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"She won't get in the way," I assured him. He was a stubborn prick sometimes. He’d come around eventually, but if he didn't, then whatever. More holes for Ice and I.
"She can be part of our posse," Ice said. "The Devils and the Beautiful. She could be the Beautiful Devil."
I preferred my nickname for her, but I didn't bother to mention it. We didn't have to share every single thing.
"Are you listening to yourselves?" Ares asked. "What guarantee do you have that she'd want anything to do with any of us when she knows what we're really like? You say she'll be fine, but what if she's not? Can you really imagine her with blood on her hands?"
"She doesn't have to have blood on her hands," I argued. "She's learning how to prevent people from hacking systems like my father's. She could be useful for that. I bet anything she knows how to hack into those systems too. Imagine how much fun we could have, fucking with the Bell family bank accounts." She could probably make herself a billionaire with a few keystrokes. That would be all kinds of awesome.
"Is your psychology degree telling you sweet, innocent people will only ever be that?" I asked. "Because I know it's not. Even people who think they're decent are really assholes deep down."
"It's not even deep down for some people," Ares said pointedly.
I grinned unashamedly. I gave up trying to be nice a long time ago. Around at the same time I noticed Ares seemed to have more fun being his honest, nasty self. The only one of us who even tried was Ice, but I always suspected that was an act to gain people's trust. He was the only one of us people would turn their backs on. Ironically, he was the one they should never look away from, if they preferred their internal organs inside their bodies.
Ares and I killed when we needed to, but Ice did it for fun. For shits and giggles. These days, we tended to leave most of the killing to him. He'd complain if we didn't.
"I feel like you have the rest of your life planned out, with your stepsister right in the middle of it," Ares said slowly.
"What's wrong with that?" I asked. "I'm going to take over my father's business and she'll be by my side. That's where she belongs. The three of us and her. Think how powerful we'll be. We might even be powerful enough to challenge Caleb Brantley some day. Or Reuben Brantley." The thought gave me a chill up and down my spine. The idea of that much power made my cock hard. We would be above any law, anywhere. We could do whatever we wanted to whoever we wanted and no one would dare stand against us.
"Don't say that too fucking loud," Ares warned. "The walls might have ears here too." He gestured around the dark pool area. The only lights were the handful under the water, and those inside the house.
"If they do, I'll deal with them." If I had to take out my father or my older brother, Gunnar, to keep my two other brothers safe, then that's what I'd do. Ice would have fun dissecting Leonardo Cassani, in spite of the fact my father let him get away with a lot of things others wouldn't. Ice was only loyal to him up to a point. Once he was off his leash, he'd go wild. Figuratively speaking. Ice's version of wild was understated and methodical. And very bloody.
"How are you going to deal when Reuben Brantley sends an assassin after you?" Ares asked.
"He won't," I said with certainty. "As far as anyone knows, we're loyal to the people we're supposed to be loyal to. We'll keep doing that as long as it covers our asses. Whatever it takes for us to survive and thrive." At the end of the day, that was all that mattered. There was nothing I wouldn't do to ensure that. No one I wouldn't step on, step over or kill. Whatever I had to do, I'd do it.
"Has it crossed your mind that your precious stepsister and her mother might be working for someone who doesn't have our interests at heart?" Ares asked. "You're so sure she's sweet and innocent, but what if she works for the Bell family? Or is one of them? She's only a year or two older than Chloe and Lila Bell. They could be best friends for all you know."
"You think I'd let someone like Helen Knight into my home without a very thorough background check?" I asked coolly. Who did he think he was talking to? I sure as fuck wasn't born yesterday. No one crossed the threshold without me knowing exactly who they were and why they were here. I made sure of that.
"Who would have the skills to make a background check come up exactly the way they wanted?" Ares asked thoughtfully. "Oh, I know. A computer science major. Just because her file says she's a twenty-one-year-old university student who does gymnastics in her spare time, doesn't mean she's not really a thirty-one-year-old spy for another mob family."
I snorted. "She's definitely not thirty-one." He planted a seed of doubt in my mind though. He was right in saying Kennedy could have changed the information with a few clicks. On the other hand, we had people working for us who had the skills she was just learning. If anything was changed, chances are they would have found it.
If it was there to be found. I knew as well as anyone that meetings often took place face-to-face, but there would be some record of that, somewhere. On her phone perhaps? I'd take a look later. I wanted to make sure she wasn't talking to any other guys anyway, or letting them talk to her. If she was, I'd let Ice take care of them.
Speaking of Ice, where the fuck was he?
I glanced around, but he was nowhere to be seen. In a flash of realisation, I knew where he'd gone and why.
"Motherfucker."
Chapter Ten
Kennedy
I pinched the bridge of my nose and squeezed my eyes shut. I'd spent way too long staring at this report. The words on the screen were starting to blur together.
Just a bit longer, I told myself.
I glanced at the time in the bottom corner of the screen. It was close to midnight. Early for me, but not after a long day of coaching. Nicola offered me a job as Charlie suggested she would, but then I ended up covering for him when he got sick. Food poisoning, apparently. Hopefully that was all.
I hadn't forgotten how Mannix got all pissy about him touching me. It was completely innocent, but I knew Mannix saw it differently. If the tables were turned and he was the one lifting a woman up to the uneven bars, I might be jealous too.
Or if Ice did it.
