my real name made me want to grind my teeth.
"What is he saying?" Jake mouthed.
I pressed the button to put Dagen on speaker phone. "You shouldn't have," I said. "It must have been expensive." I wasn't sure if he was referring to the artefacts, the Lair or the would-be assassin. All of that would have cost.
"I like to think of it as an investment," he said. "In a brighter future. One where black wolves rule, like they should."
Jake choked back a laugh.
"Isn't that a cheerful thought?" I said sarcastically. Ugh, talk about dystopia.
"I thought so." Dagen sounded smug.
"What do you really want?" I asked.
"What do any of us want?" he asked. "I want what's mine."
