Page 80 of The Kings of Kearny

“No one can convince that man to do anything he doesn’t want to,” Jakob told her.

I leaned forward. “Not even after this? After shit went sideways on him, and he jeopardized the very person he was trying to help?”

Daniel let out a low laugh. “Not even then.”

Eva looked down at him. “What if Jakob leaves town? Heads up to Hill Country and transitions over to the Specters?”

Daniel shook his head. “Liam might try to oust me out of spite.”

Wow, Liamreallydidn’t like Daniel. It made me wonder how far back the grudge between them went and how much shit he had put Jakob through to make Liam hate him this much.

Eva stood. “Then I’m done.”

Daniel stared up at her. “What?”

“I’m done,” she said. “In case you forgot, we have three daughters. I’m tired of sending them away every time you want to trash our house. I’m tired of worrying about when they’ll get caught in Liam’s cross fire.” She turned and headed for the door. “I’ll be at my parents with them if you need me.”

“For how long?” he asked.

She whipped around, hand on the door handle, fire in her eyes. “For as long as it takes you to fix this shit.” And with that, she was gone.

Daniel turned back to us, looking murderous. He sat forward in his seat and stabbed the air between him and Jakob with an index finger. “Youneed to fix this,” he said. “It’s your father destabilizing this town and bringing drugs into Kearny. All because of his spoiled prick of a son.”

“I’ll fix it,” Jakob said.

“How?” Daniel demanded.

Jakob eyed him. “You’re not going to like it.”

“I don’t like anything involving you lately, so just spit it out.”

“The Specters have been eyeing a club in Georgia that they want to patch in,” Jakob said. “If I talk to my dad, I might be able to convince him to let you patch them in as a subchapter of the Kings instead.”

Daniel frowned, a speculative look in his dark eyes. “My first subchapter?”

“Yes,” Jakob said.

I glanced over at him, appreciating his mind for the second time in less than an hour. This was a good play. Daniel was greedy and power-hungry, and only a move like this might tempt him.

“So, I’d go to Georgia for a while,” Daniel said.

Jakob nodded. “You could take Eva and the girls, get out of town, away from Dad’s influence while I find some way to get him to back off permanently.”

Daniel’s gaze sharpened. “I want a truce between Liam and me in writing, with his signature and witnesses so he can’t turn around and stab me in the back as soon as I leave Kearny.”

“I’ll get it done,” Jakob said.

“That still leaves Redding.”

“Leave Redding to me,” Jakob said. “It’s my dad’s fuckup. He and I will find some way to fix it.”

Daniel just stared at him. “You get one shot at this. If you can’t get it done, you’re out.” He leaned back in his seat, dark eyes blazing. “I don’t give a fuck who you are. Your membership is becoming a problem. I built this club from the ground up. These people are more loyal to me than your father. I’m not letting it go without a fight. If Liam doesn’t back the fuck off, he’s going to have a full-blown mutiny on his hands, and I know we’re not the only club that’s had it with his micromanaging and power plays.”

~*~

“INEED YOU TO EXPLAINto me, in detail, why you put up with that asshole,” I said when we were back in the car.

No response.

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