Page 45 of Dance of Ruin

“It’s not their war, Nico,” he murmurs quietly.

“Itwillbe.”

“Maybe. But right now?” He shakes his head. “It’s not. It’s a Barone issue.”

I laugh, sharp and bitter. “So much for friends.”

Carmine peers closely at me. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Play the loyalty card. You know better. You’re the smartest guy I know, Nico. Don’t pretend that you don’t see the difference here.”

I glare at him. He presses on.

“If The Wolf was having a problem with someone edging into his family’s territory, you think we’d call a full Court session for it? No. We’d tell him to handle it.Privately.”

“And if that problem escalated into an attack on one ofourpeople?”

“Then it would become our problem, and we’d go to war. But only then.” His voice is calm. Steady.

Sometimes I envy my brother’s ability to tune out emotions. No, notability. It’s just…the way he’s wired. I clearly remember the moment when I was younger, maybe ten, and heard from Vito that Carmine wasn’t just “off” sometimes. He was certifiably psychotic. Dad told me—more gently than “Hey, your brother is a fuckin’ psycho”, obviously—because he thought I deserved to know.

Maybe he thought I’d be scared, but I wasn’t. I just remember thinking, “Well, that explainsa lot.”

“I’m tearing this fucking city apart looking for whoever was a part of this bullshit,” Carmine snaps, jabbing a finger at the scorch marks on 5thAvenue. “So is Kratos. His whole family is mobilized—every Drakos soldier in the tri-state area. You think we’re going to let this go?”

“I think the Black Court needs to stop thinking inside the fucking box.”

Carmine exhales through his nose. “You know whatIwant to do? I want to walk into Leonard Kim’s office, flay off his skin, give him just enough painkillers and hook him up to just enough machines to keep him alive but in utter agony for atleasta week, and then start slicing off his fingers, toes, and eyelids with rusty gardening shears.”

Not one word there is figurative or hyperbole, by the way.

“Let’s do it, then.”

“And bring down the full weight of the federal government on all our heads?” His eyes flash. “This isn’t some street war, Nico. Leonard Kim as a congressman was bad enough. Now that fuck is a White HouseCabinet member.You so much as sneeze in his direction and we’ll have half of Washington crawling up our asses with wiretaps and RICO charges. We go after Leonard Kim directly, and we’re raining down the apocalypse on our family.”

He’s right. And I hate that he’s right.

“Carmy, Iknowit’s this Obsidian Syndicate who’s been poking around The Court. If it’s not Kir Nikolayev, the number of entities in New York who would, one, have the balls to try and dig into us, and two, have the connections and resources to do so, is basicallyzero. This outfit isn’t some little gang. If they’re doing dirty for a sitting U.S. Congressman, they’re next level.” My gaze holds his. “YouknowI have a nose for shit like this.”

Carmine rubs a hand over his jaw, glancing up the street. “I’m not saying you’re wrong…”

“Then help me make the fucking connection.”

“I don’t need to,” he says, his voice flat. “You and your dive-bar meet with Mario proved that the Obsidian Syndicate was behind the bombing, at the behest of Secretary Kim. That’s hard facts, not conspiracy theories. Those fuckers are behind almost killing our sister. That’s the part that matters.”

“Of course that’s what fucking matters,” I spit back. “Carm?—”

“Nico,” he growls tightly. “I’m thinking about our sister almost getting blown apart. I’m thinking about Kratos on his knees by her hospital bed, holding her hand like it’s the only thing anchoring him to his sanity. I’m thinking about our niece or nephew, who hasn’t even taken a breath yet, but has already gotten a taste of what this life can cost.”

His voice is ragged, cracking around the edges.

“And ifyourpriority isn’t finding, torturing, and killing every single person involved in that bomb,” he growls, “then I don’t know what the fuck we’re even talking about.”

“You know damn well that’s my priority.”

Carmine exhales, nodding. “Good. Good.”

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