Page 44 of Blood on Ice

“You need to stay away from Balogh, away from trouble. Let me handle this my way.”

“I’m not leaving Zeke. I’m going to take care of him.”

“The guy clearly didn’t want anything to do with you. He’s not going to care if you’re not there.”

My hands clinched into fists, and I started to rise. Val laid a hand on my thigh to push me back into the chair and spoke. “Pops, doyou remember how things went when you wanted me to leave Liam alone?”

My father closed his eyes, tilted his head back against his chair, and blew out a long breath. “You two have been nothing but fucking trouble ever since I brought you into the family.”

Shit. If I got my brother and me kicked out of the family, we’d really be in trouble. I’d have to insist on living at Zeke’s apartment because I wouldn’t have anywhere else to go.

“I knew Liam was meant for me from the moment we met. If Vito feels that way about Zeke, we can’t ask him to step away.”

“I can ask any fucking thing I want,” Pops said. “This family comes first, and I won’t tolerate anything that jeopardizes our safety and our position in this city.”

“I’m not walking away from Zeke.” I managed to keep my voice steady and firm even though I wanted to yell. I wanted to hit something, somebody. I wanted to tear the whole town apart. And then I wanted to drag Zeke into bed and fuck him all night long. “I want to protect this family. That’s why I came to you with the information on Benito. He’s the one who’s a threat to us.”

“I will deal with that threat, but I don’t want to have to deal with you creating a scandal with Balogh.”

“I’ve agreed not to see him publicly, if that makes a difference.”

“Really?” Val stared at me like he thought I’d lost my mind.

Pops frowned. “How did he convince you to do that?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do. He fucked up big time in Vegas, and he needs his record to be clean here. He doesn’t need a scandal any more than I do.”

“At least he has the sense to see that.”

“I see it too, but I wasn’t going to let him get beaten to death, and I refused to let him find someone else to loan him the money, someone who would exploit him, blackmail him, extort him.”

Pops laughed. “In case you don’t realize it, we’re in the business of extortion. You didn’t just hand him the money, did you?”

“No, I gave him the standard contract for a large loan.”

Pop scowled. “How large?”

When I said the amount, Val gasped. I glared at him, and he had the decency to look apologetic.

“You’re not authorized to loan that amount,” Pops growled.

“I was going to discuss it with you, then things…got out of hand.”

“You’re goddamn right they did. Now you’ve loaned out all this money, and you fancy yourself Balogh’s savior. He’s constantly in the spotlight, and we’ve got an enemy back in town planning to do God knows what.”

“It’s not my fault Benito came back to Boston.”

“Somehow, I feel like it must be.”

“Pops,” Val said, frowning at him.

Their relationship had improved since Liam had saved Pops’ life. But my father still regarded me like a wayward child. To be fair, me punching a security guard had only made that worse. I’d known better. I always knew better, but I was impulsive. I knew it was a fault, but I wished it didn’t mean I would always be the shithead brother.

“You’re not going to listen no matter what I say, are you?” Pops asked. I had to acknowledge he’d changed since Val and Liam’s wedding. He still didn’t trust me like I wanted him to, and he was still scary as fuck, but he was softer, more willing to talk instead of command. He’d been through hell, and I realized why he was so distant and cold, but it was nice to see him melting a little around the edges.

“You’ve already pulled guards to stay with him.”

So he did know. “How did you figure that out so fast?”

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