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“Sweet Christ,” James groaned, stepping into the conference room at the rear of the basement and slinging his jacket over the back of a chair. “Have you been married so long you’re giving relationship advice now?”
“God help us,” Declan mumbled, and Brogan chuckled.
Aidan dropped into a chair and rolled it toward the table. “Two years and counting, and I seem to be doing just fine.”
“Only because Viv has the patience of a saint,” Brogan assured him, sporting his own brand new wedding band.
It was good to see his cousins finally settled down with good, strong women who made them happy. The family had been through a lot in the last three years. Pushed to the brink and forced to adapt in ways that had only made them better, stronger.
The syndicate was more profitable than ever thanks to the Mafia alliance Aidan had secured with his marriage to Viv. Life was good, and Declan was slowly making plans to expand operations beyond Philadelphia.
James's father, Sean, had been tasked with wooing contacts in Boston and New York, leaving James in charge of logistics. A role he liked since it played nicely to his strengths to find and fix all the holes in a problem before they caused any damage.
Moving hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of illegal weapons and goods through Philadelphia’s harbors under the nose of politicians shouting about corruption while rubbing elbows with Declan was an art form. He enjoyed every fucking second, even if it meant he was doing less hands-on work these days.
“Evie is running late.” Declan set his phone on the table. “We’ll start with what she already knows. I talked to Sean this morning. Negotiations are going well in New York, but the Bratva are making waves.”
“Apparently the Russians are a pain in the ass everywhere,” Aidan said.
“They think they can intimidate me into abandoning a deal with the Irish and doing business with them.”
James chuckled. “They’ll find out the hard way that isn’t true.”
“Exactly.” Declan grinned. “It’ll be fun to watch them try. Brogan, Sean is going to send you some names of the Bratva leadership. I want every fucking thing you can find on them, down to their mother’s blood type.”
“If it’s in a hackable database, I’ll find it,” Brogan assured him.
“Prioritize any connections they might have with other organizations in New York and then expand to Boston and Philadelphia. They usually like to work alone, but I wouldn’t put anything past them either.”
“Is Ivankov behaving himself?” James wanted to know, and Brogan tensed across the table.
“He is,” Declan replied. “Men tend to do that when they lose a finger for disobeying me. I can’t imagine he wants to lose another one, or worse, by conspiring with someone else to undermine me.”
“Leo said the Russians seem to really enjoy the casinos now that all of them are fully operational,” Aidan said of his brother-in-law. “They’re partial to betting on hockey and European football.”
“Good. Falcone and his men can keep an eye on them too. How’s the deal with Simmons going?”
“It’s closed,” Aidan said. “For double the amount.”
Declan’s eyes gleamed. “Perfect. I still want to—”
At a noise from the hall, they all glanced up to see Evie appear in the doorway. She startled a bit to find every pair of eyes on her before moving up the table to take the empty chair to Declan’s left.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said, dropping a quick kiss to Declan’s lips before claiming her seat. “Avery is getting her molars in, and she’s not happy about it. What did I miss?”
It struck him sometimes how much Evie looked like her sister. For the most part, James had reconciled what Evie’s sister Nessa had done to Maura a long time ago. But every once in a while he’d see Nessa’s face in Evie’s, and it would throw him. Yank him back to the day he’d rushed in to find Maura’s lifeless body on the floor of that warehouse, to the despair he felt when he realized he was too late.
“James?”
“Yeah. Yes.” James cleared his throat. “What were you saying?”
Evie watched him with a knowing frown but said nothing. She didn’t need to. She knew where his mind had gone, and he knew the guilt ate at her just as much.
“I said,” Aidan replied, “is the inventory cleared for delivery on the Polish deal?”
“Yes. It’s ready to be loaded as soon as you give the go-ahead. I expanded the team for that one since it’s a bigger shipment. Rory will lead with Mick in second. Full escort.”
They went through the rest of the shipments slated for delivery in the second half of the month. You wouldn’t think January in Philadelphia was an ideal time to run weapons, but the weather made good cover, and people sick of snow and ice were apathetic enough to look the other way.
