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Ansel heaved a heavy sigh like I’d just laid the weight of the world squarely on his shoulders. “I can, in theory. But it might take me a while if I’m going to do it carefully so as not to alert the FBI that I’m onto them.”
“Good. Get to it, then. Also, send me as much information about the Moranos as you can.” And with that, I hung up.
We drove in silence, although I caught Ferro’s glaze flicking to me through the rearview mirror. It happened enough times that I finally had to ask, “Is there a problem?”
“No,” he said quickly. “It’s just…this seems like a lot of trouble for you to just marry one girl.”
Was he trying to ask about my reasoning, or was he merely curious about the situation? “Since when do I explain to you why I do the things I do, Ferro?”
At my words, his lips tightened, and he muttered, “Yeah. You don't have to explain anything to me. I’ll shut my mouth.”
I kept a close eye on him. Ferro was one of the few men I trusted with my secrets, one of the few I knew who wouldn’t tattle on me to my brother. “And it goes without saying that my brother should not learn about anything that happened today. Am I clear?”
Doper nodded silently, the mute that he was. Ferro, on the other hand, seemed to struggle a little, and I had to cock my head at him. In all my years, I’d never had cause to believe the man was disloyal in any way. In fact, he’d proven his loyalty to me rather than The Brotherhood on many occasions, never selling me out even when it would have been in his best interests to do so, not even for millions of dollars. His biggest thing lately, though, was trying to convince me to take my brother’s place as the enforcer of The Brotherhood, and he might see Emily as a hindrance to that.
I needed to make it clear that Emily was not to be messed with.
“Something on your mind, Ferro?” I questioned, and Doper must have sensed the tension because he looked between the two of us and shook his head as he continued driving.
“It’s nothing,” Ferro answered. “It’s just that we’ve never done stuff to women before. All the people we’ve gone after have been lowlife jackasses and the Feds. This whole thing, and scaring her, especially when she’s been through so much….” He shook his head. “I don’t know. Left a bad taste in my mouth, I guess.”
Huh. The asshole had a soft spot for women. Who would have thought?“And you think this is me going after her?”
“I mean, isn’t it?” He glanced at me. “You forced her to marry you.”
“You think I couldn’t have gotten someone else to do the job?” I questioned, throwing it back at him. “You think I would have saddled myself with another burden just to make her suffer?” I got angrier the more I thought about it. Just what on earth did he take me for? “And you missed the entire part of her needing protection. The fact that she had no one else in this world after her father died and her mother left, and now the police are using her as a fucking scapegoat to take us down? You miss all of that?”
“No,” he said, sounding only slightly chastened. “So, what’s your plan with her? You’re going to use her to get the police off our backs, and then what? Get rid of her?”
Perhaps it was a consequence of not letting them in on my entire plan, but it just showed how much they didn’t understand me. Ferro’s compassionate bone was sticking out the wrong way and at the wrong time.
“I’m not going to hurt her,” I said firmly. “I already told her, and now I’m telling you. And this is going to be the last fucking time you ever mention this. Now, are you straight, or do I need to ask Chase for another second?”
He nodded. “I’m straight. Just making sure.”
“Good. Anything else on any of your minds?”
Doper simply shook his head. Ferro, however, hesitated for a moment but then followed suit.
I sighed, feeling an inexplicable annoyance. Why didn’t anyone believe me when I said I wasn’t going to hurt the girl?
Was I really that bad?
I mean, sure, I used people, and I was using her. That was wrong. But I wasn’t a complete monster, and that meant a lot, especially coming from the family I came from. I deserved some credit.
“Take me to Mansen,” I said, figuring I might as well get some work done while I gave Emily a chance to search my apartment.
Mansen was shocked to see me, but I didn’t care. He also looked apprehensively at the two men standing behind me until I told them to wait outside. Then, I presented the marriage documents to him and told him that, as of now, I had controlling power over all her assets, which meant he needed to prepare whatever documents I had to sign to that effect.
And he needed to make it as confusing as possible so Emily wouldn’t catch on to what was happening.
The man nearly shit himself in the process of telling me all the legal ramifications of what we were doing. Of course, a few thousand dollars unruffled his feathers, and the meeting ended with him assuring me he would have the documents for me soon.
Now I knew the difficult part would also be to get Emily to sign off on giving me control of her assets without knowing exactly what she was doing. But I would figure that out later. After seeing Mansen, I headed back home with the forms in my bag and found her sitting in nearly the same spot I left her in.
“Hmmm.” I scratched my chin as I stepped in. “I thought I would come back here to find the entire place picked apart by now.”
To my amusement, she didn’t say anything much.
