Penn and Crispin Worthing.
Both major dickheads.
Ashton saw me coming, so he stepped back. I moved forward, taking point. “Gentlemen.”
Crispin was the leader of the two, and he stepped forward, cracking his knuckles slowly. “West. This ain’t your club.”
“No, but unlike your family, my family has an understanding with the owners.”
They shared a look at that information.
Justin stepped ahead, one arm held out toward his cousins and the other toward me. “We’re just here having fun. That’s all.”
I ignored him, staring at Crispin. “Leave, Worthing. Now.”
He started to tilt his chin up, but then his eyes went to the side of me.
I knew Jess was there, felt her. They were taking her in, but they were also noting my other men who had come with me. I’d added to my detail by another fifteen guys.
“You are here alone.”
He bounced his chin up. “How do you know that?”
All bravado. A typical fucking Worthing—I was starting to notice their trademarks. They were hotheads, led by a hothead uncle who’d come over from Sicily thinking he could make a name for his family here and not respecting that the territories had been drawn up decades ago.
“Leave, Worthing, and we won’t kill you tonight.”
I felt Jess’s instant tension.
She chose. I’d asked her to leave, but she’d made her choice. She was at my side.
Crispin smirked. “You got a copper next to you, unless she’s on your take.”
I didn’t comment, stepping forward. “Leave while you can walk.” At my order, my men moved forward. This time, Crispin stepped back. I could feel his reluctance, but he growled as he hit his cousin on the arm and jerked his head toward the exit door.
When they started to reach for Justin, Ashton stepped up. “He stays.”
“Excuse us?” Penn started forward, but Crispin blocked him.
Ashton pointed at Justin. “Him, we won’t kill. You two, we will. Leave while you can.”
I heard Jess groaning behind me and reached back, touching her arm. She quieted, but as soon as those two left, she was around me in a second. Kelly began sobbing. Justin looked torn, not sure whether to care for his woman or to head us off. Jess took the decision out of his hands, enveloping her old roommate in her arms and leading her away. I watched, seeing my men directing them out of here.
I relaxed once I saw Jess was listening to them. Kelly’s head was buried into Jess’s neck, her arms wrapped around her.
Justin started snarling as soon as his cousins were gone and as soon as Jess had his woman out of earshot. “What the hell? What the hell was that?”
Ashton smirked before snorting. “It’s called organized crime. Sometimes we have turf wars. You should google it before you end up dead, Worthing.”
He strode off, looking as if he was whistling.
We were getting attention, but Justin turned my way this time.
“You threatened my family’s lives.”
Yeah. Okay. I stepped closer so he could hear me clearly. “Jess chose tonight. I chose tonight. I think if you don’t choose, you’ll end up dead, and let me be very clear: it won’t be by our hands.” I let that sink in before adding, “You have a night. You have a connection to my woman that I can’t ignore. If you choose their side, you better leave fucking town. Are you getting me?”
He swallowed and raised his chin up. “You are putting me in an impossible situation.”
“Tough. That’s this business. Choose or die. If you don’t choose, you will die, and I will not let you be the swinging door where my woman could get hurt.”
“She’s a cop.”
I’d started to leave but turned back. “No one is invincible.”
Ashton was waiting for me in the back hallway. He fell in step with me. “The first team is waiting for you. The second team is waiting for Worthing to hurry his ass up. They’ll take him and his woman home, and if you want them to stick around and sit on their place, they’ll do that too.”
“What about Easter?”
“She’s with team three, who already took her home.”
I gave him a look. “She’s pretty far removed from this whole situation. She should be safe.”
“It doesn’t matter. My family owns her father, so she’s my problem.”
“And Jess?”
“She’s waiting in your car because she’s with team one.”
She was . . . I let that sink in, and I couldn’t deny that her waiting in my vehicle, with my guys, was making me feel a certain way. “Where are you going after this?”
“I need to check on a few things, but I’ll head to my uncles’. Worthings were here. They’re escalating, and we will need to make a move sooner than later.”
Which meant that he and I needed to make our own decisions because even though a certain news article had come out saying we were the new heads, it wasn’t the case. We’d been dancing over the line ourselves. Choosing this life had a whole sense of finality, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready to choose that finality. Not yet, but soon. Neither of us could push it off much longer.
My phone began ringing.
Ashton had started to leave but halted.
Unknown calling.
