Page 19 of Birthright (Sinners of New Orleans #4)

EIGHTEEN

Sam

I t's exactly one p.m. when I arrive at the location for the meeting.

We chose neutral territory outside of the French Quarter, a restaurant that's not owned by either organization.

It's somewhat busy, just after lunch. Not a ton of patrons surround our table, but enough to hopefully keep either side from drawing any weapons.

John and Adrian are waiting outside for me, and we walk in together. Kade is already sitting at the long table, his righthand man, Axel Rousseau, next to him. Neither man stands when we arrive and take the seats across from them.

"Little Sam Costello." Kade leans his elbows on the table and looks at me. "You the boss now? Last time I saw you, you were just a kid." His smile is lopsided, showing off a few missing teeth. He's trying to intimidate me, make sure I know he has years of experience that I don't.

But I was born for this job. Trained for it my entire life, waiting in my father’s shadow until one day the crown would be mine.

"Didn't realize we ever met." I shrug.

"Well, you had a sack on your head back then." He's watching me, waiting for my reaction, and I have to admit, his words make me tic.

He was part of the kidnapping.

I school my features to not let him know he rattled me. I can't show weakness. Not now. Not ever.

"Ahh, memory lane." I give him a matching smile. "If I recall correctly, that's the same night half of your club was killed, right? And then a few nights later, your clubhouse burned down." I shake my head, feigning sorrow. "With all those men locked inside. What a shame."

Kade grits his teeth. "What the fuck do you want, Costello?"

I match his stance, leaning forward on my elbows. "You out of my territory."

"Well, as I see it, no one was managing those streets. You can't steal something no one owns."

"But I do own it. And you know that, because it's part of the agreement you made eighteen years ago. You really want to throw all those years of peace down the drain?"

Kade's lips twist up into a smirk. "Eighteen years ago, we were weak. Most of our men dead, as you mentioned." He relaxes back into his chair, that smile only widening on his ugly lips. "But we're not the weak ones now."

Fuck.

He might be right. Because back then, my father weakened their forces. They didn't have the manpower to go up against us. But now, after the civil war my uncle and Marcus started, it's me who's lacking the manpower.

"Let's come to a new agreement, then. What do you want?"

Kade mimes thinking, tapping his forefinger to his chin. "I want it all. Every street, our clubhouse, that strip club you got in the Quarter." He leans forward once again, his voice lowering, eyes darkening. "I want everything you took from us, plus more."

"You know I won't agree to that."

Kade chuckles. "Oh, I know. That's why I'm going to take it."

A yellow sheet of paper torn from a legal pad sits in the center of my desk.

Olivia's handwriting is the cutest thing I've ever seen.

That's how I know I'm losing it. Who thinks handwriting is cute?

But hers is. It's rounded and crisp, girly, and so very neat.

I'm staring at it until Adrian and John step into my office.

Once again, I find myself daydreaming about Olivia when I should be focused on the family.

The sit-down with the Serpents didn't go as well as planned.

After Kade announced his plans to take all of our territories and businesses, I could feel my blood boiling from the disrespect.

So I stood up, announced we were done, and left.

John glances down at the paper. "What's this?"

Begrudgingly, I hand him the sheet. "A list of things that need to get done at Gino's. Have someone take care of it all, ASAP."

John eyes me skeptically. "Why are we fixing up the girl's bar?"

Because she agreed to let me help her.

What he's not saying out loud is that we have more important things going on. I know he thinks I'm distracted by her, and the problem is, he's right. But I'm refusing to let her go.

So yes, we're fixing the bar. Because once those pretty lips agreed to let me help, we walked downstairs, and I grabbed the yellow legal pad and pen, laying in front of Olivia and asking her to make a list of everything she needed in order to get the bar in tiptop shape.

She had chewed on her lip while she fidgeted with the pen for a while before she finally started making the list. There were quite a few things missing that I scribbled on the bottom, like new appliances and glassware. She was reserved with her list, picking essentials. I wasn't.

Leaning back in my chair, I rub my temples.

Sometimes I wish John was a loyal solider who didn't ask questions, but that's not what I actually want.

My cousin is the only one left alive who's willing to stand up to me, and I need that.

Even if I don't like it. "Because I promised her she could keep working there if we fixed it up. Her grandfather's not doing well."

John grimaces before turning his attention to Adrian. "Consigliere, what do you think?"

Adrian's sitting in the seat across my desk, his elbows resting on the arms and hands linked together at his chin. His gaze goes from John to me and back again.

