Page 14 of Brutal Collateral

“Devlin was groomed for the throne,” Kai says to fill in the gaps. “There was always bad blood between him and Brandon, who Troi kept close, let him work the ranks, but never named him the heir.”

Keep your enemies close.

I’m about to inherit a houseanda woman I must marry, but I’ll also inherit a fragile peace with the fucking Greeks.

The key word, fragile.

“Troi built a very powerful stronghold in Lower Manhattan,” Shane informs me.

Not the flashy Midtown Manhattan or Upper East Side. Typical for the Irish to go for a grittier part of town. There’s so much history in Lower Manhattan. Families there go back over one hundred years, as well as their deadly grudges.

There’s no way for me to just waltz in there and take over.

I glance at Ewan, who shouldered much of the family responsibility since our da became ill by taking over his council seat.

Seeing me waver, he steps up and says to Ares, “Zervas, my brothers and I need to talk about this.”

“Quinlans...” Ares shoves brawny hands in his trouser pockets. “You can choose your friends. You can choose who you work for. You can’t choose your family. Powers says youarethe Keller heir. That means Brandon is your cousin, illegitimate or not, and your cousinhas my fucking sister.”

“You can’t be serious with that outrage,” I argue. “We had nothing to fucking do with this.”

“Why did Brandon take her?” Shane asks, always gathering information.

“For power,” Ares answers like it’s obvious, and maybe I’ve become numb to this kind of psychotic, unhinged behavior working for Lachlan O’Rourke. “He thinks he’s entitled to Ava. She is strong-spirited, but he is a barbarian who will undoubtedly break her.”

A vein in Ares’ forehead looks ready to burst with unspoken horrors of what Brandon might be doing to his sister.

Rage builds inside me for some reason. A wicked flashback to my Navy private security gig, seeing one of the training candidates assaulting...her. One of the strongest-spirited women I’d ever met, tough as nails, that woman. Electricity buzzes in my veins, the memory taking me by force. I shake the startling vision ofheraway. And the best night of my life.

Even if it did endbadly.

“Brandon has also managed to gain powerful allies in House Keller after Devlin’s death,” Kai adds.

While I never met them, I know the type. Brandon’salliesare savage brats who we’ll have to either convince or kill when we take power. I gulp, hearing those thoughts in my head like it’s a done deal.

Is it?

If it is, then in addition to a house racked with mutiny, I’ve inherited the Greeks as a brutal enemy. And a peace that hangs in the balance so long as... I marry Ava Zervas.

Only we don’t know where the fuck she is.

Great.

“I made this deal in good faith with Troi,” Ares says, getting annoyed again. “The capos on both sides have sworn to uphold the truce until Troi announced his heir. But Brandon stole Ava. We’ve heard some of his men know where he is. And my men will start slaughtering them.”

Anger roils under my skin. “I’ll renounce my claim. I’ve had no involvement in any of this. Find other relatives of Mary Ellen, or give Brandon the throne he wants.”

I’m not marrying a woman I’ve never met to end a war I didn’t start. One where I’ve never pulled the trigger.

Ares and Kai trade looks. “Troi names you,” the lawyer voices the answer. “That will be hard to walk away from.”

“And if being a mafia king isn’t enough of a carrot for you, Mr. Proud Quinlan, let me sweeten the deal,” Ares says and takes out his phone. “There’s a land development project onourturf. The UN is moving. They need a new building. The budget is exploding by the day. I have the connections to secure that deal. I just need...cash. Troi has that cash. And that cash will go to you.”

“Thanks to me,” Kai says.

Shane picks up the phone and starts swiping. “I heard about this,” he says, low and cautious. “You made the shortlist, Zervas?”

Ares grins. “It wasn’t much of a list.”

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