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“Well?”
I watch the muscles of his neck ripple.
“Where did you get this.”
“Does it really matter?”
His nostrils flare as he looks away.
“No,” he growls. “It doesn’t. Though it might explain my topavtoritetbeing missing for the last four or five days.”
He swears viciously under his breath in Russian. Then he turns to level his gaze at the four of us.
“opustite oruzhiye,” he growls.
Around him, his men gradually lower and holster their guns. Gavan draws in a slow breath.
“You burned my warehouse,” he hisses quietly.
“And you tried to blow upmy fucking family!” Ares roars.
Gavan’s face darkens. “I did not. I don’t imagine it means much to you right now, but you have my word on that. I didnotset that bomb. I don’t believe in killing innocents and grandmothers, just as I don’t condone setting children on fire,” he rasps. “In case no one’s translated the complete video for you, that little weasel Pascha Andreev is clearly outlining his plans to go after the children of your vassal families in order to get us at each other’s throats. He very well may have been the one to set the bomb in your pub as well.” His jaw grinds. “Frankly, his actions disgust me. When I find him—”
“You won’t.”
He glances at me sharply. I lift a non-committal shoulder.
“Consider that a peace offering. Youwon’tfind him.”
Gavan raises a brow. “Duly noted. I will admit… I did torch your casino.”
“Hope you had insurance on that boat,” Kratos grins darkly.
“How’s your collection of stolen televisions and Playstations doing these days?” Gavan tosses back.
“Enough.” Ares shakes his head, holding his hands up. “We can play this game all day. Who shot first, who did more damage.It doesn’t matter. This was all a setup, and we’ve all been playing right into Serj and Leo’s fucking hands. They want us to burn each other’s empires to the fucking ground, so they can paw through the ashes.”
He glances at Kratos and I, and then levels a look at Gavan.
“I’mchoosingto believe you about The Banshee bombing. I hope I never find out that I’m wrong.”
Gavan nods as my brother continues.
“And being that all of this was set in motion by someone who is clearly a common enemy, I’m prepared to forget about the shot-for-shots regarding each other’s property. No lives were lost on our end.”
“On my end either,” Gavan growls.
“So we don’t have to go to war. We don’t have to be best friends, either, but we don’t need this to go nuclear.”
Gavan smiles mirthlessly. “I have a difficult time seeing us as friends, Drakos,” he growls. “But, that said, war is terrible for business.” He takes a slow, deep breath, and then sticks out his hand. “Shall we agree to lower the temperature?”
Ares glances at Kratos and me. When we both nod, he turns back to the Russian and shakes his hand.
“Consider the temperature lowered. We have no open hostilities with you, starting now. I’ll put the word out to my people immediately.”
“Same.”
“I’ll talk to Cillian,” Castle growls. “But consider the Kildares standing down as well.”
