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“They’re opening up businesses on every block,” Tristan continues as if he hasn’t heard me. “Everywhere that you have a gambling hall or a club, or any business that’s a front for guns or drugs, they’re opening up the exact same thing across the street, only bigger and flashier.”
I dig my nails into my palms. “What the fuck did you just say?”
Tristan takes a step forward and gives me a solemn look. “They’re trying to move in on our turf, Carter. I saw the signs, and I did some digging.”
I spin around, pick up the item closest to me, and hurl it with all my might. The flowers fall into a watery puddle on the floor, and the vase crashes against the wall opposite me, sending shards of glass in every direction. I pick up another item, an empty bowl with some kind of sickly sweet-smelling stuff, and throw it as well, but it misses the wall by a few inches.
“They knew exactly what they were doing when they chose those spots.” I spin around to face Tristan and try to think past the roaring in my ears and the tight knots in my stomach. “This is a challenge. They think that because they’re in with the mayor, they can pull shit like this, and no one is going to stop them.”
Tristan blows out a breath. “We can’t go after them. We don’t have those kinds of resources, and you know it.”
I give Tristan a menacing look. “That’s not what I want to hear.”
“I know, but I’m telling you anyway, and you can snap at me if you want. Hell, you can even take a swing or two if it’ll make you feel better, but when you’re done, we need to figure out a plan.”
As far as I’m concerned, there isn’t going to be a plan.
First, the Natoris came after me at the mayor’s party, then they kidnapped Isabella to get back at me, and now they’re targeting my businesses. If it weren’t for the mess with the rest of the family, I’d already be out the door and on the hunt for blood. Unfortunately, because of my strenuous position as the head of the Blackthorne family, I know I need to think this through.
No matter how much the rage is telling me otherwise.
I can already see myself dragging all of them out, one by one, and taking them somewhere remote to teach them a lesson. I want to drag it out, make them suffer, and toy with them a little first.
Fuck me.
It’s like they have a spy in our midst, feeding information to their unholy alliance and letting them know the worst moments to strike.
Both families are out for my blood, and I’ll be damned if I let them get a whiff of me or anyone else I care about.
And if it means having to wage war against them, so be it.
“We need to call a family meeting,” I realize darkly. “There’s only one thing we can do.”
The Natoris and Philipses have no idea what they’ve walked into, and I have every intention of making sure they have firsthand experience of what it’s like to cross a Blackthorne.
No matter what it costs me.
***
Isabella
Anita points the spatula at me and pauses to retie the apron around her waist. “Are you sure you don’t want anything to eat? You’re looking a little pale.”
I shake my head and offer her a small smile. “I’m okay. I’m not really hungry.”
Anita grunts and pulls her spatula back. She reaches for the pan on the stove and pushes the eggs around. “I can’t blame you. Hunkering down for long periods of time will do that to a person.”
It had been days since Carter received news of the invasion.
Days since he woke me up and instructed me to pack a bag before whisking me away to his aunt’s. Since then, it’s been a steady stream of people coming in and out of the Blackthorne mansion, many of whom I recognized as Carter’s relatives, a few I didn’t. All of them, without fail, wore identical grim expressions and acted like soldiers preparing for a big battle.
In a way, I suppose they were.
Carter isn’t going to let what they’re doing go, even if it means having to call in every favor and pour all his time and focus into bringing the rival families down.
Crossing him once was a mistake he hasn’t overlooked.
Coming after him a second time is borderline suicide, and I know for a fact that Carter has spent the past few days dreaming about ways to make them pay. While seeing the violent and volatile side of Carter still makes me uneasy, I know it comes with the territory.
