Page 14 of The King's Boy

I chuckled, but there was no amusement in the sound. "It's there for a reason."

Granted, I hadn't been around at the time, but anyone that had made it to my level in this world knew the history. A family council was called once a year to hash out disagreements in the hopes of staving off a mob war.

No one wanted that.

Not only did it disrupt business, but it put the lives of our people and innocent civilians in jeopardy. It also set the eyes of the authorities on us, and no one wanted that either.

A hundred years ago, one such meeting had been set up and mob bosses from every borough had brought armies of armed men with them. No one really knows what or who had started it, but it had ended in a bloodbath.

Since then, a set of rigid rules had been established along with the mandatory requirement to attend the meeting once a year. It hadn't kept factions from fighting each other here and there, but it had certainly cut down on it.

As the new head of the Irish mob in New York, I had to attend if I wanted to keep the bloodshed to a minimum, and I did. I was here to clean up the mess the O'Donnells had created with their idiocy and get my territory back into making money. I needed peace so I could concentrate in that.

It didn't help my cause that I was coming into this meeting already at a disadvantage. The O'Donnells had basically pulled the reputation of the Irish mob through the mud. I had no doubt that the men I was meeting with were expecting the worse from me.

"I'll want you and maybe Terrence to go with me."

"Not Terrence," Malloy said.

"Why not?"

"You know that little bird you spent the night with a few weeks back?"

My brow flickered with unease. "Spencer?"

"Yeah, that's him."

"What about him?" I asked.

"I guess he got one over on Terrence and Terrence won't let it go."

I was confused. "What does that have to do with him accompanying us to this meeting?"

"I had to reprimand him several times because he keeps trying to get our people to track Spencer down."

I surged to my feet as anger engulfed me. "He doesn't have the authority." As much as I wanted to find Spencer, that was my thing. It had nothing to do with Terrence.

"I know, which is why I had to reprimand him. Any time he had the chance, he casually mentioned Spencer to one of our guys and said we were looking for him. I think he's searching for Spencer to pay him back for getting throat punched."

I was going to strangle the man.

"Did he think we wouldn't find out about this?"

"You have been looking for Spencer," Malloy pointed out. "If we found out and confronted him, he could just say he was trying to help."

I clenched my jaw as I tried to rein in my anger and think rationally. "How do we know he's not doing that?"

"Well, the first time he did it, I reprimanded him and told him not to do it again. The next time he did it, he said something to Danny from the docks. Terrence told him to report any sightings to him and him alone. Danny immediately came to me and told me about it."

"How did Terrence even come in contact with Danny? Terrence works here. Danny works at the docks."

Unless Terrence was with me when I was out on business, their paths never should have crossed, and Terrence hadn't worked for me long enough to visit the docks with me.

"I'm not sure, and that is one of the things that concerns me."

"Is there a chance that Terrence is a plant?"

Malloy shook his head. "From everything I've heard, Terrence grew up in the business. He's generational as his father and grandfather were both members."