Page 416 of Filthy Elites

Not really. He was still being fairly vague about his plans. I was surer than ever that he didn’t want me knowing anything more about what he was up to than he had to share.

It didn’t sound as if he was setting up anything particularly controversial here, though. That made sense. He wouldn’t want to go too big or risky on the first project he’d been put in charge of. He wanted to impress Dad, sure, but to be certain he’d pull it off as well.

“It was a bold move, grabbing this property from the Nobles,” I said conversationally, not letting any hint of my opinion color my voice.

Griffin let out a huff. “They deserved us coming down on them hard after how they screwed us over. It was ridiculous that we waited even this long to make a move.” His mouth pressed flat for a second as if he realized he’d said more than was wise, and then he added quickly, “Marcel agrees. He couldn’t stand back any longer.”

“Right,” I said dryly. No doubt because this prick had gotten in Dad’s ear and incited him to act. Who knew what lies he’d made up if he’d been telling stories about Darius?

The trouble was, if the bastard had already infected Dad’s mind against us, we wouldn’t get straight answers out of our own father either. I resisted the urge to grit my teeth.

“I suppose you have big plans for working Ezra Noble’s sister for information too, then,” I went on. “Dad came up with a good gambit, taking advantage of her distress and getting her into the home where we can control her.”

After hearing from Darius how Anthea had been controlled before, the abuse she’d faced, the words tasted bitter in my mouth, but I needed Griffin to think I was on his side.

The guy shrugged. “We’re still working out the best approach,” he said, hedging again. And I couldn’t miss the familiarity in that “we,” as if he and Dad were some kind of decisive unit.

“As long as everyone who needs to be in the know is kept in the loop,” I said evenly.

Griffin jutted his chin at a haughty angle. “Oh, Marcel knows who he can count on.”

I shot him a brief glower. “I’m sure he does.”

But the remark rang in my mind as I headed out of the office building. A certainty twisted around my gut, uncomfortably tight.

Griffin was definitely aiming to make himself the man Dad counted on most—and it looked like he was succeeding. We’d gotten too complacent, too used to the roles we’d started to take for granted—it’d never occurred to me that someone might weasel in there so effectively that Dad would end up cutting us out.

That was what this prick intended, though. I had no doubt. He wanted to be next in line for the throne. Fucking hell.

There might be an easy solution to that problem. Griffin was obviously leveraging the conflict with the Nobles to major effect. Which meant it was possible he’d been instrumental in making that conflict occur. It was time I had a talk with our man who’d been on the ground during the deal gone wrong, who’d I’d sent into that fray inadvertently, and find out if anyone on our own side might have interfered.

Dad wouldn’t let some asshole who’d undermined his own operations walk away alive.

I found Mick out at one of our main warehouses, where he spent most of his time when he wasn’t discussing operations with me or Dad or overseeing a deal in progress. He was consulting with one of the warehouse workers with a much calmer disposition than I’d seen from Griffin. But then, I’d always thought Mick was one of our most reliable lieutenants. He’d been around since I was a kid, and he made a point of always delivering what was asked of him.

The deaths from a couple weeks ago had to be eating at him. It was the first time any deal he’d been managing directly had gone anywhere near that sour.

Also in stark contrast to the leech, Mick gave me a nod of deferential acknowledgment when he saw me.Herecognized my position in the Hell Kickers.

“Lucan,” he said in his low voice. “What can I help you with? Is there a concern with the numbers from the recent shipments?”

That was the sort of thing I’d normally have dropped by to ask him about. I shook my head and motioned him over to the far end of the warehouse, away from the underlings at work.

“I’m sorry to bring this up after I’m sure you’d hashed it out more times than you’d have liked to already,” I said, “but I need to ask you something about the recent exchange with the Nobles—the one that ended with the shootout.”

Mick’s expression tightened, but he inclined his head. “Of course. If I can help make something good come out of that mess, or at least make it less bad, I’m all for it.”

He really was a decent man. I offered him a warmer smile than I’d given Griffin. “You might have noticed that my dad has been consulting with a guy named Griffin quite a bit. Have you talked to him at all?”

“Griffin…” Mick seemed to test the name out. “Big guy, light hair, kind of squinty?”

My lips twitched with suppressed amusement at the description. “That would be the one.”

“I’ve seen him around. What about him?”

“I was just wondering if he was at all involved in the deal or the arrangements for the hand-off. Passing information between you and other parties, scoping out possible sites, that kind of thing.”

Mick frowned. “I don’t think I talked to him at all while we were putting that in motion. As far as I know, he had no idea it was even going down. It wasn’t a particularly significant deal until it went wrong, you know. On the larger side, but not out of the norm. It should have been business as usual.”

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