Page 101 of Lawless Rivals

“Thought you’d wanna know the plan is landing well.” Shay’s voice comes through, clearer now.

Saint lifts the radio to his mouth. “Tell me more.”

“Word’s spreading through Black Heath and into Dublin,” Shay says. “It’s causing chaos.”

Saint bends and props his elbows on the bench, keeping his back to me and the radio close.

“And the ones closest to Harrington?”

“Scrambling,” Shay replies. “With debts being called in early, they’re floundering. Rafe and Dane are dealing with the fallout. Making sure the Harrington name is dirt.”

Saint nods. “And what’s he doing?”

“He’s gone quiet,” Shay says. “Which means he’s working on something.”

I fold my arms across my chest in a self-like hug and shake my head. All this trouble for soil when Saint and my father have more than enough.

“Keep an eye on his men,” Saint adds. “This will hurt his business and his precious reputation. He’ll either sign or do something to win back favor.”

“Yeah,” Shay says. “I’m all over it.”

Saint lowers the radio, then brings it back up before Shay cuts the line.

“And Shay⁠—”

“Yeah?”

“There’s every chance he’d send more men back to the yard. I wouldn’t put it past him.”

Shay exhales. “Understood.”

Saint straightens and sets the radio on the bench, then turns and walks straight past me again, heading back to the fire without breaking stride, as if nothing in that exchange requires a reaction from me.

I come up behind him, stopping where the heat reaches me. Saint reaches for another piece of wood and stares into the fire.

“Do you really expect me to stand by while you plot against him and think it doesn’t piss me off? He’s my father, Saint.”

His hand stills on the timber, then he tosses the log into the middle of the fire. Orange sparks blast outward like an explosion.

He angles his head toward me, his eyes finding mine with that same infuriating steadiness that reminds who he is.

“This started long before we met at the gala.”

His gaze holds mine, and my throat tightens.

“And he’s weighing up your importance with the land he claimed that was never his.”

I swallow the truth and shake my head. “So are you.”

The wind agitates my hair and whips up the flames as he stares at me, considering the reality of what this is now. He knows it, and so do I.

“I’m nothing like him. I value your life,” he says. “He doesn’t.”

“Of course he does,” I bite back. “He sent Riley, and you shot him. Now you’re leaning on men tied to my father to ruin them too. So don’t tell me you’re nothing like him.”

“You know all he has to do is sign, right?” he says. “And all this would be over.”

The simplicity of it draws heat to my neck.