Page 38 of Brutal Power

“It always comes down to guns, money, and manpower.” He slaps my arm and starts walking again. “But I can’t offer you anything in return. You really should talk to Simon.”

“Keep me in the loop moving forward. My organization isn’t as deep or as big as yours, but we have people on the street that can provide support.”

“Okay, if that’s what you want.” He seems thoughtful. “I’m guessing things with my sister are going well.”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“What would you say then?”

“She’s my wife and I don’t like seeing her upset. It’s also in my best interests to make sure this fighting’s over. I guess you could say I have my reasons.”

He squints and shades his eyes as we stop at the cars. Stefania climbs into a black truck and Elena lingers next to it, waiting for me. “Tell you what. Take a day or two and think it over. Let my sister try to talk you out of it. But if you still want to commit your organization to real fighting, we’ll talk.”

“Then we’ll talk soon.”

He grunts and shakes my hand, looking amused, and walks off to join his wife.

Elena comes over and we walk to my car. “What were you two talking about?”

“I was just offering him my support.”

She sighs and rubs her forehead. “Brody?—”

“I don’t want to hear you try to talk me out of this. I know what it would mean if my family got more involved in the fighting.”

She hesitates and puts a hand on my arm. “You don’t have to do this for me. It’s okay that I’m upset.”

“You’re right, it’s okay, but if I can avoid you getting upset again—” I stop there because I don’t want to reveal just how much this matters to me. “Just trust me when I say that it’s in everyone’s best interests if my people provide more support to your brothers.”

“I doubt that,” she says softly and climbs into my truck, not looking at me. I’m not sure why she seems upset, but it doesn’t matter.

The Quinn clan’s going to war for the first time in their history.

Chapter 20

Brody

The conference room is too hot. I complained about it to the office manager but there’s nothing she can do aside from call the building supervisor. I unbutton the top two buttons of my shirt and lean back in my chair, a bottle of cold water in my hand, the condensation rolling down the plastic.

My siblings stare at me with varying levels of unease.

“Explain to me again why we need to put our people at risk for the Biancos?” Seamus says, arms crossed over his chest, every inch of his posture screamingfuck this shit.

“Dad always avoided fights,” Molly says and looks around the room. “Didn’t he always say you don’t take risks?”

“Sometimes you have to roll the dice,” Declan says, cracking his knuckles. I didn’t expect him to be my most vocal supporter, but that’s how things shook out. He seems almost eager.

“Right, maybe if that risk involved our own people,” Seamus says, glaring at him. “But there is absolutely no benefit to sticking our necks out for a family that’s already ten times more powerful than we are. Let the big guys duke it out.”

“We don’t always have to be passive,” Caitlin says, but nobody really listens to her. My poor littlest sibling and youngest sister. I smile at her, since I appreciate her support and value her input, even if the others steamroll over her.

“I say we fight.” Nolan flicks a pen around his fingers. “Why the fuck not?”

“We’re lawyers,” Seamus says, throwing his hands in the air. “We’re not fucking thugs.”

“Actually, we sort of are,” Nolan points out. “I mean,we’relawyers, but most of our organization—” He waves a hand at the windows, gesturing toward the city.

Seamus rubs his forehead. “Yes, we have a ground game, but that’s only in small pockets of the city and mostly in the big Irish enclaves. What you’re talking about is much bigger.”

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