The Empire (Filthy Trilogy 3)

“That doesn’t mean she wasn’t warning you about Isaac,” Savage interjects.

I follow where he leads. “She just wants me to share the same enemies. He wants me to get rid of his enemies.”

“That doesn’t make sense if we’re talking about Isaac,” Harper argues. “He’s her grandson. She knows how much you hate him. She knows pitting you against him, with you in the know, doesn’t end well for Isaac.”

“Which means one of three things,” I say. “One: she’s not warning you at all. She’s hoping to use you again in some way. Two: it’s not Isaac that she wants to warn you about at all. Or Three: Isaac’s desperate enough to pay off the mob, to kill everyone who stands between him and the inheritance. We need to know what was in those messages. Where those birth certificates they pushed us toward lead us.”

“But if your theory is correct,” Harper says, “they may just be leading us down a rabbit hole that Gigi dug for us.”

I toss money on the table. “I’ll know when we get that information,” I say, eyeing Savage. “When do we get that information?”

“That’s in Blake’s court,” he says.

/> I glance at my watch. “I have meetings to get to. I need an update on those birth certificates. Text me when you get them in. And Isaac admitted a problem with the mob. He wants me to give him a stock tip to fix it. I’m not giving him the chance to offer up my services to the mob, and link me to all of this. I need to talk to the guy he’s talking to over there. Get me a number.”

Savage arches a brow. “You’re going to call a mob boss on the phone?”

“He’s just a man. You know that, Savage. We’ve both seen war and we both know how war tears away the armor and gets down to the skin and bones.”

“But he doesn’t think he’s in a war. He thinks he’s hunting prey in your family and starting a war with him would be like saying you were taking on the Taliban by yourself, with the Walker army and nothing more.”

I consider that a moment. “I don’t want a war with the mob. I want to help them fight the war they have with my brother. If it even exists.” On that note, I stand and pull Harper across the seat to her feet, my hand settling on her hip. “Let’s go buy an NFL team.” I kiss her. “Sound good?”

“Yes, but—”

I kiss her. “No but, baby. This will be over soon. I feel it. Don’t you feel it?”

“I do,” Savage says, unfolding that big body of his to join me. “This is all about to blow the fuck up.”

Harper’s eyes go wide, and I grimace. Thank you, fucking Savage. I take Harper’s hand and lead her through the diner and away from Savage. We exit to the outdoors, and I quickly pull her to the side of the door, behind a big fake tree of some sort, where I press her to the wall. “This is about to be over.”

“But what does that look like?”

“Us, baby.” I lean in and kiss her, tasting the fear on her lips that I don’t want to exist. “Us,” I repeat. “Us living a new life together, which we’re starting now. Us happily ever after.”

“You aren’t the happily ever after kind of guy.”

“I’m an us guy and there is no place you and I go, but happily ever after. I won’t let it be any other way. This doesn’t end any other way. That’s a promise.”

“Don’t make a promise you can’t keep.”

Savage steps around the tree to join us, clearing his throat as he does. “About the way this is about to blow up. It’s happening now.” He holds up his phone. “Don’t send me to my room just yet. I have more news.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Eric

Turns out, it’s not Savage that has news at all. “Blake’s meeting us at your office.”

“About what?” I ask, releasing Harper to turn and face him, my hands sliding under my jacket to settle on my hips. “Don’t walk around whatever it is Blake wants you to walk around. That’s not your style.”

“No,” Savage says. “It’s not.” He offers nothing more.

I narrow my eyes on him. “Spit it out, Savage. I can’t pull this shit into the middle of my NFL meetings. I owe Grayson, and everyone involved counting on this to be life-changing, my focus.”

Harper’s hand comes down on my arm, and I don’t have any clue if she knows she’s covering my grim reaper tattoo there, not with my coat on, but I know. And I know this family will drag me to hell if I let them, and I’d go there, just to end them if it weren’t for Harper. She’s the game changer. I glance at my watch, the meeting time pressing down on us. “Savage. Now.”

“I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”