Page 11 of Beautiful Secrets

I lean a little closer to him. Every person in the room—except Yuri—stiffens, their fingers twitching like they’re barely holding back from drawing their weapons. But instead of pulling some crazy assassin move that’ll leave Dimitri with a shocked look in his glassy eyes as he bleeds out on his stinking bear rug, I crush the butt of my cigarette into the ashtray on the side table next to his chair and give him a smile.

And while I’m that close, I say, “Think there’s nothing left of us but bones, huh, and now you want my help picking them clean?”

It pains me to put it like that, but it’s a fact.

Kill let everything go to shit when he pulled back. The Connollys kept a handful of trade routes open, a few neighborhoods in check, but for the most part they were waiting for the Hendrys to step in again.

Why the fuck Kill didn’t just tell them to take over, I don’t know.

Dimitri studies me. “I am sick of the fighting.” He touches fingers to his chest. “Old man like me? You start to appreciate the little things.”

“Like having the whole of Scotland under your thumb?”

“Like partnerships.”

I straighten hurriedly, eyes narrowing.

“Fifty-fifty,” he carries on. “And all you do is to make some introductions.”

“That all?” I say. “Just the keys to the fucking kingdom, nothing else?”

A hand lands on my shoulder. “You should take a think ’bout this,” Paddy says.

I look at him. Then down at his hand. Something must register on my face, because his hand slides off my shoulder.

“Your friend has the right idea, Cole Hendry,” Dimitri says. “Do not make a bad decision.”

I lick my lips. “There’s no decision to make.” I step back, lifting my hands. “Scotland is ours, Vasiliev.”

When I turn, the Connollys glance at each other first before following me to the door.

Too much shit has changed.

“You should speak with your brother,” Dimitri calls out. “I am sure he’d like a little extra money. All those private schools. Apartment deposits. University…”

I know he’s just trying to get a rise, but it takes every ounce of willpower I have left not to turn back. As it is, Paddy looks like he’s about to herd me out of the fucking door.

Right at the threshold, I pause and look back at Dimitri. “You know what, I will think about it,” I tell him. I even manage a smile. “You give me a call tomorrow. I’ll tell you what we decided.”

Dimitri’s thick black eyebrows twitch. “Tomorrow,” he says, rolling his Rs.

The four of us are silent as we’re led back to our cars. Another heavy appears around a distant corner, but he doesn’t seem the least bit interested in us. The ones following us stop a few yards from the mansion’s front gate, merely watching as we head for our cars.

Ethan makes to follow me to my BMW, but I put up a hand. “Drive with your brother,” I tell him.

He stops. “What did you expect would happen, mate?”

I turn to him. “Not that.”

“Well you should have,” Paddy says, coming up to us. “Why not just take the deal? Not like we’re opening up the business again. Kill said we were done with—”

“Kill is playing house.” I slap a hand on my chest. “I’mcleaninghouse.” I point at the Vasiliev’s gaudy mansion. “They’re going out with the trash.”

Paddy snorts. “Just let it go, boyo,” he says. He lays a hand on my shoulder, squeezing. “We had a good run, but it’s over.” He glances toward the mansion, then back at me. “Might as well squeeze a last few pennies from this fuck.”

“He wants to give us a cut off our own fucking territory, and you’re okay with that?” I pull away from him, barely getting words past my clenched jaw.

“It’s easy money,” Paddy says.