Page 19 of Trouble

I felt my own eyebrows mirror Louis’ as he arched one inquestion.

“There are rumblings that those of our supporters who have fallen away after I turned in the Clerys are gathering around another Family. They’re not yet big enough to take us on, but they’re hungry for it. If we make them believe there’s a rift in our Family, we can use them. It shouldn’t be hard, since everyone knows Marcus is inhiding.

“Say one of us go to the other Family, let them know he’s considering switching sides to help Marcus and Isaac out. And in return for their help in taking Dad down, we’ll give them control over part of London once it’s done. That way, we get the manpower we need for a full-scale attack, and don’t risk any of our men turning against us mid-fight. Thecaveat…”

“…is that if they decide to flip on us and warn Dad that one of us is a traitor, whoever goes is dead,” Ifinished.

“Yeah.” Blaine looked from me to Louis. “Whoever goes will risk his life. But I don’t see any other option. I’ve been going over this so many times now, I don’t see we have anotherchoice.”

“Ruling London’s underworld alongside another ambitious Family is going to be a challenge,” Louis said. He looked straight at me. “But I agree. If one of our rivals are looking to usurp us… this is the best shot we’vegot.”

I nodded. “We’ll go. Louis andI.”

“You don’t haveto—”

Louis raised a hand to still Blaine’s protest. “Yeah, we do. Your first priority is Mira and Aidan. Liam and I… we have each other. We gotthis.”

“Thank you.” The quiet voice belonged to Mira, but when I looked at Blaine, I saw her gratitude reflected in his eyes. Not for the first time, I felt a flicker of horror at how vulnerable he must feel through all this shit with our dad, knowing one wrong move could cost him his wife and child. Sure, they were protected better than the royal fucking family, but if the past few months had taught us anything, it was that William Steel would stop at nothing to keep us all inline.

“It’s decided then. Guess we just need to know who we need to pay a visit to in the next few days?” My tone was much easier than I felt. “Who wins the chance to take on London’s biggest crimelord?”

“The PerkinsonFamily.”

9

Audrey

Fourdays.

It’d been four days since Liam typed his phone number into my mobile, four days since we’d parted with the promise of“soon”… and four days since I’d been able to take my eyes off my damn phone for more than a few minutes at atime.

But no matter how much I stared at the display, the only texts that’d beeped in over the past few days had been from my sister, my mother, and Pizza Hut. I’d ignored the first, answered the second (yes, I’ll come by for Dad’s birthday meal), and a half-eaten stuffed crust pepperoni pizza on my coffee table was currently bearing witness to my pathetic staring contest with myphone.

Why doesn’t hecall?

I growled at my own desperation. I knew why he hadn’t been in touch—a guy like Liam undoubtedly had a very active social life. Getting in touch with the random one-nighter from earlier in the week likely wasn’t all that high on his to-dolist.

Which meant that… I fingered the display, biting my lip with indecision. It was quite obvious that if I wanted to see him again, I’d have to be the initiator. But how pathetically desperate was that? I didn’t particularly want to come across as the needy girl who wouldn’t take a hint—I was too old forthat.

…Like I was too old to sit by my phone on a Friday night, pining after aguy.

For fuck’s sake! I was a grown-arse adult. If I wanted to see a man, I could damn well send him a text and ask him to swingby.

Before I could change my mind, I typed out a quick text and pressed“send.”

Hi Liam, want to come by when you next have time?Audrey.

There. Short and to the point. Just purebusiness.

…The business of a booty call. Fuck, had I made it sound like a damn transaction? Why was I so terrible atthis?

A sharp beep from my phone jolted me out of my spiraling thoughts. It was fromhim.

Sure. Be there in20.

For a moment, I just stared at the message. Shock mixed with elation churned in my gut. I’d not even considered he’d have time to see me on a Friday night, but just seeing the few words he’d typed made everything inside me warm up as images of his silvery eyes and the eternal laughter they seemed to hold flashed through my memory. The past few days in work had seemed particularly gray and lifeless—as if the moment he’d left my apartment, the infusion of color and life he’d enveloped me with had disappeared and I’d been left in a deadened, washed-out version of reality. A reality I hadn’t known was so empty before he’d given me the briefest glimmer of what I wasmissing.

Which was absolutely preposterous, of course. We’d sharedonenight. A pleasure-filled night, sure, but even the mind-blowing sex like what he’d shown me really shouldn’t make the rest of my life seem empty by comparison. I’d worked hard to get where I was. I didn’t need a man to fulfill me. Not even one with a god-likedick.

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