Page 119 of Princes of Carnage

Relief washes over me like a rush of cool water, and finally my heart rate starts to go down.

“If there’s going to be peace between us, you don’t shoot my people without my say-so,” Harlan declares, his voice hard.

“Sure,” Nico agrees, shoving his hands into his pockets. “As long as they keep their hands to themselves. I don’t know how you all treat your women, but in Carnage, we don’t take kindly to other men touching what’s ours.”

Harlan’s mood has clearly been soured, but he nods grudgingly. Nico definitely managed to strike a nerve with that comment as well, although I know that his dig about how they treat their women wouldn’t mean much if Harlan didn’t already view the dead man as a traitor.

“Should we get down to business?” I suggest, eager to move this along and get the fuck out of here. “We came here to prove to you that we want peace, and we have every intention of doing that. Neither Carnage nor Enigma has any beef with the Young Killers, and we have no aspirations to expand at all, let alone into your territory.”

Harlan glances between me and Nico once or twice, as if trying to find the lie in our expressions. I keep my expression carefully neutral, projecting as much sincerity as I can.

“Fine.” Harlan nods sharply. “Let’s talk. You have ten minutes to convince me.”

Nico nods. “That’s all we need.”

Harlan steps over the sprawled out body on the floor and gestures for us to follow him. The rest of the Young Killers still watch us warily as we step into the back room with Harlan and several of his enforcers, but no one makes any more violent moves.

It’s a delicate balance, trying to convince Harlan that our joined gangs pose no threat to him and his organization. Nico and I actually work well together as we lay out our case for him, trying to convince him that we have no designs on his territory. Although it makes my skin itch to admit weakness to anyone, I tell Harlan a bit about the fact that Enigma has been under attack, and surprisingly, Nico follows my lead, adding his own story about how Carnage has been attacked as well.

“We joined forces to protect ourselves,” Nico adds after we finish. “We’re not trying to expand. Just to survive.”

Harlan nods thoughtfully. “I see. That does make some sense.”

“We know the Young Killers are strong,” I say, opting for a bit of flattery to help smooth things over even more. “Even if we were looking to expand, we’d pick easier targets for that. Nico and I may have teamed up, but neither of us are idiots, and we know it would be a mistake to go after you and yours. We don’t want a fight. We have no bad blood with you.”

Nico chimes in again, the two of us trading off as we make our case. It takes longer than the ten minutes Harlan promised us to convince him, but the fact that he lets us keep speaking is a good sign.

Half an hour later, he finally gives a grudging nod.

“Alright. I believe you. If you don’t fuck with us, we’ve got no issue with you or your alliance. Just make sure it stays that way.”

“We will,” I tell him sincerely. Nico nods in agreement.

We all shake hands, and the Princes and I walk out of the Young Killers’ meeting spot with a truce in place and no more bloodshed.

37

QUINN

Rather than taking the bikes over for our meeting with Harlan, the four of us drove my car, and we pile into it after leaving the laundromat. As soon as we’re out of Young Killer territory, I let out a breath, feeling all the adrenaline drain out of me in a rush. My chest hurts and my shoulder muscles ache from being tense for so long, ready to fight our way out if we had to.

Now that it’s over, it strikes me how very close we all came to dying today, and I round on Nico with a frown, my hands tight on the wheel.

“You didn’t have to do that!” I hiss.

He just shrugs, looking unbothered. “I protect what’s mine, and he sealed his own death when he touched you.”

I stare at him for a long moment before putting my gaze back on the road, trying to process that. If my dad had found out that one of the Young Killers had touched me like that, he would have wanted him dead too, just like he would’ve wanted the Bullets dead for what they did to me.

But I’m still not used to anyone else acting that way for me.

Atlas catches my eye in the rearview mirror and grins. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he looks impressed.

“That was some quick thinking to get us out of that shit,” he says. “How did you know that guy was double-crossing Harlan?”

“I didn’t,” I admit. “After I unlocked his phone, I just did a little sleight of hand and renamed a contact in his phone to make it look like he was calling Pietro a lot.”

Atlas’s eyebrows shoot up. He stares at me for a second, then barks out a laugh. “Damn, vicious. That’s fucking incredible.”

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