Page 31 of Bitter Arrangement

But yeah, she’s sexy as hell, and I guess that means all that other stuff doesn’t matter.

“Doesn’t matter either way. We’re married, and I plan on doing my duty.”

“Which is to knock her up.”

I raise my glass. “Here’s to impregnating a woman I barely know.”

“Here, here.” He taps his glass to mine and sips, still smiling. “On that note, I have a present for you.”

“Yeah? Did you get me new dishes? We put those on the registry.”

“Better than that.” He leans in closer. “I’m promoting you.”

I go very still. Tigran’s eyes sparkle with amusement as he lets that sink in. I’ve been climbing the ranks of the Brotherhood for years now, but I figured I hit the ceiling when I was made Tigran’s driver and personal fixer. I’m one of the most trusted and best-paid members of the whole organization, especially considering my technical skills.

“I figured the only way to rise was for one of the uncles to pass,” I admit, trying to keep the excitement from my voice.

“You know Arsen’s been making some changes. I convinced him that we need to start changing with the times, and you’re the man I want to lead the new crew we’re building.”

“What kind of crew?” I ask.

“You’re officially our Head of Cyber Intelligence. That’s just some fancy way of saying you’re going to run our hacking division. At the moment, you’re the only actual hacker we have, but we’re going to change that. We want you to grow our cybercrimes operation, Alexan. Find, train, and nurture young talent. Create a culture around making fucking money and being the best. You’ll be equal to anyone else in the Brotherhood, save for thepatronhimself. Congratulations, my friend.”

Dread fills my stomach.

This should be the best moment of my life. It’s what I’ve always wanted. This is real power and responsibility. I have the rare opportunity to grow a new division within the organization and leave a lasting legacy. This new crew will be entirely mine, built around my ideas and processes, and we’ll succeed because of my hard work.

But all I can think of is how I’m going to let Tigran and Arsen down.

Not because I can’t handle this. No, if they had promoted me before Riley came into my life, I’d be fucking ecstatic. I already have a dozen ideas for how I can put the team together and the sort of digital heists we’ll pull off.

Only I’m not sure I’m going to be alive in a month to see it through.

Tigran sips his drink, smirking. His eyebrows raise as the silence stretches.

“You letting it sink in, cousin?” he asks. “Because you haven’t said anything yet.”

“Sorry, no, this is good,” I say finally, shaking away the bad feeling threatening to drown me. I push it aside and wrap myself in cold logic. I can handle this promotion easily—and I can fix this shit with Mantis.

I just need to figure it out.

“I think it’s good too,” Tigran says with a laugh. “That’s one hell of an understatement.”

“I won’t let you down,” I tell him seriously. “This is the honor of my life. We’re going to build something incredible together.”

“I have no doubts about that.” Tigran shakes my hand and leans in to slap my back. “Congratulations, cousin,” he says quietly. “You deserve this.”

Like fucking hell I do.

If he knew what was really going on with Riley and Mantis, he’d shoot me in the head, cut Riley’s throat, and wash his hands of the McGraths entirely, all to avoid Mantis coming down on the Brotherhood.

But I won’t give him that chance. I hate holding information back, especially now that I’ve taken this huge leap forward, but I have to think about my wife now.

That beautiful pain in my ass.

Chapter12

Riley

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