Page 11 of The Fighter

I didn’t look up. “Yeah, you bring that up a lot.”

He didn’t answer.

It had been a decade since Ben and I finally split from the toxic friendship we’d had with Devlin. We’d both gone legitimate… mostly. But without Ben and I to tame the worst of Devlin’s nature, he’d gone off the deep end. He probably hadn’t paid taxes in eight years. He existed in the violent and twisted shadows of Detroit, a level I vowed never to descend into. And Devlin was the king of those shadows.

I’d tried to minimize Devlin’s harm over the years, which Ben didn’t approve of, and he didn’t even know the half of what I did. I stayed under Devlin’s radar, helping some of the victims of his bribery and schemes and crimes. That was all the manpower I had. But lately, within the last few years, Devlin had been expanding. He had prostitutes all over the city, most of them addicted to whatever he shot through their veins to make them compliant. He ran illegal gambling halls, underground fights, and sold drugs. As he got more powerful, the guilt of being unable to stop him—or maybe unwilling to go as far as I had to go—ate at me.

I’d let it go too long. His network was too vast now. Taking him out would create a power vacuum in the underbelly of Detroit that would only incite more violence. More victims. More deaths.

And it was all my fault. Devlin had never taken rejection well, and I’d cut him deep. Every time I tried to tell myself that I wasn’t responsible for Devlin’s actions, I remembered the look on his face the last time we’d had a conversation. The one where I’d turned him into a monster. His green eyes had darkened, and his smile twisted sinister.You’ll regret this.

My gut rolled as a headache bloomed between my eyes. I finally lifted my head to look at Nik. He watched me carefully with his ice blue eyes. “He just couldn’t stop, could he?” I spokethrough gritted teeth. “He couldn’t be happy small-time. He had to be the fucking ruler of his shitty kingdom.”

“He’ll come for Soto next,” Nik said.

I had to protect Soto. He was the one weapon I had to fight Devlin. “I need more men.”

“I’ll get them.” Nik was so sure, as if he could conjure bodies out of nowhere.

But I didn’t want a war yet. “I’ll arrange a meet first.”

Nik’s lips curled. “What for? So he can shoot you in your face?”

I gave him a look. “If Devlin wanted me dead, I’d be dead. And vice versa.”

“You don’t want him dead?” Nik clearly did.

I’d known Devlin when he was a skinny preteen with acne and a bad haircut. I knew how he smiled when I stole him some Dilly bars from the local Dairy Queen along with an ice cream cake that had read,Happy Retirement.

I knew what he looked like when he leaned into kiss me. And what he looked like when I…

I shook my head, suddenly feeling so exhausted that I could barely get my tongue to work. “Not now, Nik.”

“It’ll come.” He seemed so sure that I could ever accept the death of my former best friend, no matter how far he’d fallen.

“Gather men,” I said, fatigue weighing every word. “I’ll work on a meeting.”

“As you or Soto?”

I glanced up sharply. “Me.”

Nik rolled his unlit cigarette between his tattooed fingers. “If you say so.”

“Why can’t you be a yes man?Vill be done, boss.” I pitched my voice low with an exaggerated Russian accent. Nik barely even had an accent.

He was unamused. “I refuse to accept stupid ideas.”

God, I loved him. “Go away, I have a headache.”

He rose to his feet with a silent grace that always astonished me. “Drink more water.”

“Yes, daddy.”

He grunted in disgust. He hated that. Which was why I did it. He’d made it halfway to the door before he turned around. For the first time in a long time, he seemed unsure. Hesitant. “You’ve been a bit distracted since Friday.”

“Oh for fuck’s?—”

“Did something happen with him?”