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“Is it?” He swishes the dwindling liquid in his glass. “We’re close and, if all goes right, in a better position than we expected to be a few months ago. Hell, far better than four or five years ago.”
“I know.” The scotch burns my throat with a twinge of comfort, but I’m not sure a bottle will suffice tonight. Everything is falling into place with a weight I didn’t fully anticipate.
“Then, what?” His tone holds more anxiety now.For me? Ivy? Achieving our goal?“You don’t think she’ll commit?”
“She’ll commit,” I assure him. “It’s not that. I—”
Liam swings open the French doors, making an entrance, as always. “So,Chief, let’s discuss our little high-society hottie.”
A growl erupts from the depths of my chest, causing Ty to laugh and tip his head with a that’s-what-I-thought expression.
Liam hauls a chair near us, straddling it and studying me. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t we have a code of conduct—protocol if you will?” He pulls a Marlboro Red from his pack,letting it stick to his lower lip without lighting it. “And isn’t one of those protocols to never get involved with a client?”
Christ, I knew he’d be a jackass about this.
I lean back in my chair, calmly drinking my scotch with a serene, unfazed air. “She’s not a client, and we all agreed this was the direction things needed to go.”
“Right.” He takes a long hit of the cigarette he lit, shoving his Zippo into the pocket of his jeans, and blows his smoke out into the yard. “It’s worse. She’s the job. Her father is our fucking client. And, furthermore”—he throws out his arms—“we agreed she needed to be brought into our inner circle. But everything tonight suggests you’re going to becomingintoherinner circle.”
Ty laughs, which garners a scowl from me. “Sorry.” He shrugs. “That was funny.”
Children.
I dismiss that and turn my attention back to Liam. “I’m still focused on our mission. This is the best way to entice her into our circle.”
“As a fucktoy?” He howls, and my blood boils as he draws in another long nicotine hit. “Jesus, Chief, I gotta say, when you add an amendment, you go for it.”
Heat rises up my arms and chest, but I remain composed, relaxed. “Not a fucktoy. I’m going to marry her, doubling our reward.”
His eyes light up—he clearly likes the sound of that. That is Liam’s love language—acquiring more, taking what belongs to someone else—a trait he comes by honestly, but will most definitely be his demise. He swings his leg around the chair, moseys to the patio fridge, pops the top off a beer, and leans against the stone wall of the house. “So, that’s your angle. And hers?”
“Inheritance,” I explain simply. A development I hadn’t yet shared with him, but the reason our door swung wide open.
He bobs his head in thought. “So, there’s no romantic or sexual expectations from either party?”
Motherfucker.
Ty swigs his drink, shaking his head while his forehead wrinkles with annoyance. “Fuck, man.”
Handling this with Liam will take a bit of finesse, but it’s a walk in the park compared to what I anticipate from Gage, so there’s no sense in letting him rile me. I knew it was coming.
While my patience is dwindling, my tone is still placid. “I didn’t say that. For a marriage to appear authentic, certain lines will need to be crossed. Essentially becoming the job.”
Extinguishing his cigarette in the bar ashtray, he roars a pissed-off laugh and props himself against the house again. “Jesus Christ, talk about pulling rank and finding a self-serving way of completing a job.”
I slam my glass onto the table and stand, the force pushing my chair back with a screech on the flagstone patio. “Shut your suck, Graves. I’ve been carrying your ass for nine fucking years. If I say this is how we’re handling it, then all I need out of you is quiet compliance.”
He salutes me with his middle finger.Asshole. “Yes, sir. Completely on board, Chief, but—”
Ty groans, his head falling back against his shoulders. “Don’t be a dick, man.”
Liam ignores him, pinning me with his arrogant gaze again. “You may have seen her first, but we’re all invested. It doesn’t mean she’s yours.”
That’s true. It doesn’t. She isn’t mine because I saw her first. She’s mine because she was made for me and because everything changed the second I laid eyes on her, which he knows damn well. But Liam is my family, and strictly forbidding his interest will only spur him on, so I’ll indulge him. “It doesn’t?”
“No,” he says with an edge, followed by his signature twinkle. “And I’m far less temperamental than you. Ivy seems like the kind of girl who wants a man who can shed a little light in her world.”
The fucker doesn’t get her at all. Ivy is brighter than every star in the inky sky. A field of fireflies blinking nostalgia. A goddamn bonfire illuminating the stale night air. I’m skilled at hiding emotions, but at this moment, with my pulse thudding between my eyes and my fingers flexing with an itch to fist, it’s a struggle.
