Chapter 17

REUBEN

I stepped away from the window as Mina and Gianni resumed practising throwing knives. Her skill didn't surprise me. Watching her hand stroke Gianni's cock did. I'd watched as he thrust and came on her fingers, my cock aching to do the same.

"She's a distraction," Damon said.

I glanced over to him. "Perhaps. That changes nothing. I'm not sending her away."

"I didn't expect you would." He eyed the bulge in my trousers, which I was trying hard to ignore and deflate. I didn't look at his. I didn't need to; I knew it was there. We'd both watched.

"What do you expect then?" I walked past him to place my empty cup in the kitchen.

"I don't know. Since you found her, you've been obsessed with finding Kurt Lasalle. Killing him won't change what he did to her." Damon leaned his hip against the island and crossed his arms.

"It'll make me feel a whole fuck ton better. Knowing he's out there is pissing me off," I growled.

"Me too," he said easily. "I want to make an example of him as much as you do. He spent long enough going behind our back. It's past time he paid for that, regardless of what he did or didn't do to Mina."

I wanted to tell him he had his priorities backwards, but the point wasn't relevant right now. The fact was, Lasalle operated behind our backs and we needed to send a message that it wouldn't be tolerated.

"This is personal," I stated. "You feel responsible for not seeing what he was doing sooner."

Damon took pride in keeping a tight leash on our businesses. And on the people who worked for me. If they put a foot out of line, he was the one who either pulled them back, or cut it off. Often literally. This level of betrayal was something else.

His expression suggested I was exactly right. He looked ready to grind his teeth.

"I should have seen it. Ric and Caleb didn't, but I fucking should have. You're right it's fucking personal. That prick must have been laughing at us while he was trying to build an empire to rival the Brantley family."

He curled his hands into fists.

"Should I punish you for missing it?" I asked, my own tone deadpan as ever. "I could have Gianni remove a few of your toenails. It's not his usual method, but I'm sure he'd make an exception for you. Or he could lock you in a room and play some of his music at full volume for an hour or two."

That sounded like torture to me.

"You probably should punish me," Damon grumbled. He exhaled out his nose in frustration. "I fucked up. Since when do you tolerate failure?"

"Since I need you to find him," I said. "You have skills and contacts. The moment he pops up, you'll know." Damon's network was enviable. With my money and backing, he'd grown it into something both impressive and valuable. His network, and him, were assets I wasn't going to let go, whatever the cost.

"Which is exactly why I'm pissed off: I didn't know what he was up to. All those contacts and skills and the fucker still got past me." He ran a hand over the back of his hair. "What the fuck did I miss? I've gone over everything for the last three or four years and there's nothing. Not one thing to indicate what he was up to."

"He was a sneaky prick," I said. "Smart enough to pull it off and low-key enough to stay under the radar."

"I should have been smarter," Damon insisted. "If he got away with shit, fuck only knows who else is out there getting away with other things."

"We've increased our eyes and ears," I said. "Nothing else is getting past any of us. You said word is already out on the street about what happened in the ice cream parlour?"

Damon dropped his hand against thigh, a sure sign he was winning against his annoyance.

"It has. It's set a few people on edge. Anyone twitchy, I've put extra people on them. If they have a reason to be twitchy, we'll find it. I've also found two more fronts for Kurt's businesses. One was a pet shop. The other was a pub."

"Hiding behind the pussies," I remarked.

Damon chuckled. "If I didn't know better, I'd think Gianni is rubbing off on you."

My mind was immediately back on Mina, rubbing him. My cock twitched in response. Ached to feel her hand on me. Stroking, caressing, coaxing.

I cleared my throat. "Just making an observation. You dealt with both premises?"

"Most of the staff were oblivious," Damon said. "The ones believed to be working for him are being followed. People are watching both establishments. If Kurt turns up at either of them, we'll know. Hopefully he'll get thirsty at some point soon."

We both knew he wouldn't turn up anywhere so obvious, especially if he did the smart thing and left the country. This wasn't a complete waste of time. Reminding people they wouldn't get away with trying to fuck me over was worth the effort.

I nodded. "Good work. We could use someone who's ready to turn on him. Someone who knows enough about him but is willing to spill everything for the right price."

"There must be someone out there like that," Damon agreed. "I've been looking, but so far nothing. If Kurt trusted anyone to that extent, they're hiding as well as he is. He didn't even trust his sister enough to fill her in."

