Page 65 of Beguiled

“Maybe both and I’m concerned the Irish aren’t being truthful with us,” he admitted. “I don’t like the alliance any more than you do. I think if push came to shove, the Irish would betray us. But no, I didn’t have any idea there was a fight last night.”

He had no reason to lie to me, but I also wasn’t convinced he wasn’t holding something back. “We need to find out everything we can about Vardan Zargarian, including when he was in Chicago.”

His grin meant he’d already activated the deep dive. “Already started. Do you think there is any possibility Mikhail bought his soul?”

“Maybe.”

“Sean thinks Vartan is well connected in several arenas.”

“That makes sense. What about Davit?”

I took another sip of the coffee, wondering why in the hell he drank the flavored shit. “Maybe we throw him a bone and see what he does with it. Is there any chance the current Armenian Authority was also at that restaurant at the same time the photographs were taken?”

“Yeah, it’s possible. As I told you before, it’s a favored location and one that goes back for generations. I’ll keep an eye on Davit. Do you think it’s possible you were the intended target last night?” He cocked his head when I didn’t immediately say anything in response.

“I don’t know.” What I did know was that Mikhail would try to pick off the family members one by one. He’d been incensed when I’d come into the family.

“While you like to think of yourself as anonymous, you’ve been in town long enough you can’t hide any longer. Plus, you’re someone of value and power.”

He was right, although I hated to admit it. Was it also possible someone knew of the connection with Saige and planned on using her against me? There were too many questions.

“At this point with no real answers, we should assume this is a fight between the McCarthy family and another party.”

“I suggest we beef up security for all our buildings and the hotels. We’ll say we had some threats.”

“And have we?” There was something odd about how he mentioned the plausible excuse.

His shrug provided an answer. “We always have threats. Now that we’re more mainstream,” he said with both hands in the air and two fingers on each providing air quote symbols, “the variety and frequency have changed. I don’t take any of them too seriously.”

“Let me be the judge of that.”

“Since when were you made head of security?”

“Since you’ve yet to fill that position,” I barked. The situation was an irritant, although up until now there’d been no real need to hunt down the right person. Maybe in hindsight that had been a huge mistake.

“Fine. I’ll fill your inbox with what we’ve received in the last sixty days. How’s that?”

His irritation was as strong as mine. “That will do for a start.” We were on equal footing in the corporation, neither job more important or on a higher plateau in the organizational chart than the other. It was a bone of contention since he not only invited but allowed Kazimir to assume control as Pakhan within both Russia and the United States.

While I wasn’t trying to start a war with him, not having a close personal relationship as Kazimir did allowed me to notice small details that would otherwise be overlooked. That could mean the difference in life and death at some point.

“What about the Armenians?” he tossed out, knowing I wouldn’t let this go.

“I don’t know yet. However, I am curious what the possible new… leader has in mind for his kingdom.” Maybe that warranted a visit.

“It’s funny,” he said as he moved closer, pushing me out of the way so he could finally grab some coffee, “you came here to accuse me of not telling you everything about our possible new friends the Armenians. I think there’s more going on, which irritates me.”

“Irritates you? Would you like me to provide a list of irritants, cousin?” We glared at each other. At some point, at minimum we would come to blows. We both knew it.

Anything worse would be detrimental for the regime.

His grin was his lame attempt to bypass the heavy tension. “Why is it that I think something happened last night you’re not willing or ready to discuss?”

He knew my moods better than I wanted. “I need to work through a few things. Whatever happened last night I was placed in the middle of. And I don’t like not knowing by whom.”

“Then I guess we need to find out. Before you go off and do something halfcocked.”

He was right about one thing. I could and would whatever it took to keep my world exactly the way I preferred. Even it meant destroying a corporation, a family name, or a relationship.