But that’s not what was so fucking ignorant about the plan he struck out with to take something that wasn’t his.
No.
What he didn’t consider while killing my men, in my arena, while I was distracted with Jacob, was that he committed his cowardly act in the presence of over a hundred witnesses, some of which were the heads of families as powerful and bloodthirsty as me.
Within an hour of the discovery of Connor and Benny’s bodies, I was offered over fifty men to hunt down and annihilate a threat to all of us.
While it was true there is no honor among criminals and thieves, what did exist was a tacit and unbreakable agreement that when one shows a weakness that could threaten the lot, we were a pack of wolves that would gather together to destroy the sick and injured among us.
Moritze’s stupidity was his weakness, and for that he couldn’t be allowed to continue breathing while carrying secrets that could bring the rest of the powerful families down.
My mouth was a razor thin line as I watched the first wave of men rush Mortize’s compound, Franklin standing next to me suffering his own quiet rage as gunshots burst through the silence of the night, as the screams of those who were stupid enough to help Moritze was a stark melody of blood and death.
With my arms crossed over my chest, I waited for a signal that it was time for me to go in.
“Take me with you,” Franklin insisted for the hundredth time. “You can’t trust that son of a bitch not to have other traps in place.”
I shook my head, my voice incredibly smooth for how insane I felt. “Moritze is my problem to deal with. We tried your way. It didn’t work. This ends tonight.”
Glass shattered in the building in front of us, bullets fired and more deep screaming as men died.
“I cared for Connor and Benny as much as you. I’m just as angry.”
My lips pulled into a feral grin, anger a simmering boil within my veins. “Somehow I doubt that. You should have stayed at the mansion with Jacob. He’ll need someone to hold his hand while they set his leg.”
Franklin cursed, the word a slice of sound against the small war that occurred in front of us.
He didn’t have time to continue his argument. Within seconds, a light flashed three times from inside the compound, the signal that it was time for me to go in and find the son of a bitch who thought he could touch what was mine.
I stepped forward, only for Franklin to grab my arm. Twisting around to look at him, I growled at the effort he made to stop me.
“Don’t hate me,” he said, his grey eyes holding mine.
What an odd statement.
“Did you have something to do with this?”
My voice was a whispered warning, my thoughts racing with the idea that he had somehow betrayed me after I’d warned him not to lie.
A shake of his head, resignation wearing on his expression. “Not with this. I would never have risked Lisbeth’s life.”
My brow arched. “Then why would I hate you?”
His lips slammed shut, something flashing behind his eyes before he exhaled heavily. “You’ll know soon. But when you find what I know you’ll find, try to remember it was for the best.”
The lights flashed again in my peripheral vision, and rather than questioning him further, I turned to walk toward the building, my focus solely on destroying the man who threatened Lisbeth.
Stepping inside the compound, I was assaulted by the scent of gunpowder cut through with the iron tang of blood. Around me, men stepped over bodies, their guns firing when they noticed a small sign of life in the men on the ground.
I was waved over to a door on the right side of the room, my steps careful not to trip over the bodies littering the ground. There was very little light pouring through the broken windows, and I wondered what Moritze had hoped to achieve by killing the power to his compound.
Stepping up to a group of men near the door, I waited as one peeked his head through to discover what was on the other side.
“A few of them ran through here,” they explained. “They’re armed. Are you sure you don’t want us going with you?”
My jaw ticked, my fingers curling into my palm. “How many were there?”