“And yet he did.” Vincent frowned and tapped a finger on the table. “What makes you think it won’t happen again?”
“I’m going to handle him.”
“How, exactly?”
“However I damn well please.” There was an edge in Reid’s voice that surprised me and sent a small chill down my spine.
“That’s not good enough,” Dante said.
Reid sat back in his chair and gestured at them. “Please, by all means, if you two have a better idea then speak up.”
“You’re supposed to be calming the city down, not getting into gunfights in the damn street,” Vincent said
“I know what I’m supposed to do, and I told you that I’m going to handle it.” Reid sat forward again, palms flat on the table. “I hope you realize that I don’t work for you.”
“You don’t?” Vincent tilted his head and smiled. “My mistake. I thought you did, since you married my cousin, and since your boss has had his tongue halfway up my asshole for the past few months.”
Reid went stock-still and his body clenched with tension. I sucked in a breath and my eyes went wide as I looked from him to Vincent. I could tell Vincent was trying to provoke Reid, but I didn’t know why. It made no sense, not really—they should be trying work together to figure out how to handle Jarvis and get the city back into some semblance of order. Instead, they were having a stupid pissing match.
“Reid,” I said. “Don’t.” On impulse, I reached out and put my hand on his thigh. He was trembling anger, but a strange thing happened.
As soon as I touched him, he turned to me, looked into my eyes—and seemed to calm down. Not entirely, not enough that his body relaxed, but he stopped trembling with the effort of holding himself back.
“I understand you think you own this city,” Reid said, keeping his voice steady, despite the stupid grin Vincent wore. “I understand you think you don’t need us, not really. The politicians, they won’t turn on you. But there’s something you don’t understand.”
“Oh, yeah? What’s that?”
“We don’t give a fuck about the politicians, or the police, or the rich tech assholes or the marketers or the CEOs or the state senators. We’ve been working on the streets for years, and we just took down one of the most powerful crime syndicates on the East Coast. You think you really want to fuck with us right now with your family split between two cities?”
Vincent’s jaw worked but he said nothing for a few long beats. I rubbed my eyes and pushed back my frustration. I should have known this would turn into a pissing match, but I hoped they could set that ego stuff aside for a little while at least. Clearly, I was wrong.
“Enough,” I said, holding up my hands. “We’re all in this right now. So can we please figure out how to take care of the problems in front of us instead of trying to decide who’s the tougher mafia dickhead?”
Vincent grunted and let out a breath. “Fine. I want to be involved in whatever you do with this Jarvis asshole.”
“How do you think that’ll work?” Reid asked.
“I’ll send a guy with you. He’ll work recon and report back to me.”
Reid shook his head. “That won’t fly.”
“Look, you little—”
I spoke up before Vincent could finish that sentence and make things worse. “I’ll report to you.”
Everyone looked at me, including Reid. He seemed almost hurt and betrayed—like I’d just plunged a dagger into his heart instead of saved his ass. That said a lot about how he viewed me. The guy didn’t trust me at all, and figured that I was turning on him that first opportunity I got.
Well, fine, let him think that, the bastard.
“You will?” Vincent shook his head. “You’re his wife.”
“On paper. Look, you want to be involved and Reid’s not going to let you have someone hovering over his shoulder. I’ll stay involved in whatever he’s doing and report back to you, that way we all win.”
Silence descended. Reid looked like he wanted to argue, but his jaw clenched and set, and he didn’t open his mouth.
“It’s a good plan,” Dante said. “It feels relatively fair.”
“Fine,” Vincent snapped. “You report to me. But if I find out that you’re lying, or misleading, or anything like that, then I promise I’ll—”
“Don’t threaten my wife.” Reid stood up. “We done here?”
Vincent gestured. “We’re done. You can go.”
Reid snorted, turned, and walked to the door. He disappeared into the hallway without waiting.
I stood up. “Don’t be such an idiot, Vincent. He’s not one of your little soldiers, you can’t just push him around. Be smart and diplomatic, and maybe you’ll get somewhere.”
He sneered at me, but said nothing. I turned and left the room, shutting the door behind me. I found Reid further down the hallway, leaning up against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and an annoyed expression on his face. He looked up as I approached and stood up straight.