“So, what do you need from me?” he asks after a moment.
“I’ll need her things brought over from Antonio’s.”
“All right. I’ll handle it.”
“Thank you.”
I mean it. I don’t need judgment or an argument. I know I can trust Jamie to handle this, and I know he won’t chew me out later for going soft on our enemy. He understands something about what I’ve gotten myself into, enough to know when to question and when to shut up.
We hang up, and a few minutes later, the club comes into view up ahead. I pull into the lot and meet my brothers in the back room. As soon as I enter, Lachlan starts speaking, as if he was just waiting for me to begin.
“We’re allied with Antonio now. We need to start taking advantage of it.”
Connor nods. “The sooner, the better.”
“Our alliance with the Messina family has been helpful,” Lachlan muses.
The Italian mob family has been downright pleasant to work with. At least none of them have murdered a family member of ours. Plus, they own the best restaurants.
“We have a lot of territory to get back,” Finn adds.
“He’s right. We’ve come far, but we’ve got a way to go,” Lachlan says.
We were almost knocked out of the game when our father died. It was a wake-up call. We weren’t equipped to handle the blow and it showed.
The same thing won’t happen today.
Finn sighs. “If we’re going to take over the club on the south side, I vote we change the bar. It’s ugly.”
Connor snorts. “That’s bottom of the list. Anyway, we shouldn’t make it obvious we’re taking over. Not yet.”
“We should hold off as long as we can,” Lachlan adds. “Paperwork first. Security.”
“Paperwork, then,” Finn says. “I’ll get the contracts set up.”
Lachlan glances at me, and I can see he’s just as surprised by Finn’s offer as I am. Our brother seems mostly sober again, for the second day in a row. I wonder what he’s doing or what’s changed.
It’s good to see him like this, but it makes me wonder. I’m not sure if we should celebrate yet.
“Besides that, we need to book a venue for the wedding,” Lachlan says, drumming his fingers on his knee. “Locking it in won’t be an issue, but I’d rather not handle moving someone else’s date.”
“Ugh. Yeah, dealing with that is the worst,” Connor mutters. “Give me a cop payoff any day over paying off a bride-to-be.”
“You need a date first,” Finn points out. “Any thoughts?”
“The sooner the better,” I say. “It’ll make this easier if everything is legal and in writing.”
“True.” Connor shrugs. “I’ll take a look, make sure we don’t have anything coming up in the next few weeks. If I can clear the other families too, we can make it a production.”
A show of power.
I know it’s what they’re all thinking.
“Well, figure it out,” Finn says to Connor. “We set the date, and then we can get this plan in motion.”
A surge of anticipation runs across my skin like electricity.
In just a few weeks, Rose will be my wife.
