After all, it was death that brought us together. Let it not be the thing that sets us apart.”
“Can they not print a single card without threatening to kill us?” Jack said from beside him incredulously, “This isn’t even an invitation. It’s a demand.”
Angel was going to burst. Any second.
“Look,” a calmer male voice said from the other end of the room, “They’re obviously going to announce the alliance there. They’re making sure everyone hears about it.”
“Who do you think is going to be our middleman?” another female voice said, sounding amused by the entire situation, “I think it’s going to be that girl we went after.”
Jack scoffed from beside him. But he didn’t respond. Just turned to face him as the female voice spoke again,
“Thoughts?” she said, and Angel looked up to see her short hair curl around her. Christina Morris rose a brow in his direction, “What do you think of all this?”
Angel knew he’d been lucky his entire life. He didn’t die when he was supposed to. He’d managed to play the role of the perfect son easily, had mastered it to the point that no one questioned him anymore. Butthis?This wasn’t luck. This was fate.
And it was going to make his job so much easier.
A slow smile curved his lips as his gaze strayed to Mia Andrews, the girl who was comfortably sitting beside Christina with a cat on her lap, “Sheisgoing to be our mediator.” He started and saw her red hair sway back as she tipped her chin upwards, “And it’s going to be the perfect opportunity for them to strike.”
“Well, your dad is hiding behind their backs like a bloody moron.” Jack drawled from beside him, his British accent curling in disgust, “Who wouldn’t take the opportunity to tear us down?”
“It isn’t going to be easy.” Christina countered, “We are equally as competent as the Lions are.”
“Angel.” Luke’s voice drew him out of his daze again. Angel looked up at his closest friend, who was looking at him through his wide blue eyes. He blinked at the way they narrowed, “What are you thinking?”
Angel took a moment to respond, averting his gaze as he did so. They all let him stir in silence, waiting for him to speak. It had been a while since their enemies had tried to tear them down. Business was booming, regardless of the entire world’s ill fate cursed upon them. The Ravens had been head-to-head with the Lions for a long time. And it had been a while since any of them had tried to provoke a war neither of them wanted.
But then just a year ago, a new sort of hell had descended upon them. There was this nameless vigilante group, made of shadows and people they hadn’t known. And it was these shadows that were slowly dragging all the small businesses back to the hell they deserved to be in. They were slowly building up. Tearing down the smallest gangs. And using those bodies to climb their way up the ladder.
Angel hadn’t been worried until last year. When they’d finally struck the Ravens. And had managed to bring down an entire pillar that held them up. Angel had spent the entire year working, while his father turned to every corner, in search of ways to build back the business they’d managed to lose.
The people they’d killed.
He’d played the part, and had cleaned up his father’s mess as he was taught to do so.
Last year had been the lowest Ravens had been since…
Since a while.
They’d managed to survive, with a new curtain of fear draped around them. They were mocked, laughed at, for their foolishness. For their lack of integrity.
And in that moment of weakness, Angel’s father had succumbed to their needs and had gone to the Lions.
It had been their greatest mistake.
Angel hadn’t known when his damned father had run with his tail between his legs to the Lions, but he knew the alliance. Knew exactly what it entailed.
Profits would be shared. People would be used from both sides. And their lifelong rivalry would be put to rest.
In return for the Lion’s protection, his father had gambled his people.
The day he’d known about the alliance was the first and last time Angel had lost his cool. Such afoolishdecision. An emotional reckoning that wouldruinthem. A part of him had been happy.Hadn’t this been what he wanted? The destruction of this ruined empire?
But thepeople. The homes that would be destroyed if the Lions got their hands upon them. It would be disastrous. Somehow, Martin’s decision had wracked his entire damned plan. A part of him wanted to wage a war against all their competitors. The Lions, everyone, just destroy them once and for all. But he knew he couldn’t do that. Not for a long time.
And now he stood, cleaning his father’s infuriating messes. Angel breathed out and looked up at his inner circle. The people who’d stood by him when he was busy building his entire reputation. So many years had somehow only built their confidence in him.
It provided him with the stability he needed.
