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I dropped my head, racked with shame. Of course he did. Sitting, talking, and opening up are what we did. It always came easy between us—so easy, he was honest from the first day that he wouldn’t date or sleep with me. I was the stupid one, reading into a sweet offer to take me out and have fun.
“We are.” I raised my head, giving a genuine smile. “Course we’re friends. Sorry. I’m as rusty with the friends thing as I am with the dating thing. My social skills have been abandoned on a desert island without food or water for eight months. Spoiler alert: they’re dead.”
Bane laughed. Good, I was trying to make him laugh. It chased away the awkward silence coming to kill us.
“I’m sorry, Kenzie. I should’ve been clear.” He swept out a hand. “Still want to go?”
I hesitated. “Going on a lovers’ walk isn’t something friends do.”
“I promise there’s a vitally important reason that we need to go on this walk. There just is no other way.”
“Vitally important?” My good mood crept back. “We talking life or death?”
“At least. May also impact future events. We can’t predict all the ramifications. I just know we’ve got to go into that park.”
“When you put it like that...”
Chuckling, we picked up our feet. If he noticed that I didn’t walk as close or he realized that I noted his hand wasn’t on my back anymore, neither of us commented on it.
“Good evening.” A woman sat at a fold-up table, handing out tickets. Behind her, an arch proclaimed Harmony’s Lovers’ Walk. I’d never been, though I heard of it, and wanted to ever since. No surprise that the last two assholes I dated weren’t the romantic types who took me out for moonlit walks.
The two of us ambled along the paved path, letting other couples pass us. Fairy lights twined in the trees, and tucked between us, flickering light displays of hearts, dancing couples, flowers, and the artist’s imaginings put a soft smile on my face. This place was beautiful. What cruel irony to have finally found the man who wished to share it with me, but me was the last thing he wished for.
“So, tell me about River,” I spoke up. “What’s the story?”
Bane cleared his throat. “Sunny and River built it up. The story’s not that interesting, to be honest. You’ve got a sense of how Sunny’s business runs.”
I nodded.
“Unlike other organizations, we don’t make our money through traditional revenue streams. I manufacture weapons and sell them legitimately through shell companies. Other men in my line of work sell to war-torn countries and organized crime. Our business wasn’t built by preying on the helpless. It never was.”
“Where do Sunny and River come in?”
“Sunny has the same principle. He steals from thieves. He collects protection money—protection from himself—from gangs instead of the sweet couple running the mom-and-pop. But that’s a smaller pool of targets. Gets even smaller when River and his crew go after the same people.
“River’s screwed us on smash-and-grabs. Either by leaving anonymous tips that someone was about to rob them, or intercepting routes and codes to get there and steal it first. He’s delayed our shipments, stolen potential clients from us, and all around has become a massive anal-tearing dick in the ass.”
“River has?” I cried. “But— But he— We can’t be talking about the same guy.”
“River Delaney—tall, dark, and homeless. He’s the same guy.”
“You said us. He goes after all the Merchants.”
“Sunny, Genny, and me. It’s harder for him to get to Liam. Leighbridge is a wealthy borough. Not as many homeless people there, and they stand out like sore thumbs when they do. His crew doesn’t have the presence there to do Liam damage, but the rest of us, he’s relentless.”
“But why?”
Bane sighed. “Another old grudge passed down to the next generation. My mother and his mother got in an... argument. My mom won that argument, and his didn’t take it well. Ever since, he’s had his fun proving how difficult he can make our lives.”
I turned that over in my mind. “I’m not suggesting this at all, but... why have you guys put up with it? If he’s cost you that much trouble and money, isn’t it the nature of legitimate businessmen to settle a threat harshly?”
He drifted closer. Somehow, his hand found its way above my belt again. “Normally, yes. In River’s case, he’s bulletproof. Everything he takes from us, he gives to his people. Poor, sick, addicted, abandoned. He lives on the streets himself, even though he’s stolen enough to set up in his own penthouse. Keeps none of it, Kenzie, and as a result, he’s done more for the homeless of Cinco City than all the charities and food drives combined.”
“If you shut him down, you leave all those people with nothing,” I said softly.
