Ambrose (The Theriot Family 5)

Ambrose pulled Hope onto his lap and absentmindedly scratched her ears while I sanded and buffed the piece I used to fill the hole. As helpful as he was being, I could tell how hard it was for him to sit back while someone helped him. I wondered how long he had been the strong one, the one who took care of everything. I knew they were twins, but he treated Dax like a younger brother. Had he always been that way?

The silence eventually began to feel heavy, so I started giving Ambrose the information he wanted. “Yesterday, I spent three hours watching the shed where LePlatt’s merchandise was stored. I hid in the same spot we did when we were waiting for LePlatt. That’s when I saw the men unloading crates. The day before, the place was deserted, but there was evidence left indicating someone had been moving things in and out. You’d think Carlotti would have taught his men to be less careless, but it was easy to follow their tracks since they’d tossed liquor bottles and cigarette butts from their vehicles.”

Ambrose shook his head. “You can’t get good help anymore.”

I laughed, and he did too.

“You’re right, though,” he said. “If Carlotti knew, they’d be dead. Possibly, they already are.”

The rumors I’d heard about Carlotti said he had a reputation for killing anyone who displeased him, no matter how loyal they’d been. “How does he find an endless stream of followers? They have to know he killed their predecessors.”

Ambrose looked at me like I couldn’t be that stupid.

I sighed. “All right. I know. Money and power will always draw people in.”

He nodded, and I continued. “I’d been about to head back to my truck when I heard a car coming up the dirt road that leads to the shed.” I explained the rest of what I’d seen.” Ambrose scowled the whole time.

“Don’t approach that shed again. I mean it.”

I looked up expecting to see anger in his eyes, but I was shocked to see fear instead. If Ambrose was afraid of Carlotti, how evil was the man? I’d read a catalog of all the shit he’d done, and I knew the crime world generally regarded him as dangerous and unpredictable, but Ambrose seemed to think he was invincible.

“Can we fight this man?”

“Carlotti?”

“Yes.” I wanted to say something sassy, but Ambrose’s tone was serious, not joking.

“We don’t have a choice,” he said. “He came into our territory once before. We told him to stay away, but now he’s back. If we let him stay, he’s going to think he can do whatever he wants.”

“But my parish isn’t your territory.”

Ambrose snorted. “As far as we’re concerned, anything in this part of South Louisiana is ours.”

“But other families—”

“Anyone else working in this region has an agreement with us. Carlotti has no such agreement, and we would never grant him one.”

“Why didn’t you take him out before when he encroached on your territory?”

“We weren’t ready.”

“Are you ready now?” I hoped to God they were.

Ambrose closed his eyes. I waited for his answer, heart pounding, afraid I knew what he would say.

“No, but we’re going to have to pretend to be.”

6

Ambrose

I expected Eric to yell at me and tell me off for insinuating that I could help him and getting him into this mess in the first place, but he didn’t. He looked up and held my gaze. The tightness in my chest and the flutter in my stomach made me question everything I thought I’d known.

I wanted Eric to trust me, and I wanted him to let me protect him. I would do that, no matter how hard he fought me. I didn’t want him to fight me, though, because I also wanted him to kiss me, and that fucked with my head far more than my loss of control.

“Is there anything else you learned when you were watching the shed?”

I shook my head. “I waited for them to leave, then I got out of there. I wanted to examine the inside of the shed to find out exactly what products they’re moving, but—”

“No. I mean it, Eric. They will kill you without a second thought.”

“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” Eric grumbled. “I know how to conduct an investigation.”

I shook my head. “You’ve never been up against anyone like this.”

“How do you know?”

Was he kidding? “You’re not the only one who does his research.”

He glared at me. “Stay out of my past.”

“I could say the same to you, but I know my real secrets, the ones no one knows, are sealed too tight for you to find.”

Eric raised his brows. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. They’re government secrets. I only know one man who could break into the servers that hold them, and he works for me.”

“Why do criminals always get the best tech support?”