Page 163 of Poison Aches

With that, one of my men drive up the SUV with a ramp for Grandfather’s wheelchair.

The fact that he even showed up here in such a state when he has made it clear that he doesn’t want his enemies to know about the condition of his health tells me everything I need to know.

He’s hell-bent on this.

He wants this partnership with the Hughes and he’ll see it through, come hell or high water.

If I don’t do it, he’ll just make sure a desperate idiot does it.

“You’re a fucking snake in the reeds,” I say simply when we’re on our way to the Easton estate in upstate New York.

“Or maybe I’m just a loving grandfather looking after my heir,” he counters, watching me.

“And how are you doing that?”

“By ensuring we’re aligned with powerful allies.”

I glance at him, my entire body now coiled with tension. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t act as if you don’t know,” he sneers now, showing the anger he’s been keeping at bay. “I know you’re very much aware and are still in contact with that Syndicate!”

This time, I lean back in my seat comfortably but the thing in my chest is raging with pain.

I need to take my pills or I won’t make it to the end of this conversation, but I’ll be damned if I ever show my weakness to this snake.

“Which Syndicate?” I ask as if I don’t know what he’s talking about. “Aren’t we already the most powerful Family?”

“You’re too smart for your own good!” Grandfather waves a finger between us, as if scolding a three-year-old. “You’ve lived in that town, made neighbors out of his children, hell, Vaughn has given me a report that shows you are close to them.”

“You’ve known that for years.”

“Yet you failed!” he seethes. “You failed to marry the daughter when your idiot father set everything up for you! You failed to trap the son, or maybe you let him go intentionally?!”

I remain silent, watching him rant.

I know he’s still severely angry that I didn’t marry Astraea and that George is not in my influence.

After all, Grandfather wants one thing that he has never had and that is everything The Phoenix Corp has.

“Because of your utter, disappointing failure before, I have ensured that we partner with an ally that is strong enough and has the motive to also go against the Beaumonts!”

See, Grandfather wants more power and to achieve what has never been done before.

My goal is the same, but in a way that he’ll loathe and writhe in eternal pain.

“So instead of a regular partnership with the Hughes Family, you decided to put marriage with the heir on the table?” I question.

I already knew that the Hughes are more than a political family.

They are also deeply involved in the underbelly of New York, Chicago, and California.

All the turf that George Beaumont’s Phoenix Corp is, but not as extended or apparent as them.

“We signed a contract with the Hughes decades ago that included marriage but in case you haven’t noticed, the Hughes have been expanding and growing. Their power alone is a force to be reckoned with, they would never settle for one of your cousins for marriage!”

Which is why he offered up the next boss of the Easton Family like it’s nothing.

“But I know that’s not why you’re angry,” Grandfather suddenly says, an off-putting smile now plastered on his wrinkly old papery face. “If you could kill me right now, I’m sure you would without blinking.”

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