Page 44 of Crown of Smoke

“Well what is she doing? I thought she was digging?—”

“She is, but you know as well as I do that it could get her killed,” I snap at Blaise.

"The girl's getting under your skin.” Ash words are accusatory.

"I can handle it.” Although I’m not sure I can. Can I really balance this growing thing with Lucy against the mission I’ve committed my life to?

My brothers exchange looks. They know me too well, know how single-minded I've been about destroying the Keans. Now Lucy's shifted something fundamental inside me, and I'm not sure if that makes me stronger or more vulnerable. It feels vulnerable.

“Maybe she’s no longer useful,” Phoenix muses. “And as much as I want to make the Keans pay, I don’t want a lot of collateral damage.”

Everything inside me goes cold thinking about Lucy as collateral damage. Phoenix's comment highlights what’s different between the Ifrinns and the Keans. The Keans wouldn’t care who got caught up in their destruction. Collateral damage is a part of doing business in their minds.

"You've got that look again," Blaise says, his lips curling into a knowing smirk. "The one you get whenever you think about your little journalist being in trouble."

"I don't have a look. And she's not mine." God, I sound defensive.

"No?" Blaise raises an eyebrow. "Could've fooled me with how you nearly broke that guy's arm at the boxing match for touching her."

It takes me a minute, but then I realize Blaise knows about the man I threatened for touching Lucy. “Are you following me?”

“Just for backup,” Phoenix says with a chastising glance at Blaise.

"You should see him when she's around," Blaise continues, clearly enjoying himself. "All growly and possessive. 'Don't touch her, don't look at her.' It's adorable, really."

I stare at each of my brothers in turn, anger and pain growing in my gut. “You don’t trust me?—”

“It’s not that,” Phoenix says.

“What else could it be? You have Blaise following me as backup but don’t bother to tell me?” Fucking hell. Does he know what I did with Lucy in the bathroom just before I threatened the man harassing her?

“We just wanted extra protection for you at the fights,” Ash says in a tone my mother used to use when she was exasperated by us.

I stand up and thrust my beer at Phoenix. “Fuck you. Fuck you all.” I start toward his door. I don’t need to put up with this shit. I can do my job without them.

“Flint.” Phoenix isn’t moved or bothered by my words. “All we wanted was to protect you. You’re the one putting his neck out there more than we are.”

I don’t buy it. Not completely, anyway. “How long? How long has Blaise been following me?”

“Since you decided to make mincemeat out of Kean’s men at the pub,” Blaise says, not at all concerned by how betrayed I feel. So much for twin connections.

“Right. That seems to shoot your reasoning out of the water,” I say to Phoenix. “Because I was going to the fights long before that.”

“That woman is making you vulnerable,” Ash says, sounding not at all apologetic for sending Blaise to spy on me.

I glare at him. "I'm protecting an asset.”

Blaise snorts. "Is that what we're calling it now?"

“Blaise, shut the fuck up,” Phoenix snaps at him. Then he turns to me. “Ash is right. All this started when you decided to play hero by saving the woman?—”

“Right. I should have let Kean’s men rape and kill her. I’ll remember that next time. Except… wait… didn’t you just say something about avoiding collateral damage?”

His jaw tightens. “What they wanted to do had nothing to do with us.”

I want to punch Phoenix. Did he just suggest I should have let O’Brian and his men attack Lucy?

“Actually, it did. She’s poking around to find out how the Keans rose to power. And for your information, this didn’t start with her. It started when someone let the Keans into the house and killed our parents.”

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