My men would have fun without me while I played in the ‘big’ game.

“Too bad I can’t bet on you losing,” Reaper muttered, kicking his feet up onto the table.

He had been in a bad mood for days, and I didn’t dare poke him when he was mad. Whatever was going on in his personal life made him shorter fused than normal. He didn’t even send me pictures of random cats over the last week.

“What’s the news on Whitmore? She’s a loose cannon gunning for the heir of the Montgomery Group. We all need to be on high alert any time Fallon steps out of her home.”

I started tracking Sloane’s movements, careful not to let her know I was doing it. She probably assumed I would be keeping an eye on her, but that’s what she wanted me to do–as in, on my own. My men were on her, and if she had been aware of that, she’d be pissed. We had to be careful with all the other families at each other's throats.

There was a rift bigger than the San Andreas fault line happening. The elites were turning on one another in anticipation of attempting to snatch the Montgomery Group out from under Blondie and up their power over the black market. Everyone wanted it. Whoever had control over the properties that Chamberlain Industries utilized to keep our operations on top would shoot us in the foot, causing a major shift in how things operated.

It would be chaos.

For now, it was crabs in a bucket.

I just had to stay ahead of them all and ensure Fallon rose to the top–even if it killed me. We were sitting ducks if she lost everything. Urgency was of the essence.

“Your scorned ex has been talking a lot of shit lately. Also, in secret meetings with that Fitzgerald kid.”

After he killed that kid in cold blood, I left him to his own devices. The event that separated us was when we were still in early years. I was a violent guy myself, but that guy was ready to kill anyone at any time. Sure, I could have said something, but what was there to be done? The Dictator would have shrugged me off again without listening to me, and his father would have threatened me in some way.

I kept my distance, but if he came anywhere near my Blondie, I’d have no issue with putting him into the grave. While we were both violent, his violence was senseless and protected by big shot lawyer daddy. Of which, I’d have to deal with his father. I settled on having to kill the entire family if I needed to. I didn’t care.