Page 20 of Imperial: The Corvidae Family
Trent had always been reckless. Never planned his moves properly, always thinking a fast job was better than a smart one. When shit went left, it was never his fault and he blamed everyone else. His problem wasn’t me. It was a lack of respect for the job but for some reason, I was his target.
Kades’s voice cut through my thoughts. “People are listening when he talks, Mir.”
“People with money? Because that’s all the fuck that matters?” I asked.
As long as Trent running his mouth didn’t hurt my pockets, I didn’t give a damn about any of that shit.
Kades nodded. “Some.”
Yair scoffed. “Yeah, the type who don’t fact-check and we know that shit it’s dangerous in our world.”
It was. Gun for hire wasn’t something to take likely on either side. You hire the wrong person for the job and that shit could come back on you. When it came to us, if we accepted the wrong job, it could mean death or a life sentence. There was just as much risk as reward.
“Let that muthafucker talk. That’s all he’s ever been good at.” I said unbothered by any of this.
Yair leaned forward and dropped his elbows on his knees. “Yeah, well, talking isn’t all he’s doing. Word is, he’s beenputting out feelers, seeing if there’s work for him outside the usual circles.”
I narrowed my eyes. “That means he’s getting desperate.”
And it created problems for the rest of us. We were protected but if Trent got caught up it sent unwanted attention our way.
Kades nodded. “Which means he’s willing to do dumb shit and that puts us at risk.”
“He doesn’t have any leverage.”
Kades’s expression turned hard. “Not yet but Trent has a hard on for you, Mir. He’s going to keep pushing.”
Yair shook his head, rubbing a hand over his jaw. “Man, fuck this. We should handle it now before he gets a chance to make it an actual problem.”
Kades delivered a hard glare. “Handling shit our way is exactly what he wants. There are codes we have to live by. I’m not trying to deal with Shadow Court and neither are you.”
Yair shrugged. “That muthafucker has to live by the same codes. Ifhedoesn’t, we don’t. Balance of power.”
Kades’s jaw flexed. “He’s baiting Emir. If he falls for it, Trent has the upper hand.”
I stayed quiet, letting the two of them go back and forth. Trent couldn’t touch me directly. If he could, he would’ve tried by now. I knew what this was. He wanted to make people second guess me by trying to convince them I wasn’t as untouchable as my name suggested or my reputation wasn’t earned. Our family was respected and he hated that shit.
“His dumb ass needs to put some time into understanding why he’s not getting contracts anymore.”
Kades’s expression darkened. “He’s always been reckless but that’s not the issue. The problem is you make him look bad, Mir.”
“Nah, he makes himself look bad. I just do my fucking job.”
“And people notice when you don’t fuck up and he does,” Kades said with a smirk.
They do…
Trent had always been fast and careless. A gun for hire who took as many jobs as possible, stacking them without doing research. He liked the money and the kill but didn’t like the details which meant he left loose ends.
Missed targets.
Sloppy results.
I was who they called when Trent fucked up. That was why he hated me.
He saw me and my brothers as legacy because of our father. Kohen Corvidae was legendary and had more respect than most. Trent assumed we got a free ride because of the Corvidae name, like we didn’t have to work for this shit.
That muthafucker was wrong.
