A Dirty Business (Kings of New York #1)(116)

But while Trace was stepping into his uncle’s position temporarily, until he decided what he wanted to do, Ashton made his own decision. He was the new head of the Walden Mafia family. That’s where his offer came in. While I’d not seen Ashton since the torture session and Trace was having minimum contact with someone he used to consider a brother / best friend, Ashton offered to take over what both families handled. Whereas most times those offers would be a sham, extended as a “favor” but in reality they wanted the power, it was not the case this time. There was a lot I didn’t know or want to know about Trace’s family business and especially Ashton’s, but Trace explained to me one night that their two families had always been linked.

They were almost a yin and yang sort of deal.

His family handled the businesses, the shipping yards, the distribution in the city. Ashton’s handled the law enforcement and the bribes. For one family to take over all of it would be a lot of change and chaos. It’d take time.

I hadn’t wanted to know. I’d been keen to keep that boundary because of my job, but it didn’t seem to matter as much anymore. Not if Trace was going legit, like he’d been planning.

“It was okay. Good to see Val, a few others.”

“They’re not turning their backs on you?”

I hesitated, but what was the point? “A lot of them have. It’s obvious, but not Val.”

“If you go back, will that be a problem?”

“Yeah. We need each other in this work. I get iced out, and that could be dangerous.”

“Okay, you know you have my support no matter what you decide.”

I did. Warmth spread through me. “I know. I love you.”

“I love you too. Are you going back to your mom’s right away or . . . ?”

Another smile from me, even though there was so much bad that had happened that maybe I shouldn’t be smiling at all. But I was because there’d been one surprising silver lining out of everything. “That gallery called, and they want a few more of my paintings.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I guess the ones she had in her gallery sold, so she’s asking for more. And I got an email. An art magazine wants to interview me.”

“That’s great. I’m not surprised.”

The gallery owner saw my paintings while I’d been moving them out of the studio the day I was moving into my mom’s house. She’d asked, then and there, for a few, and I’d been in such a mess that I’d forgotten about the whole deal. I’d gotten the call when I was leaving Bear’s funeral.

I hadn’t even told Val.

“I think I’m going to go to my mom’s and do some more painting. I’m feeling the need.”

“Sounds good. You want to sleep there or at my place tonight?”

My mom seemed like a new person. Maybe it was the therapy, or maybe it was because we knew everything: about my dad’s death; about Isaac, whose lawyer thought we should try at getting him an appeal considering Leo’s confession. We didn’t have it on tape, but since everything else was treated as evidence, his confession about my father’s murder should be treated the same.

It was a long shot, but it was a shot. Either way, my mom had a new purpose in her life.

“I’ll probably paint late tonight.”

“Your house it is tonight.”

I smiled, warming. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“Love you.”

I smiled, my voice cracking because I felt this down into my core. “I love you too.”





EPILOGUE


TRACE


A month later

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

I was on the phone with Ashton, and I was looking down at the ring in my hand. “Yes.”

“Okay. Things have been quiet, but it’s time to hit back. They won’t be expecting it now.”

I put the ring back in the box and back into my pocket.

Ashton was talking about the payback we still had due. We’d found out that my father had organized the hits against us, whereas the Worthing family had organized the hits against Ashton’s family. We’d been waiting with payback against the Worthing family, but we couldn’t wait with my father.

Dominic West officially went missing twelve hours after Jess killed Bear. He went missing in the “very dead” sense of the word.

We had to move fast, but now we were finalizing our plans against the Worthing family.

“There’ll be fallout.”

I went to my window and looked out over the city. “There’s always fallout. They’re starting to make moves into our territory, thinking we’re not going to hit back. It’s time. They’ve come out of hiding.”

“We should meet for the final details.”

“I agree.”

There was silence after that. I knew neither of us wanted to hang up.

I missed my best friend, but our relationship was strained after I’d learned what he’d done to Jess. I knew the reasoning, knew he did it to protect me, but I hadn’t been able to forgive him for it. We were cordial, still working together, but we weren’t the same.

“How are things with—” His voice was tentative, and I knew who he was going to bring up.