I showed him the screen, then moved farther down so we had privacy. He followed as I answered.
“Who is this?”
“This is Tristian West, nephew of Stephano West? Son of Dominic West? I presume I’m conversing with that person?”
“Who are you?”
“This is Nicolai Worthing. I’ve just been informed that you met my cousins Crispin and Penn.”
Ashton raised an eyebrow and stuffed his hands in his pockets, getting comfortable.
“Interesting names in your family.”
Nicolai barked out a laugh. “Yeah, well, I can say Tristian and Stephano probably follow in the same family tradition. You’re Greek? Am I getting that correct?”
“What do you want, Nicolai Worthing?”
“Hmm. Yes. Straight to business. I have heard you are not like your uncle. That’s a refreshing surprise. Your uncle, he could tell stories for hours before getting to the point.”
“And your point for this phone call is . . . ? I am still waiting.”
“I feel I may have a surprising proposition for you.”
Ashton snorted, not caring if he was heard or not.
“Am I to presume that is Ashton Walden in the background? His grandmother is from Argentina?”
Ashton’s eyes cooled. He leaned forward as I extended the phone toward him, and he spoke into it. “My family lineage is none of your business. How about that?”
“On the contrary, I feel that those of us who are in this business are in it because of our grandparents or the grandparents of our grandparents. Everything has history and lineage.”
I pulled the phone back to me. “And your family does not have the history that ours does.”
“No. You’re correct. We’re relatively new, but I have a great respect for those—”
“What’s your point, Worthing? You’re making me regret letting your cousins return to you, alive and intact.”
“Yes. See. That’s why I’m reaching out to you for this proposition. I’ve learned that you and Ashton both have your own businesses. Legal businesses. You are both thriving in your own fields. I’ve seen his records myself, and your uncle is dying. He has brain cancer, and if my sources are correct, he was first told about the possibility the very day he first told you he was having medical problems. Now, I’m sure there’s a reason he has waffled back and forth. Denial. Negotiation. Anger. These are all common stages for grief when given the sentence that he was given. Am I correct in what has been reported to me?”
Who the fuck was this guy’s source? My uncle’s medical records?
“What is your goddamn proposition? I’m to assume you are the new head of your family?”
“Yes. And to the point. As always, you remain true to your reputation. My proposal to you is this: When your uncle dies, let me take over the handling of all the family business. You, in turn, will be in charge of my money. You can invest it how you see fit. You can remain in your very legal businesses—which I can’t help but wonder if that will help your woman as well, considering her career choice—but you’re in charge of the money.
“The name in your city, and it is your city, will remain the West Mafia, because you will be handling all of the financials. I love your city. You have beautiful hospitals and doctors here, but think of us as a franchise. We’re coming in, taking over handling the actual work, but everything flows upward to where you would be: at the top. And with your blessing, we will work hand in hand alongside the Walden family because unlike yourself, the Walden uncles have no interest in stepping away from the business, as is their right. They’ve fought long and hard for their place in your city, but you, as I’m hoping one day I might consider a friend, have interests that lie along the legal world.
“What say you, Mr. Tristian West? Would you like some time to consider the offer? Time to also do your own research? Because while your initial instinct is to turn my offer down, I truly hope you do not do that. I also hope you do not judge me based on your meeting with my two cousins, who, though I love them, are imbecile human beings. They are very much considered the ‘brawn’ of our family genes, whereas I myself inherited the looks, some brawn, and the brains.
“Also.” His voice went serious. “I went to Cambridge, and I’m hoping that when you look into me, you’ll see the similarities between yourself and myself. Both raised to succeed in the civil world, but both with family that has pulled us into their world. It’s certainly a plight that we find ourselves in, isn’t it?”
Ashton’s eyes were narrowed, his head down, as he listened to the call. When Nicolai was done speaking, he raised his head, but I couldn’t get a read on what he was thinking.
“I’ll take your proposal into consideration.”
“It’s been my pleasure, Tristian West. Until we meet in person.”
I ended the call. “What do you think?”
“I think”—he was still eyeing the phone—“that you will do what you will do. You’ll research. You’ll get all your answers, and then you will gamble based upon that research of where you want to put your money, like the good Wall Street best friend I know.”
I grunted because he was right. Though it was a tempting offer.
“He said brain cancer.”
Ashton’s face went somber. “He did. That would explain a few things.”
It would indeed.
