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“I’m okay.” And that was the truth. “I was already immune to the horror after seeing what he’d done to my mom and me.”

“You sure you don’t want to join The Triad? You’d make a classy criminal.” Amusement flickered in his eyes. “You’ve got the guts for it.”

“No thanks.” I laughed. “I’ll leave that to the experts. Can I ask you for a favor?”

“Anything.”

“You’re now The Triad tycoon for The Taipans. Will you . . . will you continue to run it as before?”

“You mean the illegal activities?”

“Everything.”

He looked out at the sea. “To survive in my kind of world, Ihaveto be ruthless, Vivian. I have to show my men and women that they can depend on me. That I can protect them. I have to lead by example. Power and respect. That’s how an organization portrays and maintains its success and status.” He inhaled a breath. “It’s tradition. But I won’t harm women and children. That’s a business The Taipans won’t be involved in.”

I was relieved that he was changing the legacy of The Taipans.

“The world is a cruel place. Sometimes cruelty is required to deal with cruelty.” I looked him in the eye. “Because it’s the only thing it would understand, right?” A seagull flew by and landed in front of us. “After that, you can inject ‘softer’ methods.”

I’d learned the hard way that people could be evil. There was no one method to deal with evil.

He elbowed me. “You’re a true daughter of a crime tycoon.”

I smirked. “You can’t cut down a giant tree with a butter knife. You need a chainsaw.”

He laughed. “I heard about your fancy new crown. Mind if I hire you to create a few things for me when the situation calls for it?”

“Not gonna answer that and incriminate myself.” I smiled. “But I’ll help a friend in need. Just ask.”

Arrow approached us with a smile. I got up from the bench and kissed him on the cheek. “Now it’s my turn to take a walk down by the shore. You men can have your conversation.”

CHAPTERSEVENTY-THREE

ARROW

“Didyou have an informative conversation with Vivian?” I watched her walk toward the shore. Her black hair swayed in the cool breeze, making me remember how soft it was and how it fanned out around her face when she was under me.

As though she sensed my gaze, she turned and winked. God, I loved her so much. If wine improved with time, I was a better man every second I was with her.

“You’re a lucky man,” Calvin said. “I appreciate her generosity.”

Vivian didn’t want the bad karma associated with The Triad money. Her mother probably saved it for her grandfather. The reason didn’t matter anymore. She had returned it.

“What’s your plan?” I asked, knowing he had eliminated everyone who was linked to Ghost. “You’ve been keeping the farm animals busy, huh?”

He arched an eyebrow. “If you ever need someone or something to disappear, you’re welcome to use the farm.”

I was sitting on a bench chatting with the current triad tycoon for The Taipans as though we were friends.

As though he had the same thoughts, he extended his hand. “Despite our different circles,if you ever need help—you know, like getting rid of someone—you can depend on me, your new friend.”

Smirking, I shook his hand. “I might take you up on that offer.”

He dwelled in the crime world, and I lived in my worldwhere the lines between right and wrong were so blurred that they created their own color, their own patterns—their own definition.

Villains against the villains.

I supposed that was our fluctuating, morally gray color.