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Sunny brushed that away. “Two different situations. Yusuf wasn’t important. Vito was. Agree, Liam.”
“Agree,” Bane added.
“Agree,” I said.
His clenched jaw was the only sign of his tension. Sweeping over us, I could tell behind those placid eyes he regretted nothing. Liam was the first to get a taste of the Merchant life, and even though our parents promised choosing this life would be his choice, one mad provost and a bomb decided for him.
Afterward, he stepped up in the gang and protected us, so Bane, Sunny, and I could truly have a choice. When we all decided the criminal life was more our speed, Liam took on the uglier parts of the jobs so we wouldn’t have to. Though we didn’t ask him to, and even though sometimes we still had to get our hands bloody.
With Kenzie, he acted as the protector again. Showing her the truth of this life so whatever happened, she knew the choice she was making.
It was all so... condescending.
What the hell is it with dads, boyfriends, and older brothers appointing themselves the leader before anyone takes the fucking vote?
Kenzie’s dealt with kidnapping, attempted rape, losing her child, and a darkness in her past that Sienna finally shared—telling me of the day she heard a gunshot and ran to find her mother standing over her father’s body.
Our childhood was roses and pancakes compared to Kenzie’s. She didn’t need to be tested. She learned that people do terrible things for a just reason long before she met any of us. Now she was beating herself up over losing our first lead when my hero brother shouldn’t have put her in that room.
“Agree, asshole,” I snapped. “Can’t play the older, wise one when you’re letting Kenzie’s pussy twist your judgment.”
All my brothers looked uncomfortable at that.
“I agree,” Liam said simply. “I will not ask your permission, but I will share all information and everyone I pick up in connection with the Brotherhood.” Liam cut a look in my direction. “As I expect you all to do with me.”
I flipped him off. The guy turned that around on me fast.
“Are we missing something else?” Bane demanded.
Heaving a sigh, I spilled the truth about the body in my burned-out apartment.
“Blew up their own guy just to keep you in one place,” Sunny said. “Wow. That’s cold.”
“Well, they can’t pull that trick a second time now that we know about the trackers,” I said. “Back to Brother Abraham. Could any of them be the guy?”
Liam pulled up the photos, arranging them across his laptop screen. I didn’t recognize any of their faces but I noted they were all middle-aged or older. By that point, you should either be running the gang or retired from it. A fifty-year-old that’s still an errand boy is just pathetic.
“They’re all either retired from the life or in jail,” Liam said, confirming the thought right out of my head. “It could be one of them, or it could be none. Brother Abraham sounds almost biblical. Like a priest who chooses a new name for the new life he’s begun. Abraham might be an alias.”
“But this is something,” Sunny insisted.
Liam inclined his head. “It’s something. I’ll get the word out on this name—promising a high price for information on the guy. It’s more important than ever now that we find the person behind the trackers. We need to move against this guy the second we have a location, and we can’t do that if we’re still wearing our trackers to keep the Brotherhood from getting suspicious.”
“We know they’re not.” Laurel grabbed my nose and smothered me—a future assassin in the making. “None of the Caddell employees have mysteriously requested sick leave since Kenzie and I moved there. He or she is there. They’re lying low, but they’re not running. The Brotherhood won’t abandon this plan easily.”
“Sunny,” Bane spoke up. “Any progress in Rockchapel?”
“Depends on what you call progress. We started with a list of people that could be with the Brotherhood. Now I’ve got a list of people I’m sure are with the Brotherhood.” He got up and bustled around the kitchen, making Laurel a bottle. “They’ve got money, connections, and skills that are worth something to a gang trying to take down the most powerful family in the city. Add that to the fact we can’t find a trace of them...”
“At least we know they’re recruiting out of Rockchapel and the types they’re looking for,” Bane replied. “We can use that.”
“Ryker had the same thought, but everything we’re coming up with is too risky.”
“What are you coming up with?” I asked.
“A spy. A mole. We get to our enemies before they do, and offer a high price if they dangle themselves out in Rockchapel and let the Brotherhood pick them up. Once they’re in, they can get the full scope of the operation. Make sure we take all the bastards out in one strike.”