"Good, because Daisy Lasalle working with him would be fatal to her," I said. Not to mention devastating for us. I much preferred to have her on our side, than working against us. Especially given that she and Mina seemed to have formed a friendship. I'd allow that to continue for Mina's sake.

"One thing I have been able to ascertain," Damon said. "Whatever Kurt was up to, he didn't seem to be working with Samuel Bell. If anything, we may have a mutual enemy in the prick."

"He stole from Bell too?" I shouldn't have been surprised by that. Someone like Kurt would have known to spread out his movements. It was unlikely Samuel Bell and I would compare notes, and put two different events together.

Damon shrugged. "At this point, it's hearsay. It's unlikely we'll get the truth from the Bell family, but a contact of a contact spoke about several missing shipments over the last few years. It could have been Lasalle or it could have been someone else. It wasn't us. Not unless the twins are getting up to things you didn't endorse."

"I wouldn't put it past them," I said. I wouldn't be pleased if they went behind my back, but stealing from the enemy wasn't something I gave a shit about, endorsed or not. I had no sympathy for any member of the Bell family. Animosity yes, in abundance, but not sympathy.

"Do you ever worry those two will get out of control, boss?" Damon asked.

"That question assumes they were in control to start with," I said dryly. "No, I don't. They have their moments, but I don't question their loyalty. No more than I question yours. Or Gianni's. They're outrageous sometimes, but they have the family interests at heart."

I'd never tell anyone how fond I was of Hunter and Parker. They probably wouldn't believe it anyway. I was, after all, the coldhearted prick who headed the family. Incapable of emotion, even anger.

I felt all of that and more, I just hid it better than most.

"Should I worry they might come after my job?" Damon asked, looking completely unworried.

"Without a doubt," I replied, with no inflection. "I didn't say they weren't ambitious. They're probably plotting how to take my job as well as yours."

"They better not," Damon growled. "Unless you plan to retire someday."

Before Mina, I would have scoffed at that suggestion. I wasn't even forty and the family business was my whole life.

Now, I found myself with different priorities. Priorities I never expected to have. The women I was involved with in the past were nothing but brief flings. A fuck or two to release tension. Usually, they worked for me and knew I wasn't looking for anything more. I always made that extremely clear.

Mina changed all of that. Around her, I could be someone more than Reuben Brantley, mob boss. I could admit I had feelings I'd put aside for so long I was surprised to find I still had them. They hadn't withered away and died from lack of use. No, they'd lain dormant until the moment I saw her face again.

In that second I understood I'd put them aside to wait for her. She was it for me. She had been for the longest time. I had no idea when I'd fallen for her, but I had and there was no going back.

That realisation made me even more determined to find Lasalle and fuck him up. He'd pay for all the years he kept me from her. He'd pay fucking dearly.

"Someday," I echoed. "Not any day soon, but eventually. I might retire to that nice cottage beside the forest where I can put my feet up in front of a fire and read a book."

"Three days," Damon said.

I frowned questioningly at him. "Three days?"

"Yes. That's my guess on how long it'd take before you got bored and wanted to get back to work." He actually looked slightly amused, which for him was the equivalent of hysterical laughter.

I smirked. "Give me some credit. It would be four and a half days minimum. Maybe four and three quarters." Then I'd be looking for gems to traffic, politicians to bribe and ways to make even more money. I was addicted to power almost to the extent as I was addicted to Mina.

No, I didn't want help to recover from either of those addictions.

"Maybe even five," Damon said. "I guess you won't be going anywhere anytime soon then."

"Probably not," I agreed. Realistically, men in my position rarely lived long enough to retire. There was always someone plotting my death. Someday they might even succeed.

As if he read my mind, Damon said, "I'll do my best to make sure you live long enough to change your mind. Reading in front of a fire sounds relaxing. Not as much fun as fucking in front of one."

"I can always do one, then the other," I said. "That would keep me from being bored."

Now I was thinking about Mina's pussy and the way it glistened with her juices as she touched herself. I wanted to slide my cock into her so much it hurt. I'd waited this long, I could be patient for a while longer. No matter how much it hurt. Having blue balls was better than losing her forever by forcing her to do something she wasn't ready for. That would be unforgivable.

"I'm sure you?—"

Whatever Damon was going to say, his phone ringing interrupted him. Not with an Abbie Hart song as his ringtone. Not Wolf Venom either, thank fuck.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and pressed the screen before putting it to his ear. While he listened to the person on the other end, he frowned, deeper and deeper.

"Shit."