Page 42 of Mob Princess

Me

Laughable at best

Shane

Doesn’t mean he won’t try.

Me

And he’ll sit back down in his highchair where he belongs. He’s not even sitting at the kiddie table yet.

Ewan’s been heading up shite for his father for years, but he’s new to being the absolute leader. Rowan assumed he’d be around forever. What he couldn’t do himself, he had his brother, Riley, do. He hadn’t trained Ewan well enough. He’s smarter than most of the lesser syndicate leaders, but he doesn’t have the experience. He doesn’t know all the unwritten rules.

Dillan was groomed for it. So were Maksim, Salvatore, and Enrique. Everyone in the Four Families was conditioned to step into the roles they have now. We all rose through the ranks from messenger boys to foot soldiers to enforcers to now generals. The lesser syndicates, like the Albanians, Polish, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Hondurans, aren’t as rigid. Too much in fighting means they’re more haphazard. Ewan’s somewhere between us and them. He knows shite, but he doesn’t know enough to know he doesn’t know shite. Basically, he’s still on training wheels.

I glance down at Lina. Why the fuck am I coming up with all these children’s metaphors? I never think about kids. At least, not past the most general sense or in passing about the other syndicate couples. Maksim and Laura have twins. Bogdan and Christina have a son and another on the way. Niko and Anastasia have a little girl just like Luca and Olivia. I think Sinead and Gabriele are expecting, and I suspect so are Maria and Matteo. The way my brother and cousin are, they better hope their wives’ birth control is perfect, or they better plan to decorate nurseries.

Shane

What do you need me to do immediately?

Me

Let Dillan know we’re going to Boston. We leave in the morning. Find out where Ewan’s going to be. If he’s working from home I want him away from there. I don’t want any of this shite near Lina when she gets back.

Shane

When does she go?

Me

Tomorrow. I’ll offer to fly her up with us. I don’t know if she’ll say yes. Line up drivers. I’ll talk to Lina and see what she knows.

Shane

You’re gonna tell her you’re going to Boston to probably kill her brother?

Me

Not in so many words. She wanted to tell me what’s going on. She was close to doing it but her conscience got the better of her. She doesn’t want to betray her family. I sense it’s more about her integrity than protecting Ewan.

Shane

Why was she down here?

Me

He sent her on an errand.

An errand. That usually means spying on someone or extorting someone. I’m certain Shane can guess which.

Shane

God save us from nosey women

He sends the sideways laughing emoji, but there’s truth in that. It’s not so much nosey as intelligent and resourceful.

Me

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