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“Fine.” His tone is short.

“Something needs to be done about Roland.”

“I know.” He pauses. “I am putting Dean through on the call now.”

I wait for my father to connect Dean Arrington to the call. I clench my jaw, already knowing how this conversation will go. Dean will come up with some excuse for his kid and refrain from punishing him.

“Dean,” my father says when he connects the call. “Kilian is on the line with us.”

“I just talked to Roland,” Dean says, his tone neutral.

“And?” My answer is clipped.

“He told me that he made a mistake in not being at the delivery.”

“And did he tell you that he was meeting someone at his club last night to secure a deal? A job that does not fall under him. Nor did he bring it up with Alistair.”

Dean sighs into the phone. “Yes, he told me he met with a man with a shipping business from South America.”

I scoff into the phone. “That’s what he told you? He didn’t tell you that I had that man looked into. And that man was actually Luca Renzetti.”

“What?” Dean asks in shock.

My father talks before I can take my anger out on Dean. “Dean, you know Kilian uses Tomas Eriksson. The man that everyone should be using.”

“That man is a threat to our business. He can undermine us at any time. I’ve told you before, Alistair, that he is not to be trusted.”

I look over at Tomas who has his nose buried in computer screens, oblivious to this conversation. At least he isn’t making any mention of being able to hear the phone call.

“Kilian trusts him. He’s worked with him for years. If my son trusts the man, then I trust him. He has saved our asses multiple times.”

“I am not here to argue about the people we use to gather information,” Dean says. “What else did you find out, Kilian?”

I lean against the doors to the office as I watch Tomas work. “Luca Renzetti knew about the delivery last night. Maybe Ezio figured it out but since he is dead, he wasn’t the one to lead the ambush. So someone else did. Tomas is working on that right now. What I need to know is who else knew about the shipment?”

“It was only us and Roland besides the men assigned to the job.”

“Dean, this falls under your umbrella. It was Roland’s job. You should have been paying closer attention to him.”

“You are not to tell me what to do, Kilian.”

I hear my father click his tongue and I know he is as pissed off as I am. There was a reason he was having me keep an eye on Roland. And I am wondering if he was keeping an eye on Dean. If they were working together to undermine the rest of The Partners.

“I am sick of cleaning up his messes,” I snap. “First in New York. Then in Dubai. Now this. He needs to learn his place. And it’s not in onboarding businessmen into our claws. He is to close deals on weapons sales. And now this is the third time he stuck his head where it doesn’t belong. He needs repercussions for his actions. And they need to come from you.”

“Don’t worry, Kilian, my son will pay for his mistakes. But you haven’t taken your father’s seat yet, so do not order me around, or I will make sure you never have it.”

“He’s a liability.”

“He’s still my son.”

I sneer at his words. My father has never had that mentality. He’s already threatened my life once today.

“Dean,” my father cuts in. “Kilian is right. This is the third strike against Roland. You know what that means.”

“I will not execute my own son.” His voice was defensive.

“Drop his rank.” My father’s tone was stark.