Page 42 of Devil's Rage

“Don’t go there.”

“Dan.” Ty walked over and lightly hit my shoulder with a fist. “It wasn’t distraction that caused the failed hit. It was badluck on our part and good luck on Hendrix’s—at least until Lia decided to save all our asses.” He stared out the window. “My grandfather, my mom’s father, he used to say something about howmafiosiplay life like the rules are for suckers. That they win one hand, then another, and pretty soon think they can’t lose. But the whole time—the whole damn time, it’s a losing hand—they’ve just delayed it.”

“Nice old man story,” I growled. “But you can’t do anything with luck. We need to be more proactive—”

“No. Look, I get it, we’re smart. Especially, you, genius. But our fathers were also pretty damn smart, and they never thought about what would happen if they lost. They were too arrogant. So, that’s how I try to play—not trusting the hand. Not trusting that any amount of planning or intelligence can win out.”

“You can cheat at cards, Ty.”

“It’s a metaphor, asshole,” Ty said and smacked me upside the head. “And yeah, up to a point.”

“So, what are you saying?”

“I’m saying the only way you can win with a losing hand, with the deck stacked against you as Michaelsons, ispeople.You. Luca.” He swallowed hard. “Luca went to Sicily forus. Artie, Pasquale, and Heavy, they came through after my father passed. And now, Lia. She’s a part of that—hell, she’s so much more than that.”

“So, you trust her? Completely.”

“Yes,” he said without hesitation. “She could’ve run. She didn’t. She saved our lives.” He paused. “You should’ve told me your suspicions about Sara. I think I could’ve saved you a lot of heartache.” He reached out and messed up my hair, while I shoved him. “Good luck with that.”

“Oh, fuck off,” I said while Ty chuckled and went back to his desk. He sat down with a sigh, while I went over and studied him. “We are smarter than our fathers, though, especially you, Ty.”

“Jury’s still out if that’s a good thing,” he muttered and leafed through a stack of paper.

“Smart enough to consider retirement?” I asked and Ty’s eyes flicked up.

He knotted his hands together and shook his head once. “I don’t know if I could be that selfish.”

“Every guy here owes you their life,” I said and pointed at the door. “And their livelihood. You remember how it used to be? How Rhino and Reaper, their under-bosses and people sat pretty, just skimming off all the work of the guys? Guys who had hustle coke and other heinous shit just to make ends meet. Remember that’s why most of Rhino’s guys are now locked up or dead?”

“You don’t walk away from our thingalive, Daniel,” he said, and shadows filled his gaze. “Not unless you run, and I don’t fuckin’ run.”

“You were seventeen when you were made,” I gritted out between my teeth. I was fourteen and forced to watch, forced to understand that we had no choice. “All of our guys know that you didn’t have a choice, you didn’t earn it—Rhino did it as punishment.”

“I know all this shit,” Ty said with an edge in his voice and maybe I’d gone too far. Maybe I was more irritated with him than I realized, jealous that he got to have Lia and a sense of peace with all this that I’d never have. “What is your point?”

“You can retire, and no one would think anything of it,” I said. “You said our guys—our family–have our back with this perpetual losing hand shit? Then they should have your back and let you walk away.”

Ty shoved himself upright and glared at me. “And what about you, Danny? You’ll walk away?”

I shrugged, even as a cold feeling invaded my gut, a sort of knowing—it wasn’t too late for Ty, but it had always been too late for me. “Nah. I’ll just finally prove the Reaper wrong.”

Alarm crossed my cousin’s face and I thought he’d lunge across his desk at me. “Don’t say shit like that, Danny,” he said in a low voice. “You know that I can’t do that to you. I cannot give you this burden, I couldn’t live with myself.” He pressed his handson the desk and a sudden glint came into his eyes. “Unless you agreed to walk away, too.”

“We can’t both walk away, Ty. That would cause chaos. It’d leave the guys vulnerable—Hendrix would slaughter them, and the Bratva…” I trailed off, suddenly seeing where my cousin was going. “But maybe not if the Bratva owes us a blood debt for taking care of Hendrix.”

“I’m not saying I agree to this, but if you oversaw the transfer of power from me to you and then to someone else, maybe. But you’d have to swear onmyfucking life that you would retire, too.”

“Just not at the same time,” I interjected.

“Same time would be tricky,” Ty acknowledged and straightened, folding his arms.

“Hey, why your life and not mine?” I asked.

Ty gave me a look. “I know you, that’s why. Actually.” He tilted his head. “Maybe Sara’s.”

“You wouldn’t hurt Lia’s friend,” I said automatically, even as my heart began to beat faster. “Ty, don’t even joke about shit like that.”

“I wasn’t joking, I was confirming something, thanks,” he said and sat down with a sigh, grinning up at me. “We should do thisagain sometime.” He gestured with his head at the door. “You can go back to spying on the ladies if you’d like.”

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