Page 17

17

POWERPLAY

AIDAN

I don’t need to be a mind reader to know Koen’s pissed.

No, scratch that; Koen is fucking furious.

With Rory secured in the guest room, I stalk back out into the living room to have this conversation. I spy Liam, already sprawled on the other half of the sectional, wisely out of Koen’s reach. He mouths a silent “ Good luck.” Raising his bottle of water to me.

I swipe some whiskey from the drink cart we keep in the corner and plop down in the recliner. I don’t usually drink during the season but… extenuating circumstances.

Taking a long pull from the bottle, I close my eyes. I’m more tired than I thought.

Koen doesn’t wait for me to talk.

His green eyes are nearly black with rage. “What the fuck were you thinking, Aidan? Why did you bring her here? If the Bratva finds out?—”

“The Bratva don’t know shit.” I sit forward. “And why would they care about one missing stripper?”

“I thought she wasn’t just a stripper,” Koen hedges.

I run a hand down my face, exasperation mixing with exhaustion. “I don’t know what she fucking is. None of it makes sense.” What was she doing there? And why was she not more afraid? Rory was frightened, sure, but she still had the nerve to challenge me. To fight back.

“Whatever you’re going to do with her, you better figure it out fast. Because she can’t be here. Reagan...”

An image of our sister flashes into my mind and guilt sets in. Admittedly, I had given little thought to how bringing Rory to the loft could endanger my little sister.

“We should let her go. It’s not worth the risk.” Liam adds his two cents, his mouth a thin line.

“Are you out of your mind?” Koen’s nearly shouting. “She knows too much! She’s seen all our faces, Jimmy’s, and she’s seen the fucking loft! How long do you think until she runs to the media, with quite a tale to tell about the Breakers’ defensive dynamic duo Liam and Aidan O’Rourke?” My brother glares at me. “Did you blindfold her at least before you brought her here?”

I wince, and Koen’s eyes burn into mine. “There’s no way she remembers.” She was half out of it for most of the ride, a vacant expression on her face. A look that made me leave her alone on our ride over here. One that almost made me feel bad.

I take a chance and change the subject. “Are we any closer to figuring out who ordered the hit on Da’? The raid on Elements gave us nothing.”

Koen narrows his eyes at me, letting me know we are nowhere near done discussing Rory, but this is important, too. “All evidence so far points to the Russians. Fucking Kostalov.” He throws his hands up in frustration. “This shouldn’t come as a surprise. But I can’t yet rule out anyone, including the Italians.”

We know it was the Russians. They’d been encroaching on our territory for months, testing how far they could push us. The Irish and the Russians aren’t exactly enemies, but we’re far from allies.

Several recent disagreements over a couple of shipments gone wrong, and the growing skin trade popping up all over the city, has pushed the relationship between the two organizations nearly to a breaking point.

I nod, but stay quiet.

“Then why don’t we make our move? Take out Kostalov?” Liam asks, looking between Koen and me.

“Kostalov has too much protection.” Koen works his jaw. “Besides, the Italians have been making some unusual moves over the past week or two.”

That catches my attention. “What moves?”

“They’re cozying up to the Bratva. Rumor has it the Italians have also expanded into the skin trade.”

That’s bad news. Da’ worked hard to keep that shit out of our city. We know the Russians are behind it, though I have reasons to believe the Italians have now dipped their hands into the pot too.

“I can’t see De Luca signing off on that.” Like us, the Italian Capo has a hard line on that sort of business. There’s plenty of money to be made in drugs and arms without needing to sell bodies.

Koen shrugs, “I’m just telling you what I heard. They photographed Giovanni last week meeting with their sociopath Carezzo.” Giovanni … no skin deals went down in this city that didn’t have his fingerprints all over it. “Our guy says the Italians are making runs for him.”

I think about it for a minute.

So far, Giovanni was dealing with low level pimps and organizations. We’d done our best to stamp out the trade altogether within our territory, but that shit has a way of continuing to pop up. But if they get the Italians backing them...

“The Italians have more to gain by getting rid of Da’. Is there any concrete proof pinning it on either of them?”

“No.” Koen’s jaw ticks. “We need to play this carefully. If we go after the wrong crew, we end up with more enemies than we can handle.”

He’s not wrong. Things have been difficult following Da’s death. Koen took charge, but a couple of the older members of the Irish are still holding out on bending the knee.

“Did the Russians agree to bring us in on the arms deal with the Cartel?” The deal would run in the millions. And we could use the cash. The Bratva have been fucking with Irish business and it’s cost us. If we don’t get shit under control, and fast, some of the remaining Irish factions might decide enough is enough.

Liam takes this one, “No, Adrik is taking his time deciding. Feels like he’s playing with us.”

“Even if he is responsible, we can’t afford to lose that deal.” I tighten my fists. “ Especially to the Italians.”

I turn my attention to Liam. “Reach out to Ryan, give him the identity of our informant. Have him lean on him. Tell him we need to meet. He can stop by tomorrow, but tell him to be careful. We need leverage on Kostalov to make this deal go through.” As important as revenge is, if we didn’t get the cash we needed soon to pay our guys, Koen’s rule would fold before it even began.

Liam nods. “I’ll make the call.”

“Back to the girl.”

I slide my eyes back to my older brother, gritting my teeth.

“No one knows she’s here. Her presence threatens nothing.” I state the facts calmly. “You’re right, maybe I shouldn’t have brought her here. I admit, I was just trying to keep her away from Jimmy while I figured shit out.”

He nods, finally seeing reason. “We should talk to her. Find out what she knows. You do think she knows something, don’t you?”

“There’s something she’s not telling me. I can feel it. It’s also no coincidence I ran into her at the Breakers’ rink, and a day later catch her red-handed in Kostalov’s office.”

“Yeah, a weird coincidence,” Liam agrees with me.

“Fine. She stays here for now, until we know what it is we’re dealing with. But if she endangers Reagan,” Koen’s eyes flare at me, “I’ll kill her myself.”

I look my brother in the eye. “You’ll have to beat me to it.”