Page 77 of Lord of Ruin

“As I already mentioned before, Ben’s no fool and is not going to give me anything regarding what he and his team are working on, at least not officially. However, the moment I mentioned the organization, he couldn’t hide his shock.”

“O-kay,” Phoenix grumbled. “So the Brotherhood isn’t far off the mark. Did he provide anything of use?”

“He denied it at first after recovering from the shock of my question then told me in no uncertain terms to stay away from trying to hunt them down. When I asked why, all he did was point me toward an article from Germany.”

“And?” I asked.

“And it was all about a weapons company that literally imploded. Or I should say, all their facilities burned to the ground, the executives locked inside, their families found slaughtered. And get this, every dime from their bank accounts to the tune of millions disappeared.”

“What the fuck?” Christos asked.

“That means the fuckers are that powerful. I take it that this company challenged them somehow? That also might mean the stash of weapons they were counting on was destroyed.”

Phoenix smiled. “Very good point.”

Nico snorted. “Well, there’s no mention of it in the article but there’s no other reason Ben would mention it than to help me realize the threats were real.”

“Great,” I huffed. “Madden Byrne.”

“Is that the evil son of the fucker who killed part of our family?” Christos asked, barely able to keep his voice down.

Phoenix glanced in my direction, lifting a single eyebrow before nodding. “Yep. And a woman was used to get to our dead uncle. That got me to thinking.”

Now he had me thinking. What was he getting at? The shit I’d dealt with in my past? “The femme fatale who lured him and his two sons into a building. Yeah, I remember. But what does this have to do with Madden?”

“He could be using his father’s old tactics. If it worked once, it could work again. Maybe it has to do with Jenna. Kilborne is an Irish name.”

The sudden tension was more difficult for me. “Don’t you dare go down that road. I will kill you with my bare hands, brother or not.”

“Be a smart guy about this, bro,” he countered. “Things don’t just happen. Coincidences don’t just occur out of the blue.”

Goddamn this bullshit.

“She’s not to blame,” I growled, pounding my fist on the table.

The waitress arrived at our table and I suddenly had the desire to leave, to return to the woman who sparked something so deep within me that I could barely think straight. What troubled me more than if she was deceiving me was that if I found that to be the truth, I’d need to be the one to end her life. It was the way of our family, the ugly side that no one talked about. I found it unfathomable there was even a remote possibility.

“Calm the fuck down, both of you,” Nico hissed. “We are a family and the last thing we need to do is tear out each other’s throats. Order food. Be humans. We talk.”

While I glared at Phoenix, I knew Nico was right. If we didn’t work together, whoever was responsible would have the kind of advantage that would destroy us completely.

I ordered as a perfunctory measure, not that I planned on eating anything. Even the drink left a bad taste in my mouth. When the girl had left to fill our orders, I shook my head, staring out the window.

“There are some reports of seeing Madden Byrne in the United States, but none of them are confirmed,” Phoenix stated, although I was certain he’d been talking before the server had left.

“He’s playing a game with us as suspected,” I said almost in passing.

“Likely,” Nico added. “But there are confirmed reports that at least a dozen of his men arrived in New York five days ago. Maybe they are scouting the area for a good place to land.”

“Let them come here and I’ll blow their brains out,” Christos said.

The timing wasn’t to be ignored. I slowly turned my head, taking a deep breath. After I fisted my hand around my drink, Christos leaned forward.

“I’m purchasing the building where Jenna has her clinic,” I said almost as an afterthought.

Phoenix coughed. “Why?”

“Because originally I was thinking about giving the woman her life back with some perks.”