AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“A hunch.”
“That’s risky.”
“What is life if not a series of risks?”
“Fair point,” she mumbles. “Don’t forget your meeting in twenty minutes.” I hear the office door open and close again as she leaves.
Going back to my brooding, I don’t realise how much time passes when the buzzer sounds, and Jem says, “Archer Jackson here to see you.”
Turning in my chair to face forward, I rise when Archer strolls in as if he owns the world.
“Dante,” he says smoothly. “Good to see you again.”
“You too.” We shake hands firmly, and I sit again. “What brings you down South?”
“Straight down to business. I can respect that.” He sits and crosses his legs as he gives me a shrewd glare. “One of the recruits I had an eye on has started working here.”
The accusation hangs there like a noxious gas.
Leaning back in my chair, I hold the pen up in front of me, clasped nonchalantly between my fingers. “Who?”
“Jerrick Wilmslow.”
“Doesn’t ring a bell.”
“Don’t fuck with me, Dante,” he says, still with that charming smile, but the flash of death in his eyes is not to be taken lightly. “I want my recruit.”
“Take him. I seriously don’t give a fuck, right now. I have no room for newbies in my house, and to be honest, I don’t poach recruits. Whatever this is, it’s a coincidence, and you would be wise to accept that, get your recruit and leave my city as quickly as possible before I take offence at your barely there accusation.”
He sneers, but it quickly turns to a laugh as he rises. “Always a pleasure doing business with you, Dante. One day, we will have to have a real catch up. As long as we are on the same page about Jerrick, we don’t have a problem.”
Remaining seated in a show of power, I flash him a deadly smile. “Same line even. See you around, Archer.”
“Dante.”
My gaze follows him out of my office. I’m arrogant, but not a stupid man. Turning my back on the head of the Manchester chapter of Solitaire would be a big mistake. I’d most definitely find myself with a knife buried between my shoulder blades, and I don’t mean that metaphorically. Whatever this cock up is with this recruit, it wasn’t something I was aware of. The dick must’ve decided to move to London and get himself a job with DeVare Industries. Not my fucking problem.
Going back to the issue thatismy fucking problem, I frown and reach into the bottom drawer of my desk. Pulling out a metal box, I place my thumb on the biometric scanner, and it unlocks. Lifting the lid, I stare at the contents and shudder.
“Tick-tock, Gideon. Let my guy find you, and we can get this over with.” I know he knows Jemima was behind the guy looking for Grant Hitchings, so he knows it’s really me. A decade is a long time between friends, more so between enemies, and that night we parted ways, that is what we became.
But this cancels that out. This is bigger than either one of us, and that is saying something.
Slamming the lid back down, I shove the box back in the drawer and close it with my foot, pushing my chair all the way over to the floor-to-ceiling windows to resume my brooding.
“Everything okay?” Jem asks, coming into the office a few minutes later.
“Was it you?”
“Was what me?”
“Did you take his recruit?”
“Of course not,” she scoffs. “I’m many things, but I’m not a thief.”
“Liar.”
“Okay, I’m a thief, but I don’t take other houses' recruits. I know it’s not the done thing.”