I don't expect my new consigliere to have much to say on this matter. A few days ago, he thought I was going to end his life, not offer him a job. But if this is going to work, I need him to be honest with me at all times.

I nod. "You can say it."

Adrian sucks in a long breath, as if preparing himself to say something I won't like. "She's a distraction."

I huff. Rising from my seat, I head to the bar cart.

"When did you two become friends who agree on shit?

" I grumble as I pour two fingers of amber liquid.

Since John kidnapped the lawyer and had him beaten up, Adrian's watched John with a wary gaze.

And even though I initiated Adrian after Lana and Naz's wedding, John still doesn't fully trust the man.

But apparently, when it comes to Olivia, the two are on the same team.

"Since when do you care about some old man with dementia?" John bites back as he drops into the other leather chair next to Adrian. I sigh as I retake my seat behind the desk.

"Since his granddaughter witnessed me killing my uncle." The words taste bitter. "And since she's living under my roof now."

John's gaze flicks back to Adrian. "And what do you think about that?"

Bitterness burns under my skin as my cousin uses our new consigliere to tell me what a bad idea this is. As if I don't already know.

Adrian rubs a hand over his jaw. "She's a liability, Sam. She witnessed you take out Damien. She could run to the police at any moment and?—"

"She's not going to run to the police," I interrupt.

"How do you know that?" John snaps.

I trust her isn't the answer they're looking for. And truthfully, I have no reason to trust her.

"I have men watching her. I installed a surveillance app on her phone.

" I sigh, pulling her phone from my top drawer and waving it for effect.

My men took it when they picked her up. "If she tries to do anything stupid, like call the cops, I'll be alerted.

And, as part of that list," I pause to gesture to the yellow paper John's still holding, "you're going to install cameras in the bar, discretely. "

John runs a hand through his dark hair, pulling at the roots. "What if you’re too late? Or what if you miss her calling someone from another phone? You're not thinking clearly, Sam. Is this girl worth risking everything?"

Yes.

I don't know why I think that. Clearly, the answer is no. But I can't seem to let her go.

"What, you'd have me kill her?"

"It'd be easier. And more efficient," John says, making Adrian wince.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves—" My new consigliere tries to rein us back in.

"But those are the options, aren't they?

" I drum my fingers against the wood of my desk, annoyance simmering beneath my skin.

Is that what they would have me do? Kill the girl?

I can't do that, and not just because I want her for some unknown reason.

But also because my father would roll over in his grave if he knew I was killing women.

I scrub a hand over my face. My little witness is making me crazy.

"We're not asking you to kill her," Adrian says. John lets out a huff like he disagrees, but he doesn't say anything. "You sure keeping her close is the best play here? She's a liability. She's holding the key that could send you back to prison. "

The man isn't wrong.

"She won't." I bring my glass to my lips, savoring the smoky liquid.

"What if she talks?" Adrian asks, an eyebrow lifting with the question.

"She's not going to."

"You don't know that." It's John who cuts in this time, the two of them playing a delicate dance of trying to persuade me that keeping Olivia is trouble.

And they're right. All the logic in me knows that keeping a witness alive is a bad idea.

But I can't kill her.

Won't kill her.

I want to blame it on the code my father instilled in me, but something in my gut is stopping me.

"She's not going anywhere." I snatch the list back from John, my fingers tracing over her neat handwriting. "And neither is her grandfather. They're under our protection now."

" Our protection?" John's eyebrows shoot up. "Or yours, specifically?"

I level a hard stare at him. "Does it matter?"

"It matters if you're letting this girl get under your skin." Adrian's voice carries that tone he uses in court — measured, calculating. "We need to think about the family's interests."

It's amusing hearing that statement from him, considering a few days ago, he wanted to tear this family apart. But then he fell in love with my cousin and everything changed.

I chuckle to myself, causing both men to look at each other. But it's funny, I think, what love does to you.

Adrian gave up his revenge scheme.

And John is softer than he used to be before he fell hard for Zoe.

That won't be me, though. This little obsession aside, I won't fall for her. I have no interest in the weakness that comes with attachment.

"The family's interests are whatever I say they are." Done with this conversation, I stand and hand the paper back to John. "Get the repairs done."

They both nod, knowing better than to push further.

But I catch the look they exchange as they leave my office.

They're right to be concerned. This thing with Olivia — it's complicated.

Dangerous, even. But every time I think about her face, about how she handled herself on those steps when she told me about her past, something shifts inside me.

Like I said, I'm losing it